Mag AR-15 Colt Factory GI Issued M16 30 Round
Our Low Price: $99.97
They lost their everloving minds. Those are used mags to boot.
(hat tip to ENDO)
By Miguel.GFZ
Semi-retired like Vito Corleone before the heart attack. Consiglieri to J.Kb and AWA. I lived in a Gun Control Paradise: It sucked and got people killed. I do believe that Freedom scares the political elites.
27 thoughts on “Cheaper Than Dirt: Gouging much?”
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I showed that to my wife. She said not to buy any. Of all the mags I have the most I paid was $12.00. Looks like I’m sitting on a ton of money.
I also notice that their 20 round mini-14 mags we $80 each.
I stopped doing business with those scumbags in 2008 when they thought it was ok to charge $75 for a box of .380ACP. I understand free markets and all that, but why would ANYBODY buy anything from them after all this???
They also have 1000 rounds of lake city 5.56 for $1000, normally its ~$420!!
It’s called capitalism, they owe you nothing, and you needn’t shop there, which is the other side of capitalism.
and it is called Freedom of Speech. I can call them gouging MFs because they are.
“gouging” is a term made up by the left to bash the free market. Why do so many gun owners feel that CTD owes them something , simply because they did business with them in the past when their prices were cheaper than everyone else? Bunch of entitled cry babies.
You are right. I misused the term. I should have said Profiteering: Disproportionately large or grossly unfair profit, generated often through manipulation of prices, abuse of dominant position, or by exploiting a bad or unusual situation such as temporary scarcity.
Free Market does not mean dumping morals to one side and make a buck. Incidentally, Lefties & Communist use Profiteering a lot. Since they are pretty much unable to create consumer goods, they usually make deals with companies that can guaranteeing them that there will be no competition or that any competition will be subject to extreme government regulation and/or penalties.
very….nicely done
Actually none of those apply to this situation…
“Grossly unfair profit” – opinion…
“manipulation of prices” – CTD is one company and is not conspiring with other companies to set prices.
“abuse of dominant position” – CTD is one of dozens of large retail outlets and is hardly dominant
“exploiting a bad/unusual situation” – If they aren’t the only retailer on the block, they hardly have the power to exploit you.
When you start crying about a companies perceived or real profit margin and start calling it ‘unfair’, ‘immoral’, etc. You sound like a commie. Hardly the other way around.
Now I know why Brownells is “out of stock” on AR magazines.
CTD has no Class and no $$$ from me for about 20 years. Tooo many other better choices out there!! 🙂
Strangely enough, I’m not that bothered. Buying AR mags or scary black guns now is a bit like hurricane shopping a day before the storm hits. Your selection is going to be really, really limited, and the prices will be high.
Again I’m not defending CTD, but I have been happy with them in the past…let me say this:
It is my understanding that some of the large supply shops like CTD, Midway, etc. do not set their own prices. They are basically just a storefront/shipper like Amazon, and behind the scenes their own suppliers have access to web-based interfaces to set prices. I have no idea whether CTD functions this way, so I am not excusing the situation, but I am leaving open a sliver of benefit of the doubt that CTD is not 100% responsible. But no doubt SOMEONE is responsible, and not behaving in a manner reflecting a desire for long term customer loyalty.
But yes, at these prices you may as well just invest in a hobby 3d printer (home plastic cnc machine) and make mags and receivers yourself!
Miguel,
While I usually agree with you on most things, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this. I don’t think CTD is out of line on this one. The market will speak and either people won’t buy the mags and CTD will then drop their prices or people will buy and they have accomplished their goal of making a profit and staying open.
Nick
But I can still call it gouging. I have no bone in this fight since I don’t own an AR but 10x markup in a week is not just market forces.
Looks like market forces to me Sir.
3 AR10 pmag for $300 with 10 bids
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=323981018
5 New Magpul 30 round 556/223 magazines for $285 with 24 bids.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=323200061
5 New Magpul 30 round 556/223 magazines for $285 with 24 bids.
That comes about $60 per mag..and we are talking about brand new Pmags, not used GI mags.
