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I've bought some stuff from CTD before and their very high shipping costs never sunk in before today.

They had a special on "Zombie" splatter targets and I thought that would be fun for range time, so I put 4 packs in the virtual cart. Merchandise was $30 and shipping was $15. Wow! So I thought I would throw in a couple of magazines and then the shipping cost doubled to over 30 bucks. Wow! No, we're not that far away - we're in the hill country.

I sent them an email stating I am now a former customer unless their unrealistic shipping costs change. There are too many other choices out there. Obviously they are low balling their merchandise and making up for it on the back end.

Just venting...

I noticed that a long time ago! You also have to add tax being that they are based near Dallas! There shipping is ridiculous unless the ammo is really cheap and on sale. I find that ammunition to go is cheaper by far when you calculate shipping. I saved 20 bucks for the same ammo just because of shipping and both are in Texas. Midway is even cheaper sometimes and their ammo is way over priced but shipping is way cheaper.

johncanfield wrote:I sent them an email stating I am now a former customer unless their unrealistic shipping costs change. There are too many other choices out there. Obviously they are low balling their merchandise and making up for it on the back end.

That's new. The prices used to be mediocre and then they tacked on the egregious shipping charges.

I've passed up many orders for the same reason. Got to the cart and saw shipping charges and closed the browser.

Also another good one if you buy boxes of ten or more is Able Ammo in Huntsville. Not the cheapest but when I lived in Huntsville during college I could pick it up for free, it was way cheaper that way! Another one that might sound silly is order ammo with friends and family, I do all the time. I ordered 300 rounds of buckshot and 5000 rounds of 9mm and a 1000 of 10mm about 6 months ago. 250 rounds of buck and 4000 rounds of 9mm for friends and family. I got the 10mm and what was left over and it saved us all a little because bulk and shipping as one.

Or you could just reload!

Cheaper Than Dirt is not Cheaper Than Dirt. Never has been.

Have ordered from the several times, always good prices and shipping was good price and fast. I have put stuff in my cart from then and a few other places and it has always came out cheaper from them even with taxes. I know now it shows stuff at several places, if you order stuff from diffrent locations the shipping is higher.

Shipping is never an easy issue, but I agree that CTD _seems_ to have higher-than-average shipping calculations. It's such an odd game, and one I'm still learning, now that I'm on the "dealer side." Taxes also complicates things a bit within Texas (but don't worry, I'm guessing we will be taxed on goods no matter what state we buy in within five years).

Sometimes you can find some great deals at places. Ammoseek.com, for instance, is a nice place to find good deals on ammo that lets you comparatively shop.

Not sure if this violates the forum rules (if it does, I'm sure I'll be asked to edit), but if you live in the Austin area and are looking for something that's expensive elsewhere (cost + shipping, for instance), PM me and I'll see what I can find for ya.

Here is a great example seeing that I just bought 125 rounds of 20 gauge buck.
All prices included shipping and tax.All of these are #3 buck. They are all Winchester, Federal, Remington. What ever is cheapest they all work great.

Cheaper then dirt $118.01

midway- $118.48

Ammunition to go- 118.24

Able ammo - 107.87

Academy in store(if you could find 25 boxes) 132.54

As you can see they are all very close. Able was cheaper because it was on sale and shipping is about 3 bucks cheaper. You need to buy 5-6 boxes online to be as cheap as Academy to make up for the shipping costs. Keep that in mind when you order online. It's better to buy in bulk and buy ammo for at least 6 months at a time if you can afford it. For the most part almost nobody beats Wal-mart after you factor in shipping. Get all your common calibers at wally world!

Able usually takes a little longer to ship but I am in no hurry. I have plenty on hand I just don't want to dip into my reserves because I hope to put 50-100 rounds down range this week with my new Knoxx stock.

EDIT: Don't get to depressed because it is only going to get worse after the first of the year. Fedex and UPS both said they are raising rates 4.9-6.9% depending on what type of shipping.

Between their shipping and tax, I usually find things cheaper elsewhere. Or they don't have everything I 'm looking to order, and it's cheaper to pay more at another place with one shipping charge than split the order and pay 2 shipping charges.

Their usually the last place i'll look. They were scalping on ammo horribly during the ammo shortage. I remember them selling. 380 range fodder for $80 a box (plus shipping and tax).

CC Italian wrote:Here is a great example seeing that I just bought 125 rounds of 20 gauge buck.
All prices included shipping and tax.All of these are #3 buck. They are all Winchester, Federal, Remington. What ever is cheapest they all work great.

Cheaper then dirt $118.01

midway- $118.48

Ammunition to go- 118.24

Able ammo - 107.87

Academy in store(if you could find 25 boxes) 132.54

As you can see they are all very close. Able was cheaper because it was on sale and shipping is about 3 bucks cheaper. You need to buy 5-6 boxes online to be as cheap as Academy to make up for the shipping costs. Keep that in mind when you order online. It's better to buy in bulk and buy ammo for at least 6 months at a time if you can afford it. For the most part almost nobody beats Wal-mart after you factor in shipping. Get all your common calibers at wally world!

I was disapointed with the price of .40 at walmart my last trip and went online to find a better deal in bulk, and just looking at the prices of the brands you can get at walmart, I couldnt find a single site that listed them at a lower price let alone a low enough price to counter the shipping cost.

Vote with your wallet. If an online store has large shipping charges, I take them off my shopping list.

Wally World around here (hill country) seems to be the most cost-effective at least for white-box target ammo. Last week I bought 5 - 100 round boxes of Winchester target 9 mm Luger for about $22 a box if I recall correctly. Big issue with them is a poor selection and all they had was 500 rounds in bulk. I've been disappointed I can't do a lot better on-line.

I think I have ordered from Able before.

Thanks for the kind offer OldCannon but we're about a two hour drive from Austin.

tbrown wrote:Vote with your wallet. If an online store has large shipping charges, I take them off my shopping list.

I can accept shipping charges because I don't pay a dime for gas to the store. City driving round trip to Wallyworld is about 20 miles. That's a gallon of gas if not a hair more. So that's $3.00+ I can take of the shipping charge. Plus CTD drops what I want on my doorstep in 1 or 2 days. If I am not in a rush I don't have to bother with the crowd or the fuss of the Wallyworld experience. CTD and other ammo online shippers get my thumbs up.