DrVino received an email from Palmetto State Defense re: his order at amazon.com [full text after the jump]. According to the company’s comms, Amazon has squashed the gun parts manufacturer’s sales of 80 percent AR-15 lower receivers, barrels, magazines and “other products we sell.” Checking amazon.com for 80 percent lowers we found that Aimtrax is still selling them via the e-shopping giant – although there are just six in stock. We called them and a nice bloke told us that Amazon has them in its sights too . . .
“They’re currently ‘reviewing their policy,'” the spokesman said. “Google too.” Palmetto has set up their own store to flog their goods. Aimtrax is reviewing its options. “They’ll lose millions if they keep this up,” Aimtrax says. One can only hope.
Order ID xxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxxxx:
1 of 80% Lower Receiver (natural) [ASIN: B00EEC5QZO]
————- Begin message ————-
Well guys/girls, we had a good run on Amazon and we fought hard through a long appeals process, but in the end the powers to be at Amazon decided that PSD 80% Lower Receivers, barrels, magazines and other products we sell, were just too much of a risk for them and that we could no longer sell these top selling items. So, we opened our own store!
Please feel free to visit psdtactical.com and use the coupon code “Amazon” for 10% off your entire order.
Palmetto State Defense
864-469-9875
…a buddy and I just squeaked by and received our PSD 80% lowers from Amazon a couple weeks back. He’s completed his two and I’m in the queue.
Selling 80% lowers on Amazon strikes me as pushing the limits of their tolerance for selling gun stuff. Not unlike the recent Starbucks kerfuffle where people were open-carrying AT other people to provoke a reaction, though with a mercantile rather than political motivation.
Sure hope the “sell 80% lowers on Amazon” crowd doesn’t screw up the marketplace one can find there today for virtually everything else gun-related.
JMHO, but, it seems like buying an 80% over the Internet you might as well just register the thing, especially if you use Google. The NSA undoubtedly has that item tracked to your door.
Absolutely. And if you’re doing it through Amazon, you’re making it easy for even semi-competent agencies at state governments to get all the data they need via one-stop shopping, er, subpoena service.
With analytics software and your website visits the government can pretty much guess exactly what you have in your safe. Just think about how you go about researching a potential gun purchase, then you narrow to a specific gun, then you start looking at prices, then you all of a sudden stop looking at that gun and get an FFL ping, then you start looking for mags and ammo for that gun, then accessories for that gun. The output of a moderately sophisticated SW program ends up with a nice database with your name, list of firearms owned, and the projected % certitude that you in fact own it.
Then of coarse, have the SW, mine Youtube/Facebook/social media that quite nicely associate guns with faces and names.
Face it, they know what you have. Fortunately for us there are 10’s of millions of us and they can only hit so many on the first day surprise confiscation. The 2nd day will get a lot harder for them.
In that case Big Brother probably thinks I have a lot of guns I don’t… I spend quite a bit of time researching and ‘window shopping’ many guns and accessories that I never end up buying.
And that’s not even factoring in the concept that, hypothetically speaking, many of the serious gun owners may ensure that they never have all of their guns in one place at the same time.
They really don’t need a list of exactly which guns you need, they can have a very high level of certainty that you have guns, which is mainly what they want to know. Even if you’re careful, remember that the Post Office photographs every piece of mail it handles. They could have their software give them a list of everyone that receives a catalog from Midway or Brownell’s or Cabela’s or subscribes to Guns & Ammo or Outdoor Life, etc. As someone above said, our main strength is in our numbers, and those numbers are growing. Everyone needs to keep them growing – take a friend and their kids shooting, be a responsible and polite gun owner. When half the country owns guns, it’s going to be very hard for the antis to paint us as a kook fringe like they always try to do.
Exactly. Amazon might not be 100% pro-gun, but seeing as you can buy all other kinds of parts and accessories, they’re not anti-gun either. If I had a company that shipped nationwide, I would be very careful with stuff that has varying restrictions state by state too.
So you basically support the banning of a legal and unregulated firearm part? According to federal and state laws the 80% lower is as unregulated and legal as a magpul flipup sight or quad rail. This is a pro-gun site, not a site to promote and support gun control as your attitude suggests
Thanks, I needed a laugh.
As the Oklahoma sheriff said to the Yankee: “Boah, yew must be new ’round these here parts, to be spoutin’ hogwash like that.”
What you don’t realize is that Amazon started with LPKs, then pulled magazines, then barrels and “barrel shrouds” and now 80s. They are picking and choosing when, where and who to enforce their policies upon.
Even after numerous appeals and approvals, Amazon slowly whittled away at our web store to the point that we have no reason to sell on there.
Not sure if they’re picking you out for special attention or something, but I can readily find LPKs, handguards and complete free-float rails on Amazon. Just bought an LPK for a friend recently, as a matter of fact.
I’m neither shocked nor surprised that they decline to get involved in sales of magazines, receivers, and barrels, given how politically charged those items are.
Amazon has Enronized itself. It doesn’t really sell many products. Outside of E-books and other E-Products, Amazon is little more than a pass through broker. I have found that if you to directly to the merchant you will get a lower price most of the time than using Amazon.
Um, all retailers are just “pass through brokers.”
Except the ones that make their own products, which are actually a lot of smaller operations. Like Palmetto State Defense.
Clearly, you have never seen an Amazon distro center. Most of everything they sell comes from Amazon. Your statement is false.
