Lipseys vs RSR

What each one lists most of

Lipseys and RSR describe their catalogs in their own words, and we resolve both against one shared product vocabulary before counting. A category below therefore means the same thing on either side. Each list is that distributor’s own largest categories, counted in active listings.

Firearm, Parts & Components, Optic, Ammunition, Magazine and Holster appear in both lists, so those counts can be read against each other directly.

Each list stops at that distributor’s eight largest categories. A category on one list and not the other is one we have not counted here, not one that distributor does not carry.

Where each one will ship it

Taken from each company’s own site on the dates shown on their individual pages. Running a drop-ship programme and naming where the parcel goes are separate questions, and most distributors answer only the first — so “Not stated” below means they have not published it, not that they refuse.

RSR says they drop-ship but does not publish where the parcel goes. Ask them before you promise a customer a delivery address.

Every distributor here ships to your own licensed premises — that is what a wholesale account is, not a policy any one of them publishes. Confirm anything you will act on directly with the distributor.

Which should you open?

RSR lists 29,796 distinct UPCs to Lipseys's 19,259 — about 1.5× the breadth. 8,955 UPCs are carried by both — 46% of what Lipseys lists and 30% of what RSR lists. Beyond that overlap, 10,304 UPCs appear on Lipseys alone and 20,841 on RSR alone. If you open one account, RSR is the wider of the two on its own — it leaves 10,304 UPCs unreachable, against 20,841 if you open Lipseys instead. Carrying both reaches 40,100 distinct UPCs, 10,304 more than RSR covers alone. The largest category in both lists is Firearm — Lipseys lists 13,561 there to RSR's 8,311. Both feeds answered us 99.9% of the time over the window we monitor.

This is arithmetic on the counts above, not a recommendation of one company over the other. Which account is worth opening also depends on terms and on what your customers ask for, neither of which is in the catalog data we measure. What each company publishes about shipping destinations is in the table above it.

Applying for a dealer account

• Apply for a Lipseys dealer account — An Exclusive Firearms listing — a model Lipsey's describes as produced specifically for its own distribution — may arrive here with no match from another feed to set beside it, so expect it to appear as a single source rather than as one of several listings to weigh against each other.
• Apply for a RSR dealer account — API access for your own store is a separate request after the account is active.

Both links leave this site. Applications are submitted to, reviewed by, and approved by the distributor themselves — Project Parabellum is not part of that process and cannot speed it up or vouch for you.