Ethical and not so ethical depends upon the owner of the gun shop.
I have seen shops where I would do whatever I could to get top dollar while other shops I absolutely respect.
It is a hit and miss proposition depending upon the store owner and its employees.
If this guy is a jerk then do all you can to rip him off.
If this guy is honest then respect him and his business.

I have seen all kinds of 'gun salesmen' and the state you live in does not matter. If you trust the owner and his or her employees then you have to be on the right path.
It's all about money for those who want it.
It's all about honest business for those who want it.
John St.

I often visit a gun shop/firing range and know the owners well. Was in there one day and a guy brought in a Luger and offered it to the owner. Owner tells him, "I don't buy Lugers, they're too hard to sell here, but see if Harry is interested." All matching, 1937 including magazine for $300. Considered myself lucky.

Hairy, your 1900 AE is coming up next week to finish! I hope when you get it back you will feel the same way.

My local gun shop has a nice "gentlemanly" system in place :

The shop has two large park benches for folks to sit on. There are 3-5 regular retired collectors that spend most of their days sitting on these benches waiting for "walk in" guns to appear.

The "system" is such that the shop folks have the first right of inspection to purchase or reject the walk-in piece(s). Makes sense; since it is their shop, they pay the rent, and they provide the park benches...

If rejected, the older fellows on the park benches get their chance to work a deal with the walk-in piece owner...

Everyone seems to "win" here...

p.s. As a side note, these retired guys sitting on the park benches are a wealth of information about collecting...!!!

Regards,

Pete...

Manners. There is nothing that you need or desire that would necessitate the abandonment of manners. This is how you show respect to your fellow man. It demonstrates that you are large of spirit and mind, and can enjoy the good fortune of others in a good bargain well-struck, and removes greed from the interaction of buyer, seller, and bystander.
If you do not admire a dealer because of traits that he displays, such as fast dealing, cheating, rude behavior, taking advantage of the ignorant, then show him a better way. Do this with admirable actions that would impress him and rekindle the dampened ashes of shame.
If you truly disdain his immature traits, then do not immediately adopt them as your own and display them in front of the dealer with the ill-fated hope of causing him to mend his ways. If you revert to childish manners, such as cutting into line, taking the last cookie, calling names in return, rolling on the floor in a kicking tantrum, tit-for-tat, or snatching a purchase from under the nose of a dealer, then you are merely using the dealer as an excuse to display your true bent of heart.
If you proclaim judgement upon the dealer and dispense justice with rude, selfish, immature behavior, thereby spoiling a potential transaction, beware - you have just issued judgement upon yourself for your own recent behavior (and bystanders will be wary of you, with just cause).
Let us be men, aspire to a set of ideals, a code of ethics, and a manner conduct that would lift our base composition, and act in such a way that we, and any others that may be watching, unnoticed, may respect ourselves .

Reading Sgt Art's story about posting a weapon on a board and someone tracking it down and buying from under you reminds me of the fact that I will never give information on the location of a prospective purchase. My work takes me up to 300 miles from home so a "pawn shop" could be anywhere from 25 to 250 miles from home. Good Luck to anyone trying it with me.
On Jamese' post about the dealer that snatched the 1900 AE from him, I never give a dealer information about a gun I buy, even after I have it home. An example was a Reichswehr reworked police Luger I saw this week, kept mum about the Hanael Schmiesser stainless mag.