What effects pricing of guns the most?

[ErikGr7]

What effects pricing of guns the most? Is it reliability, popularity or a little of both?

Been looking at several models tonight in the gun store. I see Glocks and XD's all priced around the $500 dollar range...among others.

I know Xd's are made in Croatia? I know from living in Europe that their pay scale is fairly low there. I know when I lived in Norway, before I heard the stories of people in some of the old eastern blocks making only a few hundred dollars a month in salary.

Then we have Glock, made in Austria. Austria is a rich little country and I know they are quality as its almost like Germany..lol but, I am sure their salaries are much higher in Austria than in Croatia.

Am I missing something here? I like both Glocks and Xd's for the record.

All things being equal that would make Glock the better value wouldn't it? as the XD could be made for a cheaper price in Croatia?

Just like some of the expensive tennis shoes here...that they make for 10 dollars in some other countries.

Just some thoughts.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[jeep45238]

Mostly popularity and whatever import costs there may be, but more the seller's desired profit margin.

[HotGuns]

Demand.

When the demand exceeds the supply, prices go up.

and, whatever price the dealers they think they can get. How much it actually cost to produce sometimes matters little.

[Dakota97]

Demand.

When the demand exceeds the supply, prices go up.

and, whatever price the dealers they think they can get. How much it actually cost to produce sometimes matters little.

You nailed it. Supply and demand are the key. As popular as guns like Glocks are, just let a dealer get severely overstocked on them and the dealer will have a sale.

[los]

Politicians.

[AZ Husker]

Few people think like you do...They think cheap is king. Ask the poor worker in Croatia, China, Brazil, or the Philippines if their guns are worth $500.

[frankmako]

Politicians.

plus 1. after the election, gun prices when shy high. get then while you can. ammo has gone up too.

[MNBurl]

Politicians.

That is called Demand Then regional supply and demand causes regional differences in costs locally.

[tns0038]

Sure, the cost of manufacturing comes in play, but supply and demand is the main drivers.

If you need to purchase a firearm today, shot online, for pricing. Then ask your local dealer to match it.

GunBroker.com Online Gun Auction
Gun broker is a good example:

If they refuse to come around to a reason price, then websites like Gun Broker have FFL’s in your area that they can ship to that will charge you $25-$40 dollars for doing the paper work.

When I purchased my G26 last year, I told the local dealer what the price was online, and he said something about the FFL fee, so we added that $25 to the online price, and he settled for that. Which was over $100 off of what he wanted.

[Reborn]

Another factor in gun prices in lawsuits. I was attending a Glock school once upon a time and the man from Glock said that could sell their firearms for less than 300 bucks if it wasn't for lawsuits.

[Huzar]

Another factor in gun prices in lawsuits. I was attending a Glock school once upon a time and the man from Glock said that could sell their firearms for less than 300 bucks if it wasn't for lawsuits.

That's BS.... Glock's lawsuits are spread across all the guns they sell and with their volume are pretty inconsequential. One of the biggest factors is demand. For example when Kimber sees a certain number of orders in the queue that they can't fulfill they decide that their prices need a hike. They've done it multiple times in the past few years.

[gilraen]

There is something to be said for quality, too.
Cheap design + cheap materials + cheap labor = cheap, unreliable gun.

[CharlieP]

A combination of factors determine the price of any product.

1. The cost of design, manufacturing, taxes, and distribution. This represents a "floor" to the pricing, but has little effect on the "ceiling", which depends on the next factor.

2. Demand for the product vs. available supply. In the absence of price controls, if there is a larger demand than there is supply, the price will go up - rapidly in most cases.

There are a lot of other less obvious factors. If the manufacturer can keep assets out of the US, then liability suits can be minimized. This gives some foreign manufacturers an advantage on pricing. Reliability, or the perception of reliability, works to increase demand, so it is an indirect factor.

[CharlieP]

That's BS.... Glock's lawsuits are spread across all the guns they sell and with their volume are pretty inconsequential. ...

To make that statement you must know:

1. The total cost of lawsuits for Glock

2. How many guns they sell.

I would like to know those figures myself, please tell us.

[Huzar]

To make that statement you must know:

1. The total cost of lawsuits for Glock

2. How many guns they sell.

I would like to know those figures myself, please tell us.

OK, I don't know those numbers but looking at the market as a whole and thinking logically, there is no active lawsuits against EVERY manufacturer which means some manufacturers could sell quality arms dirt cheap (as implied). Suprisingly enough there is noone that does (ok, there are some that are sold, but I wouldn't touch their stuff due to poor QM and so on). From the top of my head, most plastic guns are in the same price range or higher: Steyr, Glock, S&W M&P, Springfield XD (M&P probably being the higher priced one of the group). Knowing that market penetration and brand name recognition is a big thing and gained popularity might get more contracts why don't any of them sell at that implied level of $200 less?
Anyways, I can pretty much guess where the $ goes. Amongst other things, it goes into promotions. You ever heard of the glock party @ SHOT? It's a pretty nice shindig. I know couple folks that it annualy and their tales of what it is are pretty impressive.
Seems the trend nowadays is for most manufacturers or rather in general companies to try and pass themselves off as a "victim" and that they are only charging so much because they HAVE to. Look at the fuel industry: they cry each year that they are nearly going under and then after giving out ungodly bonuses they post record breaking profits each quarter.

Lastly, think about how many of their handguns get sold worldwide (I'd look for the numbers but am feeling a bit lazy now). At $200 extra, the numbers must be pretty big: heck, every Bubba seems to want to own a glock and look at how many departments carry glocks.

Oh yeah, and I don't recall hearing about any lawsuits against glock and last time I checked you can't sue the manufacturer for crimes commited with their gun.