Brownells prices

[kortik]

Did anybody notice some weird changes of Brownells prices for a number of items sold by Brownells ?

Sometime in June of this year, Brownells price for Borka ATD-SBK kits began fluctuating in a wide range between $120 and $206 ( with $139 being the stable price for at least 3 years before this June). Brownells prices for our other items, which we supply to Brownells, also got adjusted (increased at least 50% in very short period of time), for no specific reason that I know about...

I did make a contact with Brownells, and I hope such unexpected price swings got somewhat corrected at least for the nearest future, although is was not yet done for all of our items. I always liked doing business with Brownells, which is a reliable partner. However, I have to make a decision if current Brownells pricing instability for our products can be tolerated in a long run.

If you're a small company and you happen to supply your stuff to Brownells, may be you want to take a look at Brownells prices for your products. Hopefully, everything is O.K., but as R. Reagan famously said, "trust but verify".

 

[2ndamendfan]

It would be interesting to see sales of your products during that time on Brownells. It would not surprise me if they have some computer Algorithm running to try a capitalize on DEMAND. IE they are trying to catch a bubble before it bursts.

Ever since they started charging 3x for shipping I dropped them like a scalding potato.

 

[mtrmn]

I've watched customer service and my own customer satisfaction drop like a rock over the last several years since Brownells has gotten so damn big. Like all big companies that just keep getting bigger, they eventually lose sight of the little man who put them on top to begin with.

 

[Yasherka]

It would be interesting to see sales of your products during that time on Brownells. It would not surprise me if they have some computer Algorithm running to try a capitalize on DEMAND. IE they are trying to catch a bubble before it bursts.

Ever since they started charging 3x for shipping I dropped them like a scalding potato.

This. It also happened to a number of us several years ago on Midway when we were buying TRG magazines.

 

[Waorani]

Never occurred to me to order Borka from Brownells. I've always ordered direct from you. That said, I haven't noticed prices fluctuating but I did drop my Edge membership since they seem to offer free shipping every day now. I see now Edge is like Prime and supposed to be 2 days. Guess they heard all the folks complaining about the slow shipping with that stupid UPS Mail Innovations crap.

 

[kortik]

I gave it a deep thought and I decided that I do not like that Brownells started to experiment with prices for my stuff, without giving any notice, and I do not like it very, very much.... It was not like this in 8 years I've been working with them, and quite successfully... Unfortunately, just about every person from Brownells I've had pleasure to work with in the past is now gone, and things somehow changed. So, when their small inventory of Borka ATD-SBK kits is gone, I will not be supplying any torque kits to them, unless I have a written 100% assurance that Brownells will follow negotiated pricing schedule. I may keep supplying our small items/accessories, if they want, but not our core products like torque tool kits, which generate most of the income for my company, and which are relatively sensitive to third parties price deviations.

 

[Dtarget]

You are on to something. Need to make sure to do moe checking before ordering. Another example; $50 at Brownells vs $30 direct from manufacturer.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...ll-pin-starter-sku714000028-58351-120844.aspx

https://www.precisionreflex.com/Detail.aspx?PROD=186782

 

[MarinePMI]

Interesting. I've heard complaints from other vendors over the years (Score High, small one off companies, etc.), but didn't realize they were doing something like this. In the past it was mostly complaints about the "Wal-Mart Price Negotiations" that I heard about (i.e. This is what we will pay for your product, if you don't like it, go somewhere else).

 

[Threadcutter308]

I haven't bought anything from Brownell's for a very long time. Their online catalog/website is an absolute pain to find what you are looking for. I needed a set of R700 trigger pins about a month ago and IIRC, they wanted $7.00 each for them. Ridiculous. If those kind of parts are priced like that, I have no confidence that the higher priced stuff isn't even more out of line.

 

[davsco]

i've ordered a lot of stuff from brownell's over the past couple years, been satisfied with price and service (quick shipping), and the couple returns i did were handled quickly and painlessly. i did notice a mag i bought a month or so ago (PRI 6.5/224v mag) went from $29 then to $35 now, a pretty big price bump.

on the good side, there always seems to be a 10 off 100 or 10% off anything coupon floating around.

 

[hlee]

Jack the price by 20%, then make the customer feel good with a 10% off coupon. Marketing 101...

 

[kortik]

Jack the price by 20%, then make the customer feel good with a 10% off coupon. Marketing 101...

I figured that this is what possibly has happened, based on my observation of Brownells price fluctuations for ATD-SBK. Last month, they raised price from long term stable $139 to seriously inflated $187, then, in couple of days, price went up to $206 and then, in a couple of days after that, dropped to $120 with "on-sale" tag attached to ATD-SBK. So, for a few days, potential customers had a chance of getting this kit at "amazing" 42% discount. Borka and my other dealers are selling this kit for $120 since it has been introduced 3 years ago. It is also likely that Brownells does use computers for quick price adjustments, as was mentioned by 2ndamendfan.