IIRC CTD is owned by the french anyway.
I used to enjoy shopping there, mainly cuz they’re about a half-mile from my workplace (as opposed to 25 or so to Cabelas). I think I’ll hold my breath for now. Last mag I bought there was for my wife’s XD compact, it still set me back $30. Their ammo prices were always competitive…haven’t been shopping there since this whole pricing kerfluffle started, so I can’t speak for what their shelf prices are doing.
Cheaperthandirt.com are price-gouging douche bags. Taking advantage of people with valid concerns in a volatile situation to screw them to the max. I have no respect for that at all. These are the same kind of people who would charge an arm and a leg for a loaf of bread in nazi Germany when people were close to malnutrition. No class whatsoever, and they won’t get any more of my money in the future.
actually we owe cheaper than dirt A LOT !!!!!
and we owe each other as well.
we owe each other the promise to snapshot CTD web pages so that when the prices come down we can REMIND EACH OTHER OTHER THEIR GREED.
no…… they dont owe us cheap ammo if enough idiots will over pay. and captalism allows for that. but it also allows for us to remember and tell CTD….AND ITS OWNERS to go FFFFF themselves….and when CTD goes bankrupt and starts over with a new name…… we narc on the owners and remind eveybody that these are the same greedy scumbuckets…etc etc
p.s.
isnt profiteering illegal?
and isnt profiteering defined as raising prices to take unfair advantage of an emergency or perceived emergency?
are we not in a real or perceived emergency as we see diane frankenstein and others try to gut the consitution? if that isnt an emergency…..
so CTD IS PROFITEERING….. BY THE VERY DEFINITION and should be busted …or at least remembered for it….
CURRENTLY… March 30 2013, my local retailer has smith and wesson mp 15 .223 for $900….. and CTD is selling the same rife for $1700!!!!!!!!!! GOUGING
CAN THEY VIA CAPITALISM? sure….. pay back? do they NOT realize who they are showing the love to?
I did this the other day for a similar business:
Dear Rock Ammo, can you justify the price of your Federal Automatch .22LR 325 round box being $55.00 USD?
Wal-Mart, Midway-USA, and other stores sell this same box for $14.99 USD. Your price is roughly 360% the MSRP of this item. Why?
Georgia does have price-gouging laws on the books, fortunately, they are only for situations where there is a declared state of emergency. (source: Ga. Code Ann. § 10-1-393.4) Hurricane season is not too far away, nor is the chance of any other sort of disaster that may cause any municipalities of Georgia to come under a State of Emergency. Be aware of this, and I may still attempt to warn the Governor’s office of your egregious prices. If that is ineffective, I will feel more than free to publicly tell friends, family, and as many social media groups not to purchase from your store due to your prices being three times more than they should be. Yelp, the Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List, and other business review sites are always interested to hear about businesses price-gouging. Heck, consumer reports has a spot in their magazine about businesses that price gouge.
All in all, what is your justification for these high prices?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
All of these childish comments really are a living testimony to our commie, public school system. Apparently, none of you have been educated in the meanings of ‘freedom’ or ‘liberty’.
Answer this question for me. If you bought a new Ford Mustang in 1966 and paid around $2,000 for it, would you consider it gouging that it is now worth around 10x or 20x as much? Would you accept my offer of $20,000 for your mustang, or would you say, “no, it’s morally wrong to take advantage of the current scarcity of these cars and accept an obscene/unfair profit margin!”
Let me put it another way… If you decided to sell one of your personal 30rd magazines and two guys were standing in front of you, one offering $14 and another offering $200, what would you do? Are you going to turn down the extra money? My guess is that every single one of you would take the $200 and smile all the way to the bank.
