I've bought two guns at auction in England recently. The initial prices being so low that I haven't cared at all about the cost of getting the guns to me. The overall cost being incredibly low for a high quality gun. What will $1,500 dollars buy here in the US? This is all discretionary spending and I've chosen to ignore all the add on costs because the final cost is worth it to me. My suggestion is check out the auctions and buy something. It's actually a lot of fun.
What English Doubles are going for in a lot of cases is almost a crime.
No, it's the free market at work.
Sorta. Without getting into a discussion about politics...it is undeniable that English politics are involved in distorting the free market and creating this mess of a situation.
...on the positive side, good English SxS...honestly almost any shotgun coming out of England...have never been more reasonably priced...I've purchased 19 of them for our Ruffed Grouse Society to use as banquet and prize guns since last April.
Tariffs don’t matter in this case. Gene wouldn’t have paid £400 for that gun, circa 2001. It would have been much more. The demand, today, is not what it was.
The world is changing. It has changed before, and it will change again. Tariffs have not caused the sky to fall.
The market prices goods based upon supply and demand. When supply is low and demand is high, prices go up. When demand is low and supply is high, prices go down. That is the current situation with English shotguns now. Plain and simple.
That statement skips the underlying cause for the low demand: English politics.
Originally Posted by Stanton Hillis
Tariiffs have now added fuel to the lack of demand, so the actual asking prices of the guns (before tariffs) will go lower until the total price meets the demand. Then, they will sell. People wanting to import an English gun for themselves know what total price they're willing to pay. If the temporary tariffs now in place put the gun above that buyer's range it will not sell, until the seller adjusts his asking price to accommodate the tariff. Or, decides to just sit on it until the tariffs are gone.The one getting "hurt" is the English seller. But, maybe that's more a result of allowing their government to legislate their guns out of existence than a fault of tariffs.
I wasn't trying to make a political statement, Steven.
I think you're overestimating the impact of tariffs. It's unlikely that they've had time to kick in that much, and who know how long, or if, they will last?
What English Doubles are going for in a lot of cases is almost a crime.
No, it's the free market at work.
I would counter with, tariffs are anything but free market.
Brilliant observation there Princess Stevie...
So tell us who ever said that tariffs were a free market situation??? Put down the bong and pay attention.
The tariffs are a punitive measure levied by our pro-2nd Amendment President Donald Trump in the hopes of correcting a decades long situation where the U.S. Trade Policies left us at a distinct disadvantage. But we didn't see you crying about the U.S. racking up massive Trade Deficits, and losing millions of good paying jobs to overseas competition. The tariffs, or mere threat of tariffs, has been enough to prompt some countries to renegotiate Trade Deals that are better for us. Some other countries have dug in their heels because they are reluctant to give up the advantages they have been profiting from for years.
But I don't think it's as much about Free Trade for you as it is your Trump Derangement Syndrome. You have repeatedly stated that you were better off under Joe Biden... when Biden/Democrat Inflation crushed the value of every dollar anyone held, earned, or spent.... to the tune of 20-25%.
P.S.--- Is it Free Market when our Free Tagline Advertisers neglect to pay Dave the $12.00 fee for each and every sale resulting from their Free advertising? For some odd reason, you seem to be afraid to answer any questions about whether you have been paying Dave, or just engaging in your own cheapskate's version of "Free Market".
Voting for anti-gun Democrats is dumber than giving treats to a dog that shits on a Persian Rug
My statement had much more to do with business than politics, Stanton(are we really getting that formal around here? )
As someone who engages in international firearms sales and importation, I will say you are off base on who is hurt by tariffs, it is the consumer. I write those checks and so do my clients, they are painful and not for the overseas seller.
The last item I bought out of Merry England was a pair of bare 27 X 1 1/4 bicycle rims. The seller happily discounted them to cover the tariff, which, was not the tariff levied on England, but, the tariff levied on Taiwan, which is where the rims were produced.
The shipping ate more money than the tariffs, by far.
I look at gun prices in Europe and England now and simply can’t believe what is happening. A beat up, used hard Charlin mid grade was a hard $3K, circa 1997 in France, and I figured at the time I could probably hope to get $500-$600 bucks for it here in the states. Rich people hunted in France, and the prices of guns reflected that.
Those beat up Charlins are 10% of what they were back then. The recent immigrants from former French colonies have no interest in hunting, especially the pigs that are destroying the countryside, no interest in being French, learning to speak French, or contributing to the generous welfare state that is France at the moment. I’m no expert, but, the societal fabric would seem to be fraying in that part of the world, and I don’t see it going back to the way it was, not anytime soon, for sure.
You can bltch and complain about recent tariffs all you want, Steve, but, if you are honest, you know as well as everyone else right here that you aren’t in a growth industry. If you were, the tariffs wouldn’t matter one bit.
The tariffs came to about 5% of the total cost. . .$75 out of $$1,290. Not onerous. That's like figuring out the cost of gas for running a $75,000 SUV for a year when insurance, taxes, car payments eat up 90% of the cost of owning the car not to mention depreciation. And, I can understand if you are operating on a razor thin margin, some might object to a modest increase in prices.
I was a committed free-trader ideologically. And now understand that George Will was right; we have lived for 30 years on insanely inexpensive imports, gorging on consumerism without a thought about how it affected our economy and workers. It's a difficult topic - free trade vs "fair trade." Consumption vs or dovetails with manufacturing. How does it effect the luxury of walking into Home Depot and buying a $10 hammer or using Mexican made parts in cars vs "why are we supporting a country pledged to destroy us" by propping up their economy so we can buy 10 Barbies and letting other nations get away with penalizing our products?
We were the only ones left standing after WWII and generously rebuilt the world economy. That era is over it would seem.
The topic is certainly one worth exploring. but like Joe-Blow-the-Ragman sitting in a bar, everybody has an opinion and I'll be forming mine from other sites. This site is as clear an exploration of the topic as I've been able to find, the Monetary Matters Network - Michael Pettis.
Still, it's good the hear the pros and cons from those doing the importing and selling too.
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