I have not purchased anything from Amazon in the past two years that has actually come from Amazon. Case in point, I purchased a Coast tactical flashlight last october. It was shipped from optics planet. I purchased some cellphone batteries through Amazon last September and the batteries came from an electronics store in New Jersey. I could go on.
Attention to details will help you with this.
It’s not as obvious as when they first added third party vendors, but every item is clearly marked under the item title if it ships from a vendor other than amazon.
Wait…now I can’t buy anything via Amazon anymore?
There are some online markets I avoid because of their anti-gun stance but at least I can get accessories, parts, reloading equipment etc on Amazon.
Coupon code should be:
Bezosloses
Amazon still has lots of Magpul stuff, as for lowers that’s what Gunbroker.com is for.
Truth. On multiple occasions in the last year I’ve found Magpul parts I needed (e.g. USGI magazine “ranger plates”) and had a Prime order placed in single-digit minutes. I’ll pay an extra dollar or two if it means I don’t have to directly visit the sites of a bunch of Magpul dealers who *might* have them in stock, and who may take as long as 10 days to get them to me.
Nothing like ordering something and waiting 24-48 hours only to get a “we ain’t got it” email, right?
Ah, I see you’ve also ordered stuff from PSA and Bravo Company, then? 🙂
Wow! So strict they won’t sell mil spec paperweights???
http://www.amazon.com/Series-15-Lower-Paper-Weight/dp/B00IIEAD7K/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1393892752&sr=8-7&keywords=80%25+lower+receiver
Haha! “paper weight”
FTW! Love it!
When Home Depot started passing hi-intensity grow light purchases to the DEA and pipe purchases to the FBI I gave up on an pretense of a private life in America. These guys who purchase 80% lowers think they have somehow circumvented the system. SURPRISE 🙂 the govt knows exactly what you have bought.
Home Depot can’t pass on information if you buy with cash.
You are full of it. Even if people go to home depot to buy grow lights I assume to grow illegal things who the hell would pay with a credit card?
As for 80% lowers they are available all over the private sale market. In MN here there is about 4 people I know through armslist who have the jigs and machines and they allow people who buy legal and unregulated 80% lowers to come to their homes and finish their lowers for free or a low fee.
Quit thinking you are important enough for the gov to care what you do or buy, you are not.
Too much of a risk? What is the risk? That Amazon will be deemed a retailer and thus subject to potential products liability claims? It is possible, they are in the “stream of commerce.” Which is unlike Gunbroker or Guns America or Armslist, which are merely paid billboards, not retailers. Hmmm. Interesting. or maybe just political.
Its run by a bunch of hippies from Seattle. What did you expect?
Bingo. They are simple overhead.
They already disallowed triggers after Sandy Hook, so I am not surprised. They still allow eotechs all day long.
Use coupon code “Amazon” for 10% off.
Hah!
Oh well. That’s Amazon’s loss, and their gain.
I wonder how much longer before they get rid of the solvent trap adapters.
I’ve bought a lot of accessories for my firearms off of Amazon. There are still plenty of items that are available from the site. I think the key part of the email is right here, “but in the end the powers to be at Amazon decided that PSD 80% Lower Receivers, barrels, magazines and other products we sell, were just too much of a risk for them”. You KNOW the federal government is going to start scrutinizing any interstate commerce in the interest of control. It seems that Amazon is trying to be safe, and I don’t have a problem with that.
So a company with PE of over 600 wants a PE of 700? Whoopie!
Thanks for covering this. It is getting harder and harder for retailers and manufacturers in this industry. It seems a lot of the big name stores, CC processors, banks etc. are making political statements and choosing sides.
Our new web store is in it’s infancy but we will be adding to it daily.
Also, I apologize to the all of customers that have been trying to contact us through amazon. We are up and running with the new site. Thanks for all the new orders.
…Sir – FYI. We’ve been very happy with your product. My buddy’s turned out very nice. Now I just hope I don’t screw up the drilling/milling on mine!
Thank you! Glad you are happy with them. It’s always good to know that people actually complete these.
Good luck with yours. It’s really not that hard of a process. Attention to detail and patience will get it done.
I am also extremely pleased with the M4 style premium upper/Vortex Strikefire combo you guys built for me. My first AR-15, and if I get another, I know where to turn. Thanks!
As screwed up as our country is, it still makes me happy that we have choices as to where we spend our cash or swipe our card, online or in face to face situations.
Support what you can, and in terms of behaviorist speak, negatively punish anything that you do not want to support.
As a cyclist, I very much still support Crest toothpaste, and Barbasol shaving cream for their contributions to local teams for God knows how many years. Well, that and they make pretty decent products. I don’t support Nahsbar/Performance bike for making contracts with suppliers that undercut independent bike shops by selling last year’s products at prices the LBS’s could never sell at. The same with Cheaper than Dirt’s tactics… they’ll never see my face or my money.
Vote with your cash, and with your voice.
Strange to see supposed gun rights supporters not support the sale of a LEGAL and UNREGULATED 80% lower on any site.
While if I want a lower not registered in my name I will hit the private sale market and buy a 100% or 80% locally, I still support one’s right to buy a LEGAL and UNREGULATED firearm part online without being flagged by gov or chastised by fellow gun people.
The 80% lower by federal and state gun laws does not meet the requirement of being regulated. What’s the problem?
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