/k/ why shouldn't I just rent out a small brick and mortar

>rent
>cheap
>full of guns
>never be there

This is how you get robbed, anon.

>>34509698

And that is what insurance is for

I know a guy who does exactly this. His wife owns a salon and he basically has a side room that he sells guns out of. He mostly keeps everything in the safe and only really drags everything out on weekends or by appointment, but everyone in town uses him for FFL transfers.

>>34509724

In a small town that works but in places like texas or las vegas where there is a gun store on every other corner you could never make this work

>>34509731

Why not? Vegas has millions of people in it and all you need is a couple hundred of them as regular customers if not a few dozen and you can recoup all your costs yearly you just need to be able to compete with the stores near you or be a good guy so people keep coming back to you

>>34509748

Because huge local shops and shops online have enough money to buy in bulk and sell cheaper than any one small store can possibly sell, they can sell at less than your cost

>>34509841
This, and the insurance overhead will eat you up too.

Could you maintain a legit business by only doing transfers? Atleast browsing /k/ i get the feel that there's a demand for a more modern gunstore that's in on the internet tubes

>>34509677
This is basically how my favorite gun store started.

Eventually, they had to get a bigger location and started hiring people!!!

Fucking love ELK BOMB

>>34509677
There are a lot of hoops you have to jump through to obtain your FFL.
>so I can sell to friends and friends of friends at really cheap prices
You have no idea how business works, do you? You'll be bankrupt immediately.

>>34510227
this. the prices you'll be able to obtain most guns for are only like $30 cheaper than retail, unless you're buying batches of hundreds or thousands. The costs for insurance, rent, taxes and everything else will absolutely bury any revenue you see. The only small scale guys that are able to make this work largely just rely out of doing it out of their home (no extra rent), concentrating on FFL transfers, and already have a long history of involvement in the local firearms industry/LE etc, so have a reputation. If you're only in this for cheaper guns, why not save and do your research, and trawl through slickguns, GB, online sale events etc and wait for a bargain like the rest of us. it'll be a lot cheaper.

>>34509677
>firearms
Just got my lower shipped to a guy who basically just runs an FFL out of his fathers business. All he needs to do is sell enough to make it a business but he doesn't have to rely on paying rent for his FFL business.

>>34509677
Oh so you don't understand margins on firearms at all.

>>34509677
i think you over estimate markup on guns and ammo. i work for a gunsmith and it barely pays to order guns through our distributors, takes weeks to get a gun for $100 less than msrp. ammo is even worse, unless you're buying it by the pallet. we literally save less than $20 on a 1000 pack of 5.56

>>34510029
>Could you maintain a legit business by only doing transfers?
Transfers are pretty much the only value dealers hold in 2017, anyway.

>>34509677

because you won't make $$ you will go broke

>>34509677
>>34509698
set up a id check at the door

Yeah my buddy wife owned a book store that was failing and i sold gun in the basement. It was a pretty sweet gig lol

>>34509677
>ask my boss if he will open a gunshop
>says yes
>have to get approval from city
>It's East FUCKING Lansing

could be possible

>>34509677
Before opening any kind of retail business, ask yourself
>Do I like people?
If the answer is yes, don't do it. Retail sucks and you will piss people off.
If the answer is no, then start doing some research.

Real work before any paperwork:
Find out how many other gun shops or table top FFLs there are in your area. Look into the average rent for a commercial space. Look into insurance and theft prevention costs. Figure out what your markup will be and see how many sales you will have to do to break even and then make some money. See how many employees you will have to hire to make those sales rate (and adjust you sales to now factor in employee costs).

Now for even more detail:
Look into a bookkeeper if you don't have an accounting background. Talk to local accountants to understand the tax code (Federal, State AND Local). Decide how you would like to organize you business tax wise and legal wise. Actually talk to a commercial real estate agent. Now readjust your numbers and check to see if you estimate you can make a profit. If you think you can, go to step 4.

Educate yourself:
If you don't have a background in small business management, go to your local college and take or audit some business and accounting courses (most offer small business oriented classes).

If you still think after doing all of that, then you can start paperwork. This means filing to create the business entity, applying for loans, actually signing leases for retail space, signing contracts for insurance, hiring employees, and ATF paperwork.

Did I scare anybody? If so good. The biggest reason that most small business fail is that the owner never does the proper homework.

If you are just looking to have cheap FFL transfers for you and your friends, create a kitchen table FFL, using the bare minimum requirements. Make a cheap little website and make you transfer cost equal to the going rate in your area (if not just below).

>>34509677
I got my FFL in the mail literally 5 days ago for a kitchen counter business

AMA

>>34512618
What state do you live in and what do you plan on charging for a FFL transfer?

