i have a friend of mine that i work with at the store , he has a gunshop and has a Federal Firearms Liscence and is a dealer. He told me he could get things at dealer price. Asked what i wanted and i told him either a carl zeiss 3x9x50 or a nikon monarch in the same thing , or even a 4x14x50 or something similar and he told me around $255 . Is he pulling my leg , or do dealers really get deals like that compared to actual retail price ?

He said he was serious.

I wouldnt be surprised if they were up to 50% less than retail. A lot depends store to store. Usually the small stores dont get the markup % because of the small sales volume (ex: walmart might have a 150% markup because they buy 100,000 scopes factory direct, your guy might get a 50% markup because he (1) buys from a dealer and not the factory and (2) he buys 2-3 or less at a time.)

A 50% discount is usually a 100% markup.

I dont know about the scopes you referenced, but if they are at 30-40%, sounds like a good buy.

Well a friend of mine also gets the so called dealer price. I wanted a Leupold VX-II in3-9x40, this scope sells for $299 everywhere unless on sale, he told me with shipping $260

yeah , this must be one of those , "seems to good to be true" , things !

Who cares? If he can get you new products for that price, I wouldn't be questioning him about it. Unless you think they are HOT, then let your conscience be your guide.

Some items have a good margin, like clothing and furniture. Guns and scopes have a smaller margine.
Also consider that you begin talking LIST price, that is a number set by the maker to show the dealer how much money they can "make" by selling their product. It rarely works like that

Buy one and find out.

Thinktwice,
I'm an FFL and I can assure you that I don't sell at a 30% markup.

If I did I wouldn't be working a night shift job, in a frozen Northern factory.

Also, you need to be more specific than a "Zeiss 3X9X50" or "Nikon Monarch".
Exact model numbers are needed in order to compare apples or apples.

There are dealers out there dealing with factory re-cons, buyer beware.

You get what you pay for, good luck to you.

VTgao

I believe the internet has made margins smaller... you can blame waly world also if you want. Manufacterures have played the game of raising list price to get the markup higher but there are few things that sell for list price, think of the games that car dealers play.