I’ve been a happy and very satisfied customer of luckygunner.com for over a year now. No, I didn’t get an invite to shoot their cool guns, but I can look past that. This time. They’re the first on-line retailer I’ve ever used to buy ammo because the shipping cost usually made buying on-line way too expensive. It made more sense to head to the local Wally World, Bass Pro or even Cabelas. But I couldn’t always find what I needed locally. My Sub-2000 seems to like munching on Magtech 9mm more than other flavors, and Lucky Gunner usually has it. They also have good bulk prices. Everything they list is in stock, their prices are competitive and the shipping charges aren’t abusive. Nothing but good experiences so far. But Linoge, proprietor of wallsofthecity.com has noticed something interesting…
While he admits it’s just conjecture, Linoge has assembled a lot of pretty good circumstantial evidence that appears to indicate that Lucky Gunner, bulkammo.com, gunsforsale.com and ammo.net are all one and the same. Or at least four separate companies owned by the same folks.
Which raises the question…so what? Sure, this may or may not run afoul of Google’s famously stringent duplicate content and SEO (search engine optimization) manipulation rules. I wish I were web-savvy enough to understand all of that arcana. And if Linoge’s hypothesis is true, one or maybe all of the sites could very well find themselves in Google’s penalty box.
But if it’s true, is this deceptive, unethical or in some other way wrong? Is anyone being cheated or swindled? I guess I’m just a bottom line kinda guy. If the sites really are owned by the same folks, I really don’t care as long as they sell me the products they advertise at the prices they list and deliver it promptly. Which, again, Lucky Gunner has done so far.
Is that too ends-justify-the-meansy? I don’t think so. Maybe you do. I say keep doing what you’re doing (service-wise) Lucky Gunner, and I’ll keep buying.
We are now past conjecture: http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2011/07/lucky-gunner-hypothesis-confirmed.html , and other folks do care: http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2011/07/motivation.html
Most online retailers ship powder, primers, and ammo directly from the wholesaler or manufacture to the consumer. Most big retailers have many DNS registrations and “skins” to appeal to different markets. For example, TGSCOM has dozens of skinned web sites including the likes of glockworld and ar15pro http://www.tgscom.com/Content.aspx?ckey=RetailPartners
If you have objections to a certain retailer, in a free market its caveat emptor/buyer beware. Alticor/Amway mastered skinned sites ~15 years ago and has thousands of web sites all selling the same stuff. It is a business’s dream to broker a transaction, take some off the top, ship directly from the wholesaler, and never have to warehouse any merchandise.
If you are looking for price differentiating information, I often start at http://www.ammoengine.com
The Google SEO stuff doesn’t bother me greatly. My biggest concern is that bulkammo.com appeared to be spamming- Some time back, there was a list of gun blogs published, and mine was one of them. Later, I got a message addressed from bulkammo.com claiming to occasionally read my blog, and asking for a very specific link. I think it more likely that they found some list of gunbloggers and only read enough to scrape an email address. I avoid doing business with spammers.
Does it matter to me Chevrolet and Buick are both GM companies? As a consumer, I couldn’t care less about who owns what. Bloggers have a different agenda. I can understand why they may be a little upset, but this is a tempest in a teapot.
I don’t care who how many companies have the same owners as long as they deliver as promised.
That’s just it. What happens if they don’t deliver as promised? You’ll go to the competition. But is the competition really the competition? This undermines the ability of consumers to vote with their dollars.
Tempest in a teapot. I’ve never bought anything from them, but it’s just because their prices have not been that great. Natchezss, ammoman, sgammo are where I usually buy, but it’s almost always price driven.
This kind of superficial vendor differentiation is nothing new if you’re trying to buy musical instruments or gear online. Guitar Center and Musician’s Friend have different websites and print catalogs, but they’re all the same distribution system and when one sells out, the other is mysteriously ‘backordered.’
Its no skin off my back, as long as the price is right and shipped on time.
No, I didn’t get an invite to shoot their cool guns, but I can look past that.
I’ll put in a good word for you for next years shoot buddy 😀
I agree with everyone else, I don’t care if they are all the same company as long as I keep getting ammo at good prices. However, I would have a problem if it turned out that they were using any of these other companies as competition to drive your business elsewhere and it turns out that “elsewhere” is actually the same company with a different name.
I’m a loyalty kind of guy. If I get treated well, I’ll stick with a company. And I buy-a lot. I have probably bought in the area of 8000 rounds this year, easily. The bulk of that was from Ammo To Go.com, because of their prices and they usually ship out the same day. The second would be Cheaper Than Dirt.com. They have always treated me well, and they always ship the same day for me. I have probably spent $15,000 with them in the past few years. In fact, I have only ever ordered one gun not through a gun shop, and that was with Davidson’s. I will probably do it with Cheaper Than Dirt next time. Sportsman’s Guide has found more ways to screw up shipping and orders than I thought possible. Because of that, I now only order specific items I can only find there, like my 12 gauge flechette rounds. My night vision head set came from them, but if Cheaper Than Dirt had stocked it, my $600 would have gone to them. Just because I’m not some big company doesn’t mean I have to be treated less graciously. I’m the same way with doctors. I had one who kept disagreeing with me so I fired him and went to another and found out I was right all along. To me, it’s the same with gun shops. My local gun shop and range has a great range but ridiculous gun prices. I use the range, but the 8 different guns I bought just in this year were purchased elsewhere.
Wait there’s people who don’t use Cheaper Than Dirt?
You call yourself a gun blogger!
I get all my guns from the ATF. Their prices for military-type assault weapons are the best, even though the cost of international shipping is getting a little spendy. Still, all the guns come pre-loaded, which is a big help.
Oh my lulz. Gunsforsale.com and luckygunner.com being the same company is easily the worst kept secret in the whole industry. Especially since I recall them sending out an email to some folk when they launched the new site.
But I guess some people have an axe to grind, so they’ve got to find something to be angry about.
Buy local. End of story.
+1.
+2
I’m lucky to have a CTD store about ten miles from my house. Cabela’s is closer, but CTD has nicer staff.
Whew!! While doing research/reviews on certain brands of ammo I visited LuckyGunner and another online bulk ammo site (can’t remember which one) and noticed the page design and layout looked exactly the same except the colors were different. And to my surprise,the reviews I read where exactly the same. Same wording,same rating,same reviewer,everything. I thought I was trippin’ but now I’m glad to know it may not have been just coincidence.
this type of cross-pollination is done in the world of internet print shops all the time
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