Taking Requests For New Gun Models

[particle]

I have a pretty small lineup of gun models I can build holsters for and am always getting requests to build holsters for new models. I try to keep track of requests, and if there's enough interest, I'll order the dummy. It's not scientific... I just save the emails and make a mental note of the model. If I remember getting a few requests, I'll search my email to count the requests. If there was notable past interest, I'll go ahead and buy the dummy if it's available.

Lately, my wife has been pushing me to charge a fee for doing a holster for a new model. It's pretty much a "if you really want me to build you a holster for a gun I don't have, I'm going to have to charge a 'special request' fee". I doubt many customers will take kindly to it, but they don't know the amount of time involved in generating a holster for a new gun. Plus, if they want a mag pouch, I typically buy two magazines (for forming double mag pouches). Obviously, there is no guarantee I'll get repeat orders for that dummy gun, which is another justification for the fee.

My question is - how do you handle these special requests? Do you charge a premium? Or do you buy the dummy and mag(s) and then immediately sell it/them if you don't think you'll get more orders for it? I thought about placing some kind of poll on my website, but not sure how I'd do that since there are so many models out there.

Previously, our canned response was basically "I'm sorry, but we don't currently have a dummy for that gun. We'll make a note of your request in case there is future interest in that model." or something along that line.

I guess it's okay to "just say no", but I'm a "yes" man by nature...

[steelhawk]

I will consider buying a new dummy gun if it is a popular model. I just bought two last week, from Rob, here on the forum. For a new gun, I draw out a pattern then take some less than perfect leather and make a test holster, just a bit bigger than the stitch lines. I sew it up and wet form it to see if it needs an adjustment. I make an adjustment, if needed, then go ahead and do the real one.

I've made about a dozen holsters using the customer's gun. One guy drove 90 miles twice to get a holster for his gun, since he couldn't find one anywhere. I didn't know he had driven that far until he came to pick up the finished holster and belt.

When Ruger came out with the LC9, I bought one to make holsters with since no dummy gun was available. I also wanted it.

Edited January 19, 2012 by steelhawk

[Big G]

i dont think most customers recognize the development process involved. even after purchasing a dummy it takes me three tries to get a holster where i am happy with it. i use cheap bellies for my trial fittings.i have my own guns and a few airsoft replicas i use for forming, i dont have a website , and make holsters to support my addiction . if i was full time builder i would invest in the blue gun and charge a small custom charge. dont think a customer would care about the extra charge

[Shooter McGavin]

If it's available I'll buy it. Even if its an oddball like the Ruger P95 I recently did. Ya, maybe you only break even on the first holster, but then you have the dummy gun forever.

Also consider the inquiries and orders that YOU DONT KNOW you arent getting because you dont have the gun models listed on your website.

I pretty much have every gun that Rings makes listed in my "gun list" so if someone browses by they see their gun listed. If they place an order and I dont actually own the dummy gun, I go ahead and order it. They typically arrive before I'm ready to start their build so all is well.

[Steven Kelley]

If I get a request for a holster that I don't have a mold for, and there is a mold available, I will purchase it without charging the customer anything extra. With the price of materials and the mold, I don't lose money on the holster. I've gotten a lot of repeat business from customers that I've done this for. I've also received referrals from them. So I think it's a good move in a business sense. For magazines, I usually only purchase 1, even if they order a double mag carrier. I can mold the doubles with one mag, just doing one side at a time. It's a little more work, but it saves the cost of 2 mags. I'm sure I have a few molds that I'll never use again, but it helps build a good reputation, and if the customer posts their experience on a few forums, you'll likely get a few orders from it.

[Big O]

If it's a very popular model that I just don't have yet, I'll just go ahead and buy it. (Example: Ruger LCP)

If it's a moderately popular one, and I have at least TWO people wanting holsters, I'll go ahead and buy it. (Example: S&W M&P)

Otherwise, I'll offer to design/mold the holster from the customer's pistol (if local), or ask him to either pay for the blue gun or order at least two holsters.

(But this is just a hobby for me so far)

[Abram]

I have thought about this since I started making holsters. I have only two or three real pistols to work from. My thought, and I am not a business owner, what if you could add a small surcharge to all new holster orders until the investment for that particular blue gun was paid? You of course would have to make the initial investment and there are no guarantees that you would recoup the money, just a thought.

[Lobo]

Life was pretty simple when I sold my first holster 40 years ago. Half-a-dozen handgun manufacturers, each offering half-a-dozen models. Now there are dozens of manufacturers, each offering dozens of models, and the latest "new and improved" handgun comes out just about every week or so.

At last count I had 5 dummy 1911's. I also have 28 pistols of that style in my collection, starting with a pre-WW1 commercial Colt and ending with currently produced pieces. There are still holster requests for 1911's that I can't make.

Dummies are usually available only for current production pieces that have a significant market share. Out of production handguns are quickly dropped. New handgun models may take several months before dummies become available, if ever.