This temporary "obviously crazy" price of $206 was nearly 50% higher than normal, and I did not believe they could sell any of ATD-SBK kits for $206, as it was a lot higher than $155 for ATD-EFK kit, which has a lot more stuff in it... Which was the main reason I got involved in figuring out what was going on.

As it appears, they did the same thing to a couple of other items, like Borka Universal AICS bit and Borka Autolock, but these items are not "on-sale" yet. I'm guessing now that the "on-sale" thing may be coming soon...

After I've had a friendly talk with Brownells, they did change back to $139 base level without any serious resistance, so people can not see either $187 or $206 any more... This is good, as they do cooperate with vendors, at least with me. I was also promised that Brownells will not be doing "on-sale" thing for my products in the future.

Brownells is an important player in the industry, and I liked working with them for many years. I say "liked" because now I have a very serious concern, which will stay with me for a very, very long time. I just wish they would be more careful about some of their marketing practices.

 

[mdmp5]

I despise companies who gouge for shipping. I was looking for a Redding sizing bushing which costs about $26. Not one fucking place would offer reasonable shipping for something you can literally send in an envelope. I go to check brownells today, who are offering free shipping and guess what? Bushings are now $35. They are definitely gaming the system with fraudulent sales and shipping. Fuck them

 

[Waorani]

Another thing with Brownells is their dealer/ffl pricing which discounts most items below the price you see. Years ago before online ordering I called in an order and the girl asked me if I was a dealer/ffl. I said no and she asked if I had a tax ID, which I did, so she set me up a dealer account and it's stuck ever since. They don't send me the discount coupons but they still work if I put them in. Even then I can often find better price elsewhere - even on Brownells own branded stuff. Recently ordered a BCG from Bud's for $87, Brownells = $110 regular or $93 for dealer/ffl. In the day I'm sure a lot of businesses ordered from Brownells and the dealer discount made sense. Today I think it's just another pricing gimmick. Always check elsewhere, especially if paying full price w/o coupon.

On another note, don't make a special trip to see their retail store. Probably worth stopping if you're passing by on I-80 anyway but all you'll see is a lot of high priced guns and just a few of the other items they carry. It's certainly not a showroom for a big catalog retailer like I was expecting.

 

[MarinePMI]

Another thing with Brownells is their dealer/ffl pricing which discounts most items below the price you see. Years ago before online ordering I called in an order and the girl asked me if I was a dealer/ffl. I said no and she asked if I had a tax ID, which I did, so she set me up a dealer account and it's stuck ever since.

If you get the paper catalog, there's a special way to view the dealer price within the stock number. This how a dealer/gunshop could show a person options for things, and still calculate how much he needed to charge for parts, labor, etc.. It's one of the reasons Brownell's patented their catalog format. It's still in use today (again, only if you have the hard copy catalog).

 

[Waorani]

Yeah, I remember that but haven't had one of their paper catalogs in years.

 

[kortik]

Another thing with Brownells is their dealer/ffl pricing which discounts most items below the price you see. Years ago before online ordering I called in an order and the girl asked me if I was a dealer/ffl. I said no and she asked if I had a tax ID, which I did, so she set me up a dealer account and it's stuck ever since. They don't send me the discount coupons but they still work if I put them in. Even then I can often find better price elsewhere - even on Brownells own branded stuff. Recently ordered a BCG from Bud's for $87, Brownells = $110 regular or $93 for dealer/ffl. In the day I'm sure a lot of businesses ordered from Brownells and the dealer discount made sense. Today I think it's just another pricing gimmick. Always check elsewhere, especially if paying full price w/o coupon.

On another note, don't make a special trip to see their retail store. Probably worth stopping if you're passing by on I-80 anyway but all you'll see is a lot of high priced guns and just a few of the other items they carry. It's certainly not a showroom for a big catalog retailer like I was expecting.

Exactly. Which is the reason that right from the start, I've negotiated (with Brownells) listed price of $139 as opposed to my own retail price of $120. Approximately 15% higher in order not to let Brownells have a price advantage over Borka and other Borka dealers, who also sell at $120. As mentioned, Brownells has a system of various discounts between 10% and 20% or so, depending upon the status of their customers. I can not control this system, so got to have Brownells prices always a bit higher to account for their discounts and have certain price stability.

 

[TexasTightwad]

I've never bought anything from Brownells because they have never had the best price on anything I wanted!

 

[mtrmn]

Back in the day they were the go-to for gunsmithing tools and supplies. They were almost the ONLY source for a lot of that stuff. Their business practices were much more refined and polite. Now not so much.