doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Cabela's Price Multiplier

OWD, The rifle is an 18 bore Lang double rifle - percussion. I do not think I can sell it here for what I can sell it via Cabelas. Right now, I have to make up my mind to sell it at all. If I had killed that buck with it on the last Sunday of the season, it would be on the market.

KY Jon, I suppose from your comments that you feel Cabelas (sic) is in kahoots with all the gun control lobbies out there.

Why would you think that? I do not see it as a conspiracy just as a fact of life. They can sell a few gun at high margins and have full racks or sell many guns at low margins and have half empty racks. The amount of money they make is the same just the number are different.

Most people do not know a real bargain from a over priced gun. An educated buyer is very selective and is not the major targeted customer. I like Crapbellas and stop by when ever I am able to when I drive by one. If I was going to buy a 5K or 10+K gun they would not be my first choice. No in house gunsmith or even well educated gun room staff is a major drawback to me.

Selling big ticket items is funny on the net. If you ask car dealers they will tell you that the used car net sales are at lower margins because they have to complete against every other dealer on the net. I know several dealers which post internet prices which are much lower than the prices you get quoted in person. But gun prices either are at the regular or extra high prices. Good luck with your Dr sale.

i have yet to buy a gun out of the "library" in the FW store because they're uniformly higher than the same gun can be had in any number of other places.

however, their used racks and pistol cases for "ordinary" stuff i've now managed to get two that are basically completely free. i had to be careful, go in there a lot, use the bonus buck coupons they've sent out and watch what i was doing. i've divested of half the ones i've bought there but if i assign any remotely reasonable value to the remainder i've got a 6" m27 s&w and a ruger 5.5" SBH that didn't cost me anything.

that being said, they've got an arrieta sle 12, 578 i believe, that's tagged up in the $5k's (and is on their website) and last time in there that gun had a sale tag on it for i think $3950. may have been a little more but was somewhere in that range. that one had to be an actual bargain.

roger

Every time I go into the gun room at the Cabelas in Glendale the staff uses the opportunity to pick my brain about guns they have for sale but "Would like more information about". Nuff said!
Oh: And I meant to add that their prices are truly off the wall.
Jim

BassPro, in Vegas, had Nitro Sprecials not too long ago in the 2-3K range. I love their 16 gauge, 3" chamber, restocked gun, for the low price of $3499.00. Mint condition. Not that is a deal. Fajen stock by the looks fitted by Omar the tent maker. He as sure not great gunsmith. So Cabellas is not the only one who can over price a gun by mistake or design.

BrentD-

If you decide you want to sell it, please let me know. I may be interested.

Thanks

OWD

Just about everything I've read on this thread is close to my experiences. However, to be fair, the people who staff most of the gun libraries have been hired locally and are not experts in any of these fields. They're salaried people trying to do their job. Think about how long many of us have poured over double guns and all their nuances. Years. And that's just for one tiny segment of the gun business. I'm sure there are as many details to learn for rifles, pistols, and other shotguns. Wow! I can tell you almost every fine detail about a Parker or a Birmingham boxlock but hand me a Luger and it's just a Luger to me. How am I to know.

I do get frustrated sometimes visiting with a Cabelas store on the phone with their inability to answer some questions. But on the whole I've found they try their best. And as someone mentioned above, you can't beat their 30 day return with no questions asked. What other dealer has that sort of policy? I recently had a shotgun of theirs for over four weeks and decided to return it. Absolutely no problem from them and a full refund was promptly made. If necessary, I'm willing to pay a little more for service like this.

Man, what a bunch of whiners! What are you guys so upset about? Don't like the price? Make an offer. Still too much? Don't buy the gun. I'm sure different Cabelas enjoy different levels of expertise in their staff, but my experiences have been mostly positive, and I've made money buying and selling guns through them. I will admit that their rapid expansion has stretched their expertise and their inventories too thin (and I miss the old days), but if it weren't for the several Cabela's within a half-day's drive, I'd be stuck dealing almost exclusively with a bunch of yayhoo bottom feeders with small inventories of black guns, ancient foreign military pieces, pimp handguns, three Remington 870s (all 12s) and two rode-hard muzzleloaders. I don't know where the good stuff would be, but it wouldn't be around here. How can you bitch about Cabelas when you've got Bass Pro out there? And what about guys like Drake and others of his ilk? Talk about crazy prices! Ask yourself if you would really prefer it if Cabelas just got out of the used gun business altogether. They've exposed hundreds of thousands of Americans to guns they would have never otherwise been aware of, and have literally created a market and support that would not otherwise exist in an increasingly anti-gun, anti-hunting world. I think fine gun collectors and shooters would be much worse off without them in the game, and while I don't work there or own their stock, I say we owe them our thanks for supporting our hobby ... not the dog-pile they're regularly subjected to here. I know many of you won't agree, but that's my opinion. With fond respect for the finest group of gun cranks anywhere, TT

Certainly, I've found Cabela's prices mostly far out of line and same with Bass Pro, but they are far from the only ones. Anyone read GunDigest, or more aptly the Dick or Craig Digest? How about those dealers we see at gun shows with the same over-priced guns show after show, year after year. Yet these sellers seem to eventually move their stuff to fools. I went to a gun auction last year that had about 15 doubles. Mostly field grade Smiths, Ithacas, a Fox, Baker, and a few lesser Stevens and Sears type guns. None of them was in even 10% condition...poor re-stocks, buffed out, rusty, battered, loose, etc. I sat there with my Blue Book and watched every one go for 90-100% prices. Two idiots bought most of them and it left me wishing I had consigned all of my Rainy-Day-Loan-it-to-Your-Brother-in-Law guns. I predicted the Beesley on Gunbroker that was a hot topic here 2 wks. ago would bring $1200 or more. I was shocked to see it go for $825, I think. Then I saw the added pictures of the cracked lump. Now how do you fix that? J-B Weld? I just hope the fools are around when I sell mine.

What gun shops do you guys visit that have uniformly under priced guns? Maybe it is just me but I have to actually shop to find good deals, heck that is more than half the fun. Sure Cabela's has plenty of overpriced guns but just look through the pages of ads in the DGJ or any other publication there are high prices and good deals. Good deals don't last.