Words like “gouging” or “profiteering” really have no place in a free society. CTD doesn’t have a corner on the AR magazine market and if they did, they wouldn’t be able to prevent someone else from stepping in and selling them cheaper. Should they charge $15? Should they charge $50? Should they charge $500? Really, it’s none of our business. The only question you have to answer is, should I pay $___? If the answer is no, please feel free to shop somewhere else where the prices are more to your liking.
Please educate yourselves on what ‘FREEDOM’ means. It doesn’t mean that business have to sell you stuff at prices you like, it doesn’t mean that in cases of perceived or real emergency, business have to sell you stuff at below market value, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean that CTD owes us anything we haven’t paid for. ‘FREEDOM’ means that CTD can ask however much they want for the things that it owns and their business will succeed or fail based on those decisions.
and before you say it… yes, you have the freedom to speak your mind about CTD. That’s the interesting thing about freedom, you are free to be ignorant about freedom.
So if you could sell a bottle of booze an adult that is offering you $20 for it but a 12 year old offers you $500, we can expect you selling it to the 12-year old, right? Otherwise it would be commie/pinko thoughts that have no place within the frame of liberty.
Yes, you can make a profit and you can be free but use morality to guide your Liberty.
There are people that go for profits at no cost for them whatsoever. I think they are called robbers.
Miguel, I appreciate your comment, but I don’t have the slightest clue as to what underage drinking has to do with it…
If you don’t like CTDs prices, there are dozens of other companies selling the exact same products, many of them at much cheaper prices. If CTD was the only game in town, you are free to start your own company providing the service at a better rate. That’s Capitalism and there’s nothing immoral about it. What is immoral is the systems of commerce where others get to decide by force what a business can and cannot charge for the service they choose to provide.
your attitude is that we are all helpless victims to the scary and greedy corporations. Words like ‘gouging’ and ‘profiteering’ are words invented by the left to make it sound as if these scary corporations need more regulations in order to protect the poor masses from their evil ways. Let me educate you…. If CTD wants to charge $99 for a pmag, it doesn’t make you a victim. You don’t have to buy one. If you do want one, you are welcome to purchase one from one of the hundreds of other retailers. If you still don’t like the prices, you are free to open your own store and get rich selling them at a cheaper price. They are not a robber and you are not a victim.
THIS past Jan I bought a volume of winchester .22 lr from CTD for approx .05/per…
as this “shortgate” wore on… i contacted winchester directly to ask about production difficulties and supply allocation to its various customers; wholesale, retail and “other”… ( the gubment). they were very polite and we had a few rounds of question and answer. in short FROM WINCHESTER….
production has beed at 125% capacity since august, their production is not down… and allocation to various customers has not shifted…as in they claim that dhs isnt getting extra….
AND…..they havent raised prices
so either all, some or none of their statments are true…or false….
and then some of the first in line buyers…. are gobbling it all up… and trickling it out…causing a shortage..are panick…and raising prices….
maybe true…maybe not….. why WOULDNT they
i got lucky and bulked up just before the stupid happened
profiteering? i believe so…
my response is NOT to ask one of the foxes to protect me… (the gub)
but rather …. i wont buy at stupid prices…. and i wont buy from a company that is THAT greedy
If what you’re saying is true, there would have to be literally hundreds of separate retailers (along with CTD), in on the conspiracy. Not very likely considering lots of retailers are still selling close to pre-scare prices, but their shelves are still empty.
There are really three plausible reasons for the ammo/gun shortage. Hoarding from consumers, hoarding from the Government, or reduced production from the suppliers. All of those reasons will directly effect prices. (supply and demand). If you’re a retailer who needs to sell 100 boxes of ammo with a normal profit margin of $100 and now can’t get half the ammo to sell, will you continue with your normal markup? Or will you mark up the 50 boxes you can get and make enough to cover your normal $100 profit margin? That’s just good business, not profiteering, or gouging, or whatever other words you were taught from the liberal media. Why wouldn’t they sell at higher prices when the market will support it. You would do the same thing if you were selling your own stuff.