I try to support my local shops as much as I can, but I won't buy something from them if I can get it way cheaper online. Normally I don't sweat the price difference on small stuff like cleaning supplies, targets, etc., but if I'm looking to spend a couple hundred dollars on smalls and the difference for everything is more than $30-40 I'll order it online.

Guns themselves are a different ballgame as you're often talking much larger sums of money and differences in prices. I've found that most of my local dealers will push to get as close to MSRP as they can, but we all know that MSRP stands for "Manufacturers Stupidly Ridiculous Price" and nobody should ever pay anywhere close to MSRP for anything. Of course some products the dealer/reseller can justify it - such as on limited production or special edition items, or those items that are in high demand with limited supply (ammo's a perfect example we can all easily relate to).

About 10-12 years ago I was in the market for a special edition shotgun that had come out. If I remember right, the MSRP on that shotgun was just right around $1100. I checked with all my local dealers and every one of them quoted me prices of $1300 to $1400 and couldn't even guarantee that they could get their hands on one from their distributors. Then I started looking online and found that Bud's down in Kentucky had them in-stock for just over $900. Wouldn't take a genius to figure out where I ended up buying it from.

Unfortunately this whole thing is a catch-22 situation for both the dealers and the customers. How much revenue have LGS's lost in sales to all these big online resellers in the last 20 years? When their volume of sales goes down they have to raise their prices to make enough profit on those reduced sales to keep the doors open. As they raise their prices, customers are further enticed to buy online because the price difference is now even greater. It's a perpetual cycle that only the customer can break.

Dealers however do have the means to recoup some of this lost business by doing transfers for those choosing to buy online, and they've raised their prices accordingly on transfers because they know they've got you over a barrel because to get that gun you bought online it has to go through a local FFL. In area's where FFL's are few and far between they can really crank up the transfer fee and hold you over a barrel, and I don't blame them for doing so because they have every right to make their profit for providing you a good or service one way or another. To argue otherwise is nonsensical. I guess the alternative would be for the dealers to lower their prices to match internet prices and then charge you a separate fee for doing the transfer on it (which they presently do at no cost to you when buy from them). Like I said, they're going to make their money one way or another if they want to keep the doors open.

The other big legitimate gripe LGS's have is all these people buying their guns online and then coming to them for help if there's a problem with it and expecting the LGS to bend over backwards to accommodate them. I know more than one small LGS that won't tough a gun or help you file a warranty claim with the manufacturer if you didn't buy it from them, and I don't blame them one bit for that. Customers today want all the benefits, perks and services afforded to them by a LGS, but a LGS can only offer those IF they're making enough money from sales to keep the doors open. And the more you buy online, the fewer local FFL's you're going to have to do the transfers on those guns you choose to buy online.

I will also note that if you develop a good relationship and repour with a (good) LGS by regularly doing business with them they will often do you much better on the price than what's marked on the hang tag. They'll also generally treat you a little better if/when you're selling or looking to trade-in a gun if you have that relationship with them.