Eastmans Guns Shows!!!

[Bryan]

ODT members,
I am posting this in all threads pertaining to gunshows.

I emailed Mr. Eastman on the 11th.

Sir,
Does Eastman Gun Shows and the dealers that sell at the shows collaborate to determine minimum pricing for new merchandise?
Bryan Baxter

He responded on the 12th.

"I have been thinking about your email.

The dealers, as anyone would, look at their competition’s tables to see what others are charging. This is normal between dealers.

When you come to a show look at what dealers have to sell and make them deal with you. Go from one to the other and bargain with them.

That’s what I have done in the past.

Where did you get the idea I control prices?"

I do not want him coming to ODT to read what was written because some of it named individuals or mentioned enough information that they would be recognizable. Since they did not say these things directly It would not be fair to them. I encourage anyone who has something to say about Mr.Eastman to say it to him via email. I think it is important that he know how we feel. Keep ODT and other third parties out of it.

His email is gunshow@windstream.net

Bryan

 

[Bryan]

I have been thinking about this and I have come to the conclusion that Matt Eastman is not the only bad guy in this the dealers that complain about other dealers selling low are too.They are the ones complaining about other dealers prices. Mr. Eastman makes his money selling tables and entry fees. So he has to keep dealers and customers happy. If Mr. Eastman is pressuring dealers to change their prices to keep other dealers happy then that is wrong. $8.00 at the door is evidently what the market will bear. There are quite a few people who go I am sure because they just assume that gun show prices are lower than gun shops. The same way everyone just assumes something sold on ebay is a deal.

Again I say if you have something to say about Mr. Eastman say it to him. I Have sent him emails beyond just what I have posted here. Do the same.

His email is gunshow@windstream.net

 

[NGIB]

How much does he pay you to defend him? Just wondering...

 

[Dynamis]

Bryan, you have clearly been bamboozled by Matt Eastman.

 

[Wheeler]

How much does he pay you to defend him? Just wondering...

Not quite sure how you take Bryan's comments as defending Matt. I got no use for Matt, his shows, his attitude, or a lot of the dealers that show up. I also remember that a few years ago a boy was killed at one of his shows because of one of the dealers doing something stupid.

I've met the man, talked to him, dealt with him helping a dealer load his stuff up, and felt proud of myself for not backhanding him for the way he talked to me. Having said that, I see Bryan as trying to be fair and proactive, rather than taking the word of someone else that he knows through a forum.

Wheeler

 

[NGIB]

I personally, as in face to face, spoke to the previous owner of Mission Essential and he told me directly that Eastman banned him - how is this hearsay or internet gossip?

I just want everyone to understand that his shows are of no value at all. Support your local gun store instead...

 

[Wheeler]

I personally, as in face to face, spoke to the previous owner of Mission Essential and he told me directly that Eastman banned him - how is this hearsay or internet gossip?

I just want everyone to understand that his shows are of no value at all. Support your local gun store instead...

I never accused you, or implied that you operated on heresay or gossip. What I said was

I see Bryan as trying to be fair and proactive, rather than taking the word of someone else that he knows through a forum.

You might notice that I named Bryan in the original post.

Don't take it as a personal attack, it wasn't intended as such. Nor do I feel the need to defend Matt. I'm pretty sure I made my thoughts about the man clear. I think Bryan is trying to do the right thing as he sees it. I respect any man for doing that.

Wheeler

 

[drtybykr]

I would not call the previous owner of ME totally credible. After all, didn't he plead guilty to selling stolen military equipment? http://www.dodig.mil/inv/dcis/WorksGuiltyPlea.pdf

And for the record, I think E-man is a waste of flesh.

 

[Bryan]

I am in no way defending Matt Eastman. I am saying the dealers at the show are the ones fixing prices. As you have indicated he is enforcing it to keep them happy.
Like I have said if dealers have been excluded from the market place they should sue. It is not right for people to pay their $8.00 to go to a show expecting free market pricing and not get it.

The following are two posts I have made in other threads.

The collective maintenance of high prices to take advantage of consumers perception that gunshows are a place to get a deal is reprehensible. If as has been related here Eastman shows banned/ denied access to a market because of a dealers pricing
is in fact true is seems that Eastman gun shows are involved in price fixing and possibly in violation of the Sherman antitrust act. Those dealer that have been denied access may have standing to sue. Who knows we as consumers may have standing to sue.

This is from West's Encyclopedia of American Law
Price fixing definition
The organized setting of what the public will be charged for certain products or services agreed to by competitors in the marketplace in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq.).

Horizontal price-fixing involves agreements to set prices made among one particular class of sellers - such as producers, wholesalers, or retailers.

Vertical price-fixing occurs between different categories of the sellers of products and services, such as between a manufacturer and wholesaler, wholesaler and distributor, or distributor and retailer.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/price-fixing#ixzz1AfFGsWq6

I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV. These are merely my opinions based on personal internet research.






I agree that a consumer based class action type suit would be truthfully unnecessary and litigious for no reason other than to be litigious. The dealers that have been banned for allegedly not going along with price fixing that is another matter.

The fact that I did not have to go to their show or buy a gun from them does not mean that anything they might have done may or may not have been illegal. If I paid my money to enter the show and there was price fixing; then I was denied access to a free competitive market. I had a reasonable expectation that market forces and not collaboration would determine pricing. If collaborative price fixing is going on then someone needs to be punished.
I have no first hand knowledge that anything illegal has or is going on at Eastman Gunshows or any other gunshow. I am just commenting on reports here in the forum.

This is from the Federal Trade Commission report
Antitrust Guidelines
for Collaborations
Among Competitors

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2000/04/ftcdojguidelines.pdf

Agreements Challenged as Per Se Illegal. Agreements of a type that always or almost
always tends to raise price or to reduce output are per se illegal. The Agencies challenge such agreements, once identified, as per se illegal. Types of agreements that have been held per se illegal include agreements among competitors to fix prices or output, rig bids, or share or divide markets by allocating customers, suppliers, territories, or lines of commerce.

 

[magna750]

Although I don't think too highly of Eastman himself, I will still go to the shows. Why? Because I will usually bump into some friends there or find one or two items that some private sellers brought in. I have occasionally bought from a commercial dealer, but not often.

A couple of years ago, Eastman's wife used to take the money up front. She never once said "thank you" and would push the change into your hand in what I thought was a rude way. Now THAT used to get on my nerves...