>>34512641
I'd originally planned on charging 10usd per transfer, but during the ATF interview I learned that in my county the zoning was such that I couldnt do anything classified as "retail", ie face to face sales, which they decided included transfers.

So the bulk of my business plan evaporated in minutes. However, people can still place orders with me and I just have to drive it over to an lgs for them to pick it up.

Live in NoVA

>>34512657
To add to my post, I used FFL123 like in your picture and regret it.

The service is next to useless, and TFB's series on it is much more concise easy to follow.

>>34509698
>This is how you get robbed, anon.
Wow I wonder what sort of agencies deal with niggers robbing stores.
>You have guns lock the windows and doors with iron bars and be done with it.

>>34512701
>I used FFL123 like in your picture and regret it.
>The service is next to useless, and TFB's series on it is much more concise easy to follow
Good to note. I have been toying with opening my own kitchen table FFL myself. The two factors stopping me are there are a bunch in my area and that I know I would end up buying too many guns myself.

>>34512762
and the fact that they stopped allowing it

>>34512762
I'm poor as shit. I'm studying ECE in college and really only got my FFL because I'm a flaming retard that loves eating government ass.

I actually got an importers license because I naively thought I'd be able to find a supplier willing to work with me.

What a fucking joke.


>>34512782
Not true. I'm proof.

>>34512762
I should also note that the ATF is the least of your problems.

For me dealing with the county gov was the biggest bitch. Getting the required permits (you cant skip this, the ATF will check) and paying all the fees is a real killer.

It took me almost 600 bare minimum to set up all the paperwork.

I'm planning on getting mine next year. Already have an LLC, already do some weapons-related items (selling parts/accessories), so guns is the natural evolution. But mostly I want to do gunsmithing of older guns, so I'm not looking to be retail (my current business is online only).

I'm working on a workshop for the main business right now, then hopefully by next year I'll be ready to get the FFL. From what I've read that process is not hard and I'm out in the middle of nowhere so zoning isn't an issue I wouldn't believe.

>>34512796

I'll have to get an importer's license too, but for accessories and other "defense articles". I've already talked (well, about as much as english to broken english as one can) to an optics maker in Belarus and having that license seems to be the only way to legally and easily import the amount of optics I'd like to bring in.

Also, part of my business today is selling gun parts, so having the FFL to take possession of large lots of cheapo guns would increase revenue streams. I have the equipment to demil.

>>34512823

Oh, I know. LLC paperwork was easy, getting an EIN was really fucking easy, but I think I spent over an hour online trying to figure out how to get a state sales tax ID configured.

Local stuff is easy here, it's rural Georgia, nobody gives a shit.

>>34512844
If you're looking for a temporary partner I'm fulling willing to work for a slavewage as your importer while you're waiting.

Let me know at: [email protected]

>>34512854
Dont be so sure.

Drive down to your gov building and chat up your zoning official. You'll be happy you did.

>>34509677
Being a salesman and small business owner are less profitable than you think.

>>34512563

Haha, Spartan fag get wrecked.

Better than Ann Arbor at least

>>34512884
This.

Margins are fuckin tight

>>34512844


What are the optics in Belarus your looking at?

>>34509677
whats that gun on the left
never seen it in cod

Anyone here have any experience using online advertisement?

I'm looking into using google adwords but I'm not sure about the value yet.

>>34512448
Dale, take your pocket sand and get /out/

Most gun stores simply can't stay in business on retail sales alone.

You need a range, rentals, gun smithing. Sell safes, cleaning supplies, targets, accessories, and bags.

>>34512922
E.L. fag here. I bought my LMT at ann arbor arms.

>>34510413

My lgs gets, 20% off the msrp, at least for czs and it's a very small place

>>34515204
20% aint much, but its pretty good.

>>34512448
King of the Hill episode

FFLfag here. This is an awful time to be in the gun business. I'm able to run mine out of a location where my other business pays the rent/utilities.

If you plan to run one from your kitchen table be aware some distributors are starting to drop anyone who doesn't have a storefront. You'll also have a hard time competing with the bigger guys who get a much better price than you can unless you join a buying group which is big $.

Also, dealing with gunfags is the worst.

>>34512657
wait, explain this. you're an FFL yet you can't do transfers?

>>34515591
Zoning issue.

My house isnt zoned for "retail" and filling out form 4473s is considered a retail activity.

I /could/ fill one out, but when the ATF did an audit they'd take my license because I wasnt following local regulations.

>>34515377
this.

I've only been doing it for a few days and I can already tell its fucking dogshit.

Margins are tighter than Mike Pence's asshole.

>>34510029
>Could you maintain a legit business by only doing transfers?

Sure...you'd make, what? $50 a month doing this?