My annual Fireworks buying and shooting tip post From someone in the fireworks business for over 25 years

I like post this every 4th to help people from being ripped off when buying fireworks.

Here are my tips for anyone buying fireworks for the 4th
I have been in the fireworks business for 25+ years, I do shows, managed a wholesale company, and run my own small store. I started selling retail out of the trunk of my car in 1991 and have always tried to give good deals. I am not trying to work up business. I am semi retired from retail and only sell to longtime customers, family and friends now.

I have some tips to keep you from being ripped off.
I posted something similar to this last year.

The average markup on fireworks is over 500% for bigger items. Smaller items such as smoke balls, novelties and smaller rockets 2000%
Bigger items have much less markup than smaller ones.

Fireworks are one of the few things that are cheaper at smaller independently owned stores.
Stay away from Phantom, TNT, Fireworks Supermarket, and any larger chain stores. They have to pay their bills for staying open all year with the sales mostly from the 4th and some on New Years.

Stick with the small seasonal mom and pop stores, they do not have crazy bills and are mostly people looking to make some extra cash or raise funds for something like a church and crazy as it sounds volunteer fire departments.

Stores on main highways around tourist towns like Myrtle Beach, Gatlinburg etc....nothing will be under 500% markup.

Best deals are the night of the 4th or the day after. Most places do not have proper storage and would rather sell at cost than have to return it to a wholesaler who will charge 15-20% restock fee and only take unopened cases.

Cash talks at those stores where a few cash transactions that do not get added to the nights sales helps on the taxes as well as lot fees at tents where the fireworks people pay the land owner a portion of their sales as rent.


Most big name brand fireworks are identical to some smaller less known brand. I have pulled labels off items only to find the original item label underneath. Black Cat and TNT brands are 2 that are the most well known and worst preforming items. I never buy, sell or shoot any Black Cat or TNT items.

Big, Spirit of 76, Sky Bacon, World class, Winda and Megabanger are some of the best well known brands, but there are tons of smaller brands that are just as good or better.

Your best bang for the buck are the 500gram heavyweight boxes with between 9 and 25 shots. The fewer the shots the bigger they are because there are limits on the amount of powder in one.
NEVER buy one that is a 9 shot "3 inch" box because it is a ripoff. The tube is 3 inches but the actual shell is only 2 inches with a sleeve around it. 2 inch diameter shells are the largest allowed for sale in the U.S.

Reloadable kits are nice but you will get tired of shooting them if you have lots. If you buy them the 60 gram canister shells are the best shot. Stick with something like

Excalibur shells used to be top dog for reloadable but there are lots of shell now that are as good or better.
Look for ones that say 60gram canister Some of the best this year will say 5 inch or 6 inch 60 gram canister. When comparing pick up the boxes and feel the different weight. Ones that are way light will be crap and some that are super heavy may be good for effect but may not shoot as high.


Never buy reloadable shells with more than 2 breaks. No matter how many breaks a shell has the max amount of powder that can be in them is 60 grams. So you get a very nice single or double break or crappy weak 3 to 5 breaks. In addition on the 5 break shells the 5th break will likely be very low and could start a fire or hurt someone.

Rockets are dangerous and have a huge markup.

Roman candles are not as good as they once were. and they have a huge markup. a 6 pack of 10 ball roman candles may sell for between $5 and $10 but they cost less than $0.75 wholesale.

Firecrackers are something that is not as good as they were 20 years ago. If you want firecrackers, stick with the normal firecrackers, do not fall for the big M-80 looking red tube crackers. They are nothing but a single firecracker packed in a fancy tube and better fuse and marked up 1000% or more.

Assortments are rip offs, they may have a few good items but they are loaded with things that do not sell very well or are not very good. If you add the prices up on the things in the assortments, you will find that you are paying more than if you bought each thing off the shelf.

The large 150 to 200 shot Zipper cakes are pretty but not worth the cost, retail on them will never be under $50 with most being well over $100 at the cheapest stores. They are normally fast shots, so you are looking at $50-$150 go in less than 30 seconds.

Buy one get one free sales are for suckers you are not getting anything free, they marked those items up to double or more of what they would sell for without the sale.

The spend $$$ and get $$$ free is a ripoff also.
Most the times the free stuff is items that do not sell very good or and bad performers when shot. Plus I guarantee you paid for those "free".

If you spend a lot of cash at a small mom and pop store and they quietly tell you that they have some good stuff in back, chances are they do but it will cost you. Never buy something that looks home made. You will lose a finger or hand.

Lots of places now have Videos showing their fireworks. Play close attention to the videos because they will shoot more than one of the same item and video it making it look better than it really is. (Fireworks supermarket, I am talking about you)

I like to watch videos of the items before buy something to resale and I will always shoot something personally to make sure it