Is Guidefitter a Scam?

“Seems too good to be true...”

We see this question posed from time to time on our social media channels, in messages to our Customer Service team, and as a Google search query that results in traffic to our website.

The question is usually something like,

“Is this Guidefitter thing for getting discounts on hunting, fishing and outdoor gear a scam? Seems too good to be true. And why are they asking me for my information!?”

It’s understandable that some people may be skeptical about Guidefitter and wonder if what we do is a scam. Anytime I see something on the Internet that seems too good to be true, it usually is or there is some kind of catch in the fine print. With more and more unscrupulous hackers and scammers out there, one can’t be too careful.

Fortunately for everyone, Guidefitter is not a scam.

We are a real and thriving company, based in the United States that I founded in 2011. I grew up in rural Maryland and Pennsylvania hunting and fishing with my dad, uncle and the rest of my family, and wanted to create a company with a focus on helping the professional hunting and fishing guiding industry.

To support that mission, Guidefitter works closely with nearly 200 outdoor gear manufacturers to help them operate guide/outfitter programs as well as other pro purchase programs, including programs for first responders, members of the military community, outdoor government employees, wildlife conservation organizations, outdoor educators and more.

We work with leading brands such as Leica Sport Optics, Traeger Grills, Mystery Ranch Backpacks, Hornady, Federal, Weatherby, Zeiss Sport Optics, Vortex optics, Benchmade knives, Kenetrek boots and many more to help locate and verify eligible pro program members and put products into their hands through discounted ecommerce sales on Guidefitter’s gated shopping platform.

Most outdoor gear brands have established special pro purchase programs to provide incentives for certain kinds of outdoor industry influencers to purchase their products at terrific discounts. The brands do not offer these discounts to everyone - only to certain groups of individuals that they believe are well positioned to help them spread the word about their brand and products. If you are a professional hunting guide that actively takes clients out on hunting trips, then you are a valuable influencer for these brands. You use much of the gear yourself to perform your job as a guide, and you’ve seen many situations where gear either performs well for you and your clients, under a diverse set of use cases, or where the gear falls short and has let you down.

Guides are, or should be, the pro athletes in the sport of hunting and fishing and therefore, gear brands want guides to be using and spreading the word about their products. This is why brands are willing to deeply discount their products for verified guides, as well as other various types of individuals that also have unique influence, like game wardens, employees of state fish and game departments, shooting or hunters instructors and other types of people who may be important to a brand or that the brand would want to support in general - like first responders, active duty military and veterans.

Since the discounts offered by brands are not open to everyone, one of the valuable services Guidefitter offers is helping the brands verify that someone applying to their pro purchase programs is in fact eligible. This is why Guidefitter collects “verification documentation” from people who apply for our partners’ pro purchase programs on Guidefitter.com. We must be able to verify that someone is really, for sure, no question, actively working as a professional hunting guide this year, for example, before we grant that person access to a brand’s discount program.

Our brand partners rely on Guidefitter to enforce their program eligibility rules, which means our reputation is on the line when we say, “Yes - this person is really a guide.” or, “Yes, we’ve verified this person is an honorably-discharged veteran.” or, “Yes, this person is currently employed at a wildlife conservation organization that our partners want to support.” This is why we require various forms of documentation or information that can help us “make the case” for why someone is eligible for the great gear discounts available through our partners’ pro purchase programs.

We are extremely careful about how we handle the information that is provided to us. For example, if a military veteran sends us a DD-214 (a Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty document provided by the department of defense), we use it to verify eligibility for military program discounts, and then immediately delete it from our systems. We sometimes ask to see a recent pay stub so that we can verify current employment with an eligible employer, but we do not require access to private information such as social security numbers or rate of pay. We prefer that this information be redacted before sending to us for verification.

In short, I’m happy to report that no, Guidefitter is definitely not a scam. We have worked hard for almost a decade to build a solid reputation within the pro guiding/outfitting industry and have become a trusted business partner for nearly 200 leading outdoor gear brands helping put their products into the hands of many thousands of individuals who have purchased gear through our platform, while benefiting from the discounts available to them as eligible members of our partners’ pro purchase programs.

If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at any time at support@guidefitter.com and follow me on Guidefitter: https://www.guidefitter.com/BryanK

Bryan Koontz