Air Gun Home :: View topic - Benjamin Discovery for $300 online at walmart!

viper2788 · Member

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Benjamim-Discovery-.22-Caliber-PCP-Powered-Carbine-with-High-Pressure-Hand-Pump/14234837

Brand new(gun+hand pump)! Is this too good to be true? I mean most online stores such as Pyramyd sell it for around $400, which is their "sale price." Could I get some confirmation on this being the legit thing? Hell, I may just order this tonight... Mr. Green

AirGunEric · Site Admin

What you are seeing is more of Crosman becoming a "big box" producer. When they made "special" models for the likes of WalMart- other stores could deal with it, but now it appears as though they are letting WalMart carry the entire product line- at prices that obviously allow WalMart to undercut everyone if they so choose to do.

As long as they only do this periodically on certain models- probably not a big deal for specialty stores- but if they start doing it on all the products- ultimately Crosman and the consumer will be hurt as specialty shops will discontinue selling products that they cannot compete on. Crosman could get addicted to Walmart- and if they do, WalMart runs the show- not Crosman. New models? Not likely. Extra effort, engineering and QC- also not likely. All production going overseas- pretty likely.

Anyone who ever read a business magazine is aware WalMart can break you if you aren't a huge multinational already (Crosman does not fit this category, multinational- sort of, huge- no)- and will attempt to break you to get the bottom-barrel price. Look at Daisy- they seem to have been trapped in this scenario and have not, in as far as anyone can tell- produced a truly new product in years, have lost alot of market share and rely on WalMart selling millions of Red Ryders to stay in business.

Either way, irrelevant from a purchase perspective- if it's a deal, it's a deal and hopefully WalMart doesn't outsmart Crosman in the long run.

radar · Silver Status Member

I got the last one at Scheel's before Christmas at $299 including pump...so its not unheard of...but I'd grab it if you don't have one (or enough of them.) Mr. Green

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Just to give an example, and this is only applicable to the US (other countries have different prices, all higher)- at $299.99 no dealer except those with specially negotiated prices (i.e. big boxes) is making a cent- the consumer is basically paying what a regular US dealer would be paying, if that dealer had some amount of sales volume with Crosman to get the maximum applicable discount. As such, it is unlikely a price lower than $299.99 is to be found, except perhaps at bankruptcy or lost-freight auctions.

viper2788 · Member

Hmm, just three days after making this thread, the price jumped up to $330 and its out of stock all of the sudden... lol perhaps i should have kept my mouth shut!

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Funny- probably had nothing to do with you- maybe just a "clear-out" for Wal-Mart (thus the now "out of stock" situation)...

mtsheron · Member

My only issue with the Benji Disco.................that butt ugly stock!!! If they would put a Marauder styled stock on it then that gun would more than likely sell off the charts more so than they could imagine!

robert w · Senior Member

and when other stores price match sometimes they loose ,hoping you will buy something else to cover their losses . i hate walmart dont buy much there except shotgun news and crosman cphps

radar · Silver Status Member

Scheel's here has been out of discos too since I got the last one at $299 before Christmas. I think they dropped them. No shelf space for them anymore. Now all they have is cheaper .177 cal. break-barrel springers and a few plastic pump-up pneumatics.

viper2788 · Member