Here it is folks. I have sung SilencerShops praises after my first order with them. But now I don’t know what to say other than check out Capitol Armory for your local central Texas class 3 needs :mad:. This is full retard…
So how does a Texas resident order from Silencer Shop itself? Does this program require a form 3 to clear if a local dealer powered by Silencer Shop is used? What about shipping to form 4 address?
Ok, so how do I buy from Silencer Shop without the unessesary Form 3 and extra 2 week wait and just come pick up the order at the store front? I am not able to add any items to my cart without selecting a dealer from the list, of which SilencerShop is not one.
WTF! Over?:mad:
You mean to tell me you are screwing your loyal local customers by forcing them to
1.) Pay extra to cut in a middle man.
2.) Wait 2-3 plus weeks longer to get their silencers by needlessly filing a Form 3 dealer transfer (for which they pay extra!) just so that they can pick up their silencer 10 minutes down the street from you??:rant:
See the difference?
AND that $321 dollar price difference does not include the $25 extra for 5 $200 tax stamps with your additional $5 dollar service fee! AND Capitol Armory performs the same service of filing the transforees paperwork!!
I truly am at a loss here :mad: Certianly you knew this policy would screw your local customers? But apparently a loss of a $3300 dollar order is but a drop in the bucket of the revenue to be gained by stramlined out of state sales. Or is this just a massively incompet oversight?
I’m confused. How is this screwing you again?
They didn’t sell you one thing on their old policy, then switch and sell you more. They haven’t stolen anything from you. They told you what they offered and what they no longer offered. They changed how they want to do business, and you do not wish to pay for it.
And as you note, it’s cheaper, in your case, to go elsewhere. As for me it changes nothing. My cost is precisely the same as it was before.
SilencerShop went from being the one stop shop with the best price with the best customer service for locals to buy and not screw with the Form 3 process (the whole point of buying local!) to cutting locals out By forcing them to treat their order like a out of state purchase. I am just lucky everything I was going to order from them is available from another local dealer. You are right, they changed business practices, and locals get the short end of the stick…
I’m not sure what to think of this. I will be at SilencerShop next week, and will ask them about this policy in person. The last time I was in their shop, there was a constant flow of people in the door to pick up items. The extra wait time isn’t a big deal to me, because most of the time I went through the wait of them shipping my suppressors directly to me.
The FFL nearest to me is about 50 miles away, which isn’t a huge PITA. The suppressor I am currently considering (if the company will please email me back) is actually cheaper with the new policy (~$50). I will also have a reason to go to a place that I would like to spend more time at, too. I will go through the process at least once, I am sure.
I just don’t see what incentive Texas class 3 FFLs in my area have to lower their price on SS website. If they were smart they would keep prices high on SS’s site to drive local sales directly to their shops. I am just lucky that another local shop, Capitol Armory, has all of the stuff that I was going to get from SS for the prices that they were available at from SS before they stopped being a dealer (usually the best you could find) and went exclusively to being a distributor. Otherwise, if you want the best deal you would have to drive all over to pick up each silencer from the shop with the most competitive price, no more one stop shop at the best price. And that is on top of needlessly waiting on a form 3 transfer WHILE paying state sales tax. In the event that SS is the only place the silencer you want is available well you are stuck, as a Texas resident, paying a middle man and waiting on a form 3 AND paying state sales tax. You would probably be better off just finding a deal out of state and having it transferred to you local.
They simply went the distributor way and stopped doing retail sales. Trust me when I say that there are days that I think about just selling to dealers only.
Yeah you wouldn’t have to deal with customers like me (though I have always been quite pleased with our dealings)!
I don’t believe that all good things come to an end but I suppose in the case of SS and central Texas local purchases it applies; the SincerShop gravey train has derailed.
I talked to them about it several months ago when I happened to be in Austin for business. Lots of good reasons why they did it.
If I was them, I’d be glad to get rid of people that acted like the OP. He’s gone around weeks after the change and posted the exact same post on multiple forums. They’re still making money and have changed out one set of headaches for another. Their business, their rules.
CA is 4 miles away, with prices and service equal to, if not better, than SS.
The majority of our customers are fantastic. About once a month though, we get a full on crazy person (or just extreme AHOLE) that makes us re-think what we are doing.
I don’t know if SS came to the same conclusion or not, but the only other reason I can think of is that they were told that if they wanted to keep their distributor accounts, they had to only sell to dealers.
Yeah, I don’t see any reason to be mad at them, because they want to do business differently. Besides, they have been good to me, and most of the time they have the parts and accessories I need. Plus, they ship it for free.
They can also give up that higher rent store front and move out to a warehouse, and use those FOH employees to do other things
ETA: probably a lot of the customer base doesn’t realize that SS is one of the few “dealers” that bought directly from the manufacturers without going through a distributor…mainly due to volume.
I haven’t even paid any attention, but it won’t change a whole lot for me. I will just have to drive a couple hours, instead of waiting 3 weeks for my stamps/items to ship out to me. Really, I like dealing online just so I don’t have to deal with people, but I’ll get over it. My closest FFL actually isn’t where I thought it was, but maybe it will work out. This will only be the second time I’ve made the 11 hour round trip down there to pick up my items. Going down there is a good reason to leave the kids at home, and get away with my wife.
Ah, like it is some sin to post on multiple forums, I posted the original convo link and have updated this thread with SS’s reply for those who will not click it. Yes I am sour, to sit down at the computer to place a bulk silencer order only to find this change as described is embittering to a loyal local customer who has already spent thousands with SS.
I should have looked at AR15COM first in the industry section instead of NFAtalk (dang TOS is a big forum), maybe I wouldn’t have been so surprised at this news but I am still sour about it. And this clearly doesn’t affect you the way it affects me so I don’t appreciate your tone as an apologist for SS like I am just on a smear champaign. I understand SS’s business decision even as I am put out by it.
The problem is they really did not do that. They still do retail sales direct to end-users. All that has changed is they have stopped doing F4s to locals, and they now no longer line item the xfer fee.
Thus for local Texans, this adds an additional F3 wait + hidden xfer fee.
I’ve bought a couple cans from SS, both before their SS Direct program and also using SSD. I’m not in the business at all, except as a customer and I’ll occasionally work the booth at a gun show for various people. I’ve made a range trip with Jeremy from SS, but also with Josh from CA. I know Jeremy well enough that on more than one occasion when I’ve posted a question in their forum, that my phone rings instead of a response being posted online.
But, I’ve also found a local dealer here that meets or beats them in every way. It may not impact me the same way as you, but you could (as you found out) deal with CA and have the same, if not better, experience. Sometimes you get lost in the shuffle when a company does as much business as SS reportedly does.
Certianly you knew this policy would screw your local customers? But apparently a loss of a $3300 dollar order is but a drop in the bucket of the revenue to be gained by stramlined out of state sales. Or is this just a massively incompet oversight?
