It pays to shop around.....

[Mayhem]

It real pays to do some shopping around. I do 95% of my firearms purchases on line, since IT seems that I can always fine gun X  (A LOT) cheaper even with the transfer fee.
Well one LGS I visits is was talking to the sale lady, and she was trying push this gun on me, she was just doing her job.  80% of the guns I already owed or had in the past.
She asked me where do I get them from I  told her on line, she said the next time I look into getting a gun to give them a shot, and to try and keep the money local. I thought sure no problem, I?m game.
At the time a week later my next purchase was going to be a Canik SA 9MM. Well Buds had it for 349.00 free shipping transfer fee at another gun shop is 20.00.
I went back to the store and asked about the same gun,  they had it for 450.00 plus tax. They said if I pay cash I?ll be looking at 400.00 plus tax. OTD Bud wins this round.
Another gun I?m getting this Monday coming up is a Grand Power .45.

 https://grandpower.eagleimportsinc.com/grandpower/grand-power-p45-45acp

 Bud has it for 683.00  This time I went to another LGS close to my house and they could get it for me for 710.00 OTD WTH  !!!, Really I was told by a fellow firearm enthusiast at work, to try this other gun store that was very close to my work. I went there and asked what?s the OTD price for this Grand Power .45? he came back with  484.17 OTD Really !!!  and they had 4 in stock. One has my name on it. When I pick it up I'm going to have them hold a Grand Power K100 9mm 
I guess I finally found a great LGS
It really pays to look around.

PS I just used Buds as an example
Cheers
Ron

[Earl Keese]

Not sure with the .45, but in 9mm older Grand Powers are considerably cheaper than the new ones. Mk7 vs Mk12 etc.

[Tenbones]

My "local" gun shop is 45 minutes away, however, they do have a website, so I peruse that regularly and if I see something that interests me I give them a call and ask them to hold it and then drive over and check it out.  It's a pleasant drive so no problem if the gun is not to my liking.  Their prices are competitive and I save the $30.00 shipping fee and I'm only out the cost for the gas and some of my time.  This is much more preferable than the headaches from dealing with someone sight unseen.

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

My "local" gun shop is 45 minutes away, however, they do have a website, so I peruse that regularly and if I see something that interests me I give them a call and ask them to hold it and then drive over and check it out.  It's a pleasant drive so no problem if the gun is not to my liking.  Their prices are competitive and I save the $30.00 shipping fee and I'm only out the cost for the gas and some of my time.  This is much more preferable than the headaches from dealing with someone sight unseen.

I agree. There are more than a couple dealers that I can visit locally and with quality control issues cropping up from gun manufacturers across the board I just won't buy something I can't handle before I lay my money down.

[drec]

I've looked into buying on-line, but after looking at all of the options I usually find a fairly good deal locally. In Washington State, a gun purchased on-line has to be sent to a FFL in my state to do the transfer.  So now I pay for the gun, the shipping cost, transfer fee and sales tax on the whole purchase. I've found that I can find a better or good deal at a LGS or pawn shop than what I find on-line.  I'm going to pay the tax either way. The extra is the transfer fee and shipping; which could be $75 or more. Buying local the transfer fee is free.

I do buy holsters and other items on line though.

[SlvrDragon50]

It was pretty much impossible to find a CZ in Orlando for me. The only places that had it were charging way more than what I paid for it.

[cammobunker]

In Washington State, a gun purchased on-line has to be sent to a FFL in my state to do the transfer.  So now I pay for the gun, the shipping cost, transfer fee and sales tax on the whole purchase. I've found that I can find a better or good deal at a LGS or pawn shop than what I find on-line.  I'm going to pay the tax either way. The extra is the transfer fee and shipping; which could be $75 or more. Buying local the transfer fee is free.

Buying a gun from out of state always requires a transfer dealer in-state, it's a federal law. Really, Washington forces your local dealer to collect tax on an out of state sale? That's some craziness! I don't know how that would even work or be possible. You aren't buying anything from the dealer. But it doesn't surprise me.
You need to look into your local kitchen-table gun dealer. Check the FFL finder on gunbroker, I'll bet you can do better on your transfer fees and probably avoid that whole stupid sales tax thing, too.   

[cntrydawwwg]

Sadly, the local dealer that I happened upon has closed. My last purchase ( Ruger SRH Alaskan) was a $100 cheaper than anyplace online. The next cheapest local dealer was $100 more than anyplace online. Looks like it's back to shopping online for now.
   

[Independent George]

The last three guns I bought were all from Gunbroker. I may never go back.

[hamfz]

yea being able to avoid sales tax on gunbroker is great from certain dealers.