I just looked at the Cabelas website and there is a big clearance sale going on. The prices were way too good to be true. There was a gen 4 G19 for $250 and numerous other crazy deals but...of course, literally everything on sale was out of stock, everywhere. Has anyone else seen this?

Have not seen it, considering the sellers market right now I am surprised anyone would be having a reduced price sale currently.

It's easy to post really cheap sale prices on something you can't sell. The price doesn't matter if it's too cheap as you've got none to sell and lose money on anyways.

If Cabela's advertises a product for sale at a certain price, they must have at least one; otherwise it's a "switch and bait" tactic, which is illegal!

If advertising something for sale that a vendor doesn’t actually have in stock is illegal, then virtually every company I’ve purchased from online is breaking the law. I can go to the MidwayUSA, Brownells, or SG Ammo site right now and find stuff that is listed with a price that’s out of stock. That’s why many companies have a “Notify me when it’s in stock” feature on their sites. When I worked in retail and a manufacturer announced a new product, similar vendors would advertise it at a killer price that we were asked to match. My manager always replied, “You can advertise something for any price you like if you don’t have any to sell.”

And “bait and switch” is a tactic to get people to walk into a store: “Well, no, we don’t have the ABC that we advertised in the Sunday flyer, but we do have XYZ here for only a little more money.” I’m not sure that it’s illegal in most jurisdictions either, but B&S involves an effort to switch, not just advertising something online that isn’t available for purchase.

I saw a rifle on sale at Cabela's once in a flyer I'd got in the mail (in a state with no Cabelas), a friend and I were away for a match and drove a couple hours out of the way to go, both of us were going to buy one. Of course there were none in stock. The counter guy went in the computer to see the situation and was honest with us, he said there looked to have been about ten in total nation wide before the sale.

Are you sure it's a genuine Cabelas site?
I've seen a number of scam sites for other products that look similar but if you look closely at the address bar, they aren't the real thing.
The prices are also 50-90% off or also too good to be true.

I just looked on their site: Beretta APX .40S&W $160, 9mm $330; HK P2000 .40S&W $350, etc. No store around me has them in stock. My guess they has 1-2 in a few stores and needed to get rid of the inventory.

If they ever had any of the clearance guns in stock you would literally have to be walking by at the exact moment the price was reduced to get one. It makes me physically ill to think there was a new G19 for $250 and I didn't get it.

The same oddity exists regardless of whether you’re viewing Cabela’s or BP. Same online inventory, same pricing, same models, same stock status, same frustration.

It appears that the online purchasing function is essentially a dead end for handguns. The site claims that they will ship “select firearms” to a nearby store but I keep seeing “out of stock” for that option for several chosen pistols for my nearest store. Furthermore, when I find a pistol that is listed as “in stock” at my store, I’m unable to add that item to my cart and complete the purchase.

I’m guessing that online firearm sales can only be fulfilled for inventory at their fulfillment center(s) by shipping to your store. But they don’t have the ability (or willingness) to facilitate the online purchase of inventory physically located at the stores. ie They can’t or won’t make store-to-store transfers?

I shouldn’t be frustrated at Cabela’s & Bass Pro. Incompetent online selling is a common theme for gun retailers. Heck, little Ellis County Firearms has been offline for most of the summer. I realize that sales volume has been unusually high, but a retailer needs to either shat or get off the pot when it comes to pursuing online sales in a robust manner. Meanwhile, I had no trouble finding & buying a $20 timer knob for a 20-yr-old Maytag dryer from an online parts supplier.

Has anyone gone to the store yet and tried to get them to price match their own site? They used to do this. Their online buying process also used to be really good, but since bass pro took them over it totally sucks (just as everyone feared), and since they redesigned the site a few weeks ago it has been pretty awful and almost unusable.

quote:

Originally posted by odin:
If Cabela's advertises a product for sale at a certain price, they must have at least one; otherwise it's a "switch and bait" tactic, which is illegal!

Sportsman’s warehouse pulled this crap on me twice- big ad for super price on a rifle.
Get there at store opening with several people ahead of me in line.
Get to gun counter and they tell me they don’t have the rifle in stock.
Counter guy tells me ( certainly not his fault) that corporate decides how many of the special sale rifles go to each store, and my local store was allocated just 2.
Maddened me so much that I avoid shopping there as much as I can, and thankfully live in an area with plenty of mom and pop shops that take good care of me.

as long as one store in their chain has the item in stock...somewhere...they must think this is a good advertising gimmic.

P320 X5 for $349.97. But they are out of stock.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/e...ive-semi-auto-pistol

I picked up a fabby Beretta APX Carry last month, ship to store, from them for $329. Unlike some of the LGS types, everyone there was courteous and friendly and I got out of there fairly quickly. Can’t say enough about the APX Carry especially at the price!!

quote:

Originally posted by feersum dreadnaught:
P320 X5 for $349.97. But they are out of stock.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/e...ive-semi-auto-pistol

Found 2 in stock... Anybody in Washington area-

Cabela's Lacey
1600 Gateway Boulevard Northeast
Lacey, WA 98516

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/e...ive-semi-auto-pistol

Here is one in Nevada

Cabela's Verdi
8650 Boomtown Garson Road
Verdi, NV 89439

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/e...ive-semi-auto-pistol

I called the local Cabelas and the guy there had no idea that there was a clearance. I got him to look at the website and he said that they had never sold any guns for those prices but they were out of stock of virtually everything listed in the sale.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
I called the local Cabelas and the guy there had no idea that there was a clearance. I got him to look at the website and he said that they had never sold any guns for those prices but they were out of stock of virtually everything listed in the sale.

Looks like Cabela’s has, or had 2 of them in the USA. See above post

I called both of those locations and they said that they are out of stock and they never have sold a 320 X5 for that price. I tried calling corporate but they just put me on hold indefinitely.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
I called both of those locations and they said that they are out of stock and they never have sold a 320 X5 for that price. I tried calling corporate but they just put me on hold indefinitely.

That’s just totally f’d up. I just spent the last hour trying to find one of the good deals near me. “Fool me once... I won’t get fooled again” “W”