I just happened to think about this. But none of the gun stores which I'm really familiar with sell ammo or accessories online. I'd also think that a list of current inventory for guns would be nice too, but I'd REALLY like to be able to order stuff and have it shipped for convenience. I mean, I don't think a domain and a basic site are terribly expensive...

 

But anyway, just happened to think of that, wasn't sure if there was some reason (I know NJ requires verification of an FID for handgun ammo sales) why nobody listed inventory/prices, or sold online.

Running an e-commerce site in addition to a B&M is a little harder than it looks. Keeping inventory straight is one of the biggest issues as the point of sale system may or may not communicate with the cart and adjust inventory to account for local sales. Additionally, staffing almost has to go up as you can't expect someone to work both the front of the store and pick and pack online orders. Most of the bigger online retailers that have storefronts operate by having the two arms of the business operating almost independently. Rainier, Joe Bob, and PSA all run their online business with staff dedicated to just fulfilling online orders while having separate staff to man the B&M portion.

Some do, just gota do more research

Paul from Arms-N-Ammo did a great job! I miss the ease of that. Good prices, easy transactions.

Some do, just gota do more research

 

What ones? If you know of any, let me know, I'm curious because I'd like to have some LGS to support (besides the ones I already do), even if they're not local enough for a convenient drive.

 

Now, I know a lot of them have websites, but no online ordering, that was what I was referring to.

Paul from Arms-N-Ammo did a great job! I miss the ease of that. Good prices, easy transactions.

 

I loved his site, it's the only one I knew of that had current inventory, saving me a trip. I actually have an ANA sticker on the back of my school laptop haha.

Bullseye Tactical

Plumsted Arms

Heritage Guild

 

are a few I know of without looking any more up

Bullseye Tactical

Plumsted Arms

Heritage Guild

 

are a few I know of without looking any more up

 

 

Cool! Thank you!

 

I'm trying to support LGS more simply because they generally contribute to the 2A fight in Jersey, so figure it's only right.

Bullseye Tactical

Plumsted Arms

Heritage Guild

 

are a few I know of without looking any more up

add atlantic tactitcal

add atlantic tactitcal

yeh them too but I don't think they are technically a NJ company, they just have a location here

Lou's

 

this signature exceeds the 15 character count capacity

 

 

For inventory check, you could always call

RTSP has a site also

For inventory check, you could always call

 

To be honest, I hate calling simply because I'm in school during the week, and I figure calling about ammo and stuff might set off some leftist college student, I can usually get away with it on my laptop.

 

Though thinking about it, I have an Arms-and-Ammo sticker on my laptop..

look at it as an opportunity to either educate the unknowing, or shame the s**t out of the stupid.

To be honest, I hate calling simply because I'm in school during the week, and I figure calling about ammo and stuff might set off some leftist college student, I can usually get away with it on my laptop.

Though thinking about it, I have an Arms-and-Ammo sticker on my laptop..

  

look at it as an opportunity to either educate the unknowing, or shame the s**t out of the stupid.

^^^^^This. Why would you give a flying f*ck what some "leftist college student" might say or think. If anyone were to say something, tell them to go f*ck off!

To be honest, I hate calling simply because I'm in school during the week, and I figure calling about ammo and stuff might set off some leftist college student, I can usually get away with it on my laptop.

 

Though thinking about it, I have an Arms-and-Ammo sticker on my laptop..

 

Leftist college student is not going to be the problem. Be careful surfing gun/ammo sites from school as it will get flagged under "weapon" category in proxy, and come up in periodic proxy reports. 

Interesting topic. Simon Peter, a small shop in Andover, has sort of an online gun shop that links to outside sources. Don't know how it works or even if it does.

 

On the other hand Ramsey Outdoor, which is much, much larger, has a website but does not list guns or ammo online.

 

It's probably just the NJ culture. Or lack thereof.

I am a small shop which believe it or not does have inventory. As of today there are currently thousands of firearms that are available in the market. A sharp contrast to last year on this very same date. To inventory even a modest selection of what is available is far too costly even for some of the larger shops not to mention my small business. Myself, like other small shops inventory firearms that are popular and move quickly. That may be 10 - 20 models leaving the rest "hard to find". 

