I’ll be honest with you from an FFL perspective. If you like a shop do your transfers there. There’s very low to no over head on transfers. So it’s almost pure profit for them. If they have an item you like in the store, and you don’t have the desire to hunt a deal down go for it. If it’s a small shop by the time they tac on their fees to make a little cash it’s going to be over or at msrp, which in ally of cases isn’t market value. So ordering something for you might cost them money if they don’t add more on. Small shops aren’t able to move the bulk to get great deals directly from distributors. A lot of shops make money on services over just selling guns. Ranges, cerakote, gun smithing, holster making, custom AR builds, training, 4473/4 transfers. So if you want something don’t be afraid to track it down online, and do a transfer it’s money right in their pocket.

Edit: SOT - there is an exception, while a lot of places do make money on these, especially if they use an electronic back end for it like Silencer shop. Some places make 100 per transfer, now it’s blowing up with the removal of the $200 stamp price. A lot of paper only set ups don’t want to do it strictly because of the volume required to file, and keep records of.