I've had customers offer to pay for a dummy. I've had more customers lecture me about how much business I would have if I'd just be reasonable and get what they want. I've had customers place orders requiring dummies, ordered the dummies, then had those orders cancelled. I've bought dummies that were used once, then set aside for a year or two before receiving another order. I've bought actual handguns that have paid for themselves in holster orders over a few weeks' time. I've had customers ship their custom one-of-a-kind handguns to me, with overnight freight charges and FFL transfer fees at both ends, to have holsters made.

A couple of years ago I was receiving countless inquiries for the Ruger LCP and S&W Bodyguard .380. Looking at the handguns, and looking at my holster designs, I didn't see how those tiny semi-autos would be well-served by most holster designs, so I didn't go there. Now I hear very little about those two pieces, but am receiving quite a few inquiries for the Ruger LC9, Walther PPQ, and a couple of others. Bought a Sig P238, made a dozen or so holsters with it, now it sits in the gun safe and I'm getting requests for the Sig P290 (which I haven't even seen yet). Next week it will be something else.

One thing I know that can be counted on in this business is that there will be at least one e-mail every day from someone wanting something I can't make. That won't change, no matter how many guns I have on hand. Every time something new hits the market there will be a spike of interest; sometimes demand will be sure and steady, sometimes there will be a spurt of orders followed by nothing. If you hear of somebody that makes these calls right all the time be sure and get your lotto numbers and Super Bowl predictions.

As far as asking customers to pay for forming pieces, or charging a surcharge on new models, etc, I think that would result in more negative reaction than positive.

Best regards.

[particle]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Sounds like I need to try harder to reserve some of my sales income for future dummy purchases. We used to have every sale broken down to a percentage. X% to the family budget, X% to supplies, X% towards new equipment, etc. Family responsibilities picked up (scouts, church activities, etc.), holster income dropped off a bit, now 100% of my holster income goes straight towards monthly living expenses. Love the idea of buying the real gun, but I'll need to generate considerably more income from sales because it would take a while to offset the cost of the gun (a $500 gun leaves me $500 in the hole until I can build enough holsters to recover the purchase price, then I still need to build X more to meet my monthly budget). I'm only averaging about 100 orders per year right now since I still work an 8-5 job plus family time before I can work on holsters. Looks like I need to be more proactive with the dummy gun models and decide which ones I'd like to add to my collection, then post them on my website and order the dummy once an order is received. That way I can keep building my collection, but not always feel obligated to buy a new dummy that I don't care to own right now just because someone requested it.

[K-Man]

At one time I had 200+ dummy and genuine guns for the purpose of making holsters. I now have about 25. If someone contacted me and asked if I could make a holster for xxxx gun, and it was available, I would purchase either the genuine or dummy version - preferably the dummy version. Duncan's used to offer quite a list and now they've pared that down significantly. Ring's has expanded their list over the last 3-4 years.

The inquiries I get now center on the pocket sized guns. So, yes, there's still a lot of interest in the Ruger LCP, the S&W Bodyguard .380, the SIG P238, the Kahr P380, etc., etc.

If someone contacted me for a holster for a gun I didn't have, I would reach out and investigate really how much discussion there is about it, get in touch with my contacts at the various gun manufacturers, talk to the well-respected mag writers to try and get a sense of the worthiness of the gun and whether or not it's going to be a popular model. See what there is for inquiries from potential customers; are they private citizens, are they law enforcement, what's their background, etc. For example, my experience has been that a law enforcement background usually indicates a higher number because normally their dept is dictating what guns they can carry. Then you'll just have to make a judgment call on acquiring the genuine or dummy version of gun.

It's really a crap shoot on what's going to be popular and get a fair number of orders for. You'll get a rush after SHOT, which just ended, for whatever new guns are coming out.

I turn down orders every day now for guns I don't have. My situation is a bit different from yours in that I'm limited on space - space for storage of those guns, space for the extra materials it takes to make holsters for those guns, i.e. clicker dies, hardware, leather. While it's tempting to take on those orders, it's just not practical.

IMO, you have to decide, along with everything else, what guns you want to do. You don't have to say yes every time. I would only say yes now every time if I wanted to expand the business to a full fledge holster shop.

[RMB Custom Leather]

Here is my top 12 sellers. I would say that the ne PPQ will end up making the list shortly becuase it seems to be poplar since the blue gun came out. I have posted this before but thought it fit in with this tread also.

FSLC9 Ruger LC9

FSLCP Ruger LCP

FSG26 Glock 26/27/33

FSSWMP40C S&W M&P 40 Compact 3.5"

FSTJ4510PD Taurus 4510 The Judge 2" Public Defender

FSBG380 S&W Bodyguard .380

FSLCR Ruger LCR

FSPX9801L Springfield Micro Compact 1911 3"

FSG19 Glock 19/23/32

FS1911 Colt 1911

FSG17 Glock 17/22/31

FSXDM40 Springfield XDM 40

[cjcinin317]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Sounds like I need to try harder to reserve some of my sales income for future dummy purchases. We used to have every sale broken down to a percentage. X% to the family budget, X% to supplies, X% towards new equipment, etc. Family responsibilities picked up (scouts, church activities, etc.), holster income dropped off a bit, now 100% of my holster income goes straight towards monthly living expenses. Love the idea of buying the real gun, but I'll need to generate considerably more income from sales because it would take a while to offset the cost of the gun (a $500 gun leaves me $500 in the hole until I can build enough holsters to recover the purchase price, then I still need to build X more to meet my monthly budget). I'm only averaging about 100 orders per year right now since I still work an 8-5 job plus family time before I can work on holsters. Looks like I need to be more proactive with the dummy gun models and decide which ones I'd like to add to my collection, then post them on my website and order the dummy once an order is received. That way I can keep building my collection, but not always feel obligated to buy a new dummy that I don't care to own right now just because someone requested it.

