doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com POR (Price on Request)

Some see POR as Pass Over Rapidly, or do not even bother. POR does have a purpose if used properly.

Often it is that the item may or may not still be for sale. I have seen several guns listed as POR that had been returned to owner after not selling at a dealer. The dealer still listed the gun as POR and would call the seller to see if it was still for sale. Does not cost the dealer anything to keep a picture up and if a buyer comes along he can sell the gun if it is still for sale. Often a seller will lower the price for a quick sale if he has overpriced it in the first place.

Same thing happens in high dollar real estate. Houses come on and off the market all the time and the asking price seems to be all over the spectrum. I looked at a house that was listed at 995K, then POR or "offers considered". Then it was said a realitor to have a 750K or later a 695K asking price. It was bought by a large company so the Exec who lived in it could relocate overseas and run a new division for them. They listed it for 800K, lowered it every month until it sold. Final price was just over 500K. A Dow 30 company can afford a 300K writer off much better that the Exec could.

I agree, the POR is a real turn off for me. I sell real estate, I put the price on my ads. The people who call are people who figure they can afford it or negotiate to where they can afford it. I eliminate wasting time of worthless phone calls and showings. If a price is shown, like on a gun, and I know what they are worth, that price maybe the trigger for me to call and buy it! Not the other way around. Some sellers don't know how to make a purchase fun, they make it an ordeal.

In my experience sellers of a lot of things use POR as a way of getting some "selling" time with the potential buyer. If I know what I'm buying I don't mind having some time to ask the seller questions. It lets me weed out a lot of BS. The way I look at it I am in charge until I fork over the cash ..... until then I have no risk.

Al

On USED guns, many of you have a point.
However, for NEW guns, in most cases, the P.O.R. reflects a legal conundrum!
You ask why?
Several years ago there was a court ruling basically allowing Manufacturers, should they wish, to require their retail customers to only advertise price when it was the "Suggested Retail Price". If the retailers didn't follow this requirement, the manufacturers could basically cut off their supply.
The basic idea from the manufacturers standpoint was to keep the "image" of their products at some controlled level and not allow the "image" to be damaged by rampent discounting.
The retailers then resorted to the stratagem of using P.O.R. as a way of letting consumers know that they might be willing to sell at below "Suggested Retail".

Some retailers may be using P.O.R.as a "marketing" tactic, on both new and used guns, but I suspect the "legal" issue is the primary reason for its use.

Mike the Bear,

I had this POR situation occur when I bought all new kitchen appliances. (off topic, but the parallel applies)

Subzero/Wolf "never" discount or the dealer can be punished. The dealer can play shananigans and call everything you buy "open box" and then they can discount it 15% without being punished. Then, they just "gave me" about $8000 in stuff they could discount to zero as a special thank you. It was all smoke in mirrors to keep up the absurd appearances.

Like I said earlier, I see this with high end Italian guns. Piotti, Flli, and Luciano Bosis are usually sold as "POR" and I have to believe it is for the reasons you cite. It would be embarrassing to the maker if 50% of buyers are paying only 60% of retail. (the inference would be that the remaining 50% of buyers are suckers...not good PR)

It is a free country, and supposedly a free market, while I am bothered by not seeing the price up front I have never been refused an answer when I asked.

It's especially bothersome because it runs counter to the habits of most buyers. Most of us are not sitting around M-F 8-5 looking at guns - we do it at night or maybe a weekend. So, you see a POR gun and rather than quickly know whether it is in your range, you have to wait until the dealer is even open.

Then, you have to call 3 or 4 times before someone answers the phone. Then, you have to explain what you want to some jerky-bag secretary who then explains that 'Bill' is the one you need to talk to and he's not in. You have to then recite your name and phone number 4 times while she attempts to write it down. Then you have to wait some more, knowing 'Bill' will call back precisely 4 seconds after you answer a work related phone call. When 'Bill' leaves a message, he will simply state that he called back without telling you the price. When you finally get a hold of 'Bill', he won't have any idea why you called in the first place despite your having been grilled by his secretary as to why you were calling the first time you called.

I find POR is as annoying as "Make me an offer".....in the long run a happy medium is going to be achieved before the sale of the gun takes place.

GregSY,
If your having the problems described, you need to find a different dealer.

Amen! It's just not worth the trouble.

On a similar note, there are those who have a table of guns at a gun show with no prices on anything. You're really interested in the gun but the table holder is off somewhere or he is having an extended conversation with a buddy about the price of tea in India. Again, just not worth the trouble.

RB