 

That is why given the limitations of my situation, not being able to have a store front, I opted to invest more effort in the on-line experience. That is how Plumsted Arms started on-line nearly 7 months ago. I decided to attempt to make it a fully capable e-commerce site and did exactly that. Without going into the numbers in detail the web site in the last 7 months has produced more than 10x the number of gun sales than I originally projected for the first year. But don't think this doesn't come without a cost. My equipment, programming and data center costs alone are not far off from some of the rent that smaller shops might pay. But the fact remains in the long run it is cheaper for me to run my business this way and the result is generally a better price for you. But I am licensed by NJ and the ATF just like everyone else and there is no reason why I should be excluded from firearms sales just because I don't have a store front. 

 

The key and the difficulty to making it successful is the accuracy of the inventory. My site now currently updates it's inventory every 10 minutes from four of the top wholesalers live inventories and in the next month three more wholesalers will be added. That is what makes the experience worth while. This is not as easy as some people (all those programmers in the audience) believe. We have actually entered into license agreements with our suppliers to enable us to tap directly into their inventory data systems, all of which by the way are different in many ways. One notch above the routine download of inventory files. The buyer now literally has access to thousands of firearms. Instead of "brick and mortar" I have a great deal of money invested in security, equipment, programming, contracts, legal agreements and fees to be able to maintain my site. However that also eliminates the need for a few Web programmers spending their entire day updating inventory.

 

The down side, you have to wait two to three days for your firearm, if I don't have it in local stock. Most likely the gun you just have to have today is available at other shops and perhaps mine as well but for the most part I am finding that people are not uncomfortable waiting a couple of days for their purchase. By the time most firearm purchaser's have made a decision and have done their research another couple of days doesn't matter to them.

 

The fact remains that aside from a hand full of some of the larger NJ shops, I keep just as much inventory as everyone else does in new firearms. We also are Glock and Sig Armorers and service many brand name firearms. We would never sell you a gun and dump you by the wayside if you have an issue, contrary to what some people might assume. Just check with many members of this forum who have purchased firearms from me. Some day I may just be in a position to have a shop. But until then I am still working hard to help people own and maintain firearms. 

 

Oh and one more thing. I myself support the LGS's. In the last week I personally spent over $400 in two gun shops buying supplies and ammo. By the time I purchase these products from my supplier and have them shipped to my business it isn't worth it for me. I also don't handle ammo because it's very difficult to manage a complete ammo inventory without a store front. And on-line I simply cannot compete with the large ammo suppliers and make a decent profit. My profit comes from my own gun sales. For everything else I choose to support my LGS even if I can get the items for a buck or two cheaper on my own. One LGS in particular has actually called me to purchase firearms they need right away for a customer that I have in stock. I have done the same thing with the same LGS and purchased firearms from them (dealer cost) for a good customer of mine. I have also done business with LGS's on this forum in the past. 

I think as other posters mentioned, it just comes down to time and money. It's hard for a mom-and-pop shop to take the time it takes to run an online store/inventory as well as the money as most people hire someone on the side to run it.

 

The fact remains that aside from a hand full of some of the larger NJ shops, I keep just as much inventory as everyone else does in new firearms. We also are Glock and Sig Armorers and service many brand name firearms. We would never sell you a gun and dump you by the wayside if you have an issue, contrary to what some people might assume. Just check with many members of this forum who have purchased firearms from me. Some day I may just be in a position to have a shop. But until then I am still working hard to help people own and maintain firearms. 

 

 

 

+1, this is true from my personal experience.

 

I found that many vendors have web sites and they have their current inventory on them. But nothing as extensive as Plumsted Arms. But they are still pretty useful. Before I started buying from PA I purchased a firearm from a NJ shop on these forums that I saw on-line. The only thing I was not crazy about was the fact that I had to contact them to get a price. But I still ended up buying the firearm.

 

I like occasionally browsing the PA site just to see what's available and to put my future guns on my wish list. Sometimes is more relaxing shopping from the throne.

I think as other posters mentioned, it just comes down to time and money. It's hard for a mom-and-pop shop to take the time it takes to run an online store/inventory as well as the money as most people hire someone on the side to run it.

 

 

Honestly I wish I knew some web design. My girlfriend does that stuff regularly. I'd probably offer to do it if I could for some places for cheap (or even payment in ammo haha). Of course, I've never run a business, and only have limited experience in handling administrative stuff for property management, so my knowledge isn't enough to know how involved running something like that would be. I simply see the "Well you open up extra revenue streams outside of the limited NJ market", which seems good, but definitely might not be practical.

dissimilar systems interfacing and data manipulation has been something I've done many times throughout my career.

AKA... I can get data out of a POS and park it into a format some code can understand and make a web page from.

Hell a basic shingle-style web page I can even write.