If I where you I would make up patterns and mock holsters for the IWB you have posted elswhere on here for the guns you have. Add to your site and a few forums and forget about money. Just awesome work. You will be very busy I think. And it's always ok to say NO! It's hard but it's ok.

CJ

[woodandsteel]

I'm in a similar position as you. I have a full time job, wife, and other duties and can only turn out 1-2 holsters a week. I don't make much at my day job, and my wife is a grad student, so more often than not, most of the income from holsters ends up getting used for living expenses.

If a dummy gun is available for the customer's gun, I've gone ahead and ordered it and just sucked it up as the cost of doing business. Most of those have ended up being used again for additional orders. Several customers have come back and ordered additional holsters for the same gun. I can't see charging a customer extra to order a dummy, or to develop a pattern, assuming it's something I'll use again, like a standard IWB, pancake, etc.

Lately, though, I have started questioning whether it's worth advertising the option to do custom work, as opposed to just offering set models. I have had several custom requests for holster ideas that I know are not going to be very practical, or work well, and which have ended up requiring long email correspondences, and multiple design sketches, requiring valuable time on top of the existing orders I'm trying to fill.

[Denster]

Particle

Just a suggestion. Since it doesn't seem like you have the available time to make a great deal more holsters per month. Why not calculate at the best how many more you could turn out and use that figure to decide on the most frequently requested one to four additional blue guns to buy.

[lonerider]

I've offered customers this, Pay $10 extra for to go toward the $40 for the Blue Gun for this holster and I'll knock off $10 for your next one ordered.

Here is my top 12 sellers. I would say that the ne PPQ will end up making the list shortly becuase it seems to be poplar since the blue gun came out. I have posted this before but thought it fit in with this tread also.

FSLC9 Ruger LC9

FSLCP Ruger LCP

FSG26 Glock 26/27/33

FSSWMP40C S&W M&P 40 Compact 3.5"

FSTJ4510PD Taurus 4510 The Judge 2" Public Defender

FSBG380 S&W Bodyguard .380

FSLCR Ruger LCR

FSPX9801L Springfield Micro Compact 1911 3"

FSG19 Glock 19/23/32

FS1911 Colt 1911

FSG17 Glock 17/22/31

FSXDM40 Springfield XDM 40

I've got 7 of those so far!! Plus a Sig P226 and a S&W J-Frame

[frmntx]

Here is my top 12 sellers. I would say that the ne PPQ will end up making the list shortly becuase it seems to be poplar since the blue gun came out. I have posted this before but thought it fit in with this tread also.

FSLC9 Ruger LC9

FSLCP Ruger LCP

FSG26 Glock 26/27/33

FSSWMP40C S&W M&P 40 Compact 3.5"

FSTJ4510PD Taurus 4510 The Judge 2" Public Defender

FSBG380 S&W Bodyguard .380

FSLCR Ruger LCR

FSPX9801L Springfield Micro Compact 1911 3"

FSG19 Glock 19/23/32

FS1911 Colt 1911

FSG17 Glock 17/22/31

FSXDM40 Springfield XDM 40

Is there a specific reason no one makes blue guns for Kimbers? I have more requests than I could fill...if I had a blue gun.

[chiefjason]

My way less than scientific way of doing things. If I have multiple requests I'll try to get it. If the holster they want will cover the cost, I'll get it and figure on taking 2 holsters to make money. If it's really popular I try to get it. I REALLY lucked up and my local gun store got a blue gun for the Shield before they were available. I managed to borrow it a couple times and make up about 15 hybrid holsters, mostly OWB. I have 2 left. I sold a bunch before anyone else could really make them. I'm considering buying the next possibly popular gun that comes down the line and getting a jump on that one. But that will be a while.

I'm also doing this in my spare time, what little I have. And it is really more than I expected. My main problem is that since I am pricing low right now to build up a name, it takes 4-5 OWB holsters to really see a profit on a blue gun. And you win some you loose some. The Kahr PM9 is a big seller right now. I borrowed an LC9 and sold enough that I went ahead an bought the blue gun too. But I have a Walther and the SR9 that are not looking real promising.

Oh, and I have bought all of mine from RMB and the service has been great. I just got the XDs in today and started some holsters tonight.

And another thing I was told early on. Don't plan on making any money the first year. It's not too far off. Almost everything I would consider profit has gone back into tools, blue guns, and other supplies to make things go smoother. But I'm selling them and having fun doing it.