OK here we go. You asked for it.
No. 1. I find it interesting that you come here, talk bad about other retailers, and then offer your "better services" to the people reading here.
2. You said "Yeah. SS [Silencer Shop] has obliterated most of the independent businesses, so I am not surprised that there are not many independent dealers left."
There were NEVER many independent silencer dealers out here in the sticks. "Obliterate"? Are you asking for special treatment because you are the "little guy", or do you believe in the free market? You know, Capitalism. America. And it is not sometoing that is easy for the part time dealer. By design, granted. But it is what it is. It is NOT Silencer Shop's fault that it is so hard to get a tax stamp.
3. With regard to the e-forms stuff, you said: "While the feedback loop is no where as fast as digital, it is also not anywhere close to 9 months."
Truth bomb: This week's feedback from applications from SilerncerShop's tracking information (it has gotten better since last August when I applied) is for a trust "3 days through 9 months, median 6 months". It was 9 months in August.
4. I said: "SS has an application that checks your forms before submitting it to your FFL, who then submits it to ATF. If you don't fill it out right, it won't clear it for submission. SS acts as an intermediary which checks your work. This fact saved me 9 months. That is pretty important."
You said: "No they don't. SS is mostly beneficial to dealers who does not have the finger print scanner and such. Otherwise SS has no authority to determine the legitimacy of the application or even the capability to check your application. They use the exact same backend that I use as an independent dealer. All they do it collect your prints, et all from their kiosk and use the Eforms API to upload the artifacts, exactly the same every independent dealer does. The Eforms API provides an immediate (most of the times) feedback of whether the print, photo, etc was accepted. If someone follows the paper application, then a human has to go through all that, that takes time."
You are wrong.
Yes they do. SS has an app and support that works to make sure your application will pass muster. I did not say they had "authority to determine the legitimacy of the application"; I said they have an app, and a web guy or guys, who review applications before they are sent to the FFL, much less to the ATF. And it works. I know this because I had at least two issues on my forms that SS's system and web guys fixed for me. Period.
5. "your definition of barrier citing Walmart and similar retailers is not completely appropriate. That being said, for the companies I work with, if you buy from me, I work as their designated point of contact and I am contractually, ethically and financially obligated to support you and alleviate your concerns. You are of course free to talk to Thunderbeast (for example), but even if they want to directly work with you, they can't because of regulatory and logistic reasons. With SS, things become much more difficult. SS is not going to work with you directly and the dealers are not motivated to work with you for specifically the reasons I mentioned in my other post. On a similar note, if you buy some specialized equipment, say a paint sprayer, from an authorized dealer, the dealer is absolutely obligated to support you, and lots of times manufacturers will insist you go through the dealer for repairs and such."
Wrong. 100% wrong.
A. If I do not get to talk to the manufacturer directly, that is a barrier. Period. YOU are a barrier.
B. You are NOT "contractually" or even "financially" obligated to your sellers. Only "ethically". YOU are a retailer. If the manufacturer made junk, it is almost entirely on them, not you. The manufacturers issue warranties, not you; though big dealers like Optics Planet, or Amazon, or Silencer Store can swing better deals where they 'offer warranties' for like 30 days. They are NOT who fix the mistakes and such.
NO RETAILER REFUNDS FOR MANUFACTURERS' MISTAKES. If Vortexsends you a broken scope through Optics Planet it is not Optics Planet that pays for the replacement. You may have a bit of an edge on "warranty" issues, in your mind, but true warranties are not issued by retailers; and the real warranties are only honored by manufacturers, not retailers, like you. If you did differently, you would go broke. It is not your place in the chain of commerce to guarantee the goods you re-sell.
6. If you cannot see how you are, in fact, putting a barrier between manufacturer and buyer by being the retailer, you are not very bright, or are being obtuse, to try to drum up customers here.
Say I go to the YYZZ website for the YYZZ silencer. They offer it to me for $500. I then go to Optics Planet, who offers it for $550. I then go to your website, who offers it to me for $600.
If I buy it from you or Optics Planet, the manufacturer (the guys who designed, tested and built the thing) gets less money. It is simple math. You have to get "your cut"; that is capitalism and retail sales. But the direct sales from the maker is the purest return on HIS (not yours) invention, development, testing, manufacturing and marketing.
You admit that you have LESS 'pull' with the manufacturers than the 'big boys', and yet present that a a virtue. So if something goes wrong with one of your sales, you have LESS pull with the manufacturer than other 'big boys'. This is NOT a plus. It is a minus. But keep trying to polish that turd.
7. Your red herring of "chain of control" does not mean anything. What are you trying to say here?
I said: "Not just Amazon, how about Wal Mart or Optics Planet or Home Depot? Don't you put a barrier between the manufacturer and buyer yourself?"
In context, not quoted out of it, I was referring to the FACT that all retail sales by RETAILERS (not manufacturers) impose a barrier between the manufacturer and the buyer. This is THAT BIG FAT % THAT IS YOUR PROFIT. And that is capitalism.
Your response was to try to red herring my words into something about "chain of control" and "NFA items" and "FFLs" and "declared weapons" and other such drivel.
Look. Here is the bottom line. You are a suppressor salesperson. You don't make or design suppressors; you sell other folks' creations.
You also do not like competition. You do like to seek business here by denigrating other businesses. And you make vague noises about having "ins" with manufacturers that the Big Boys do not.
Right.
You are not fooling me; and I hope not others.
eForm 4 - TRUST: | 3 Days through 9 Months | 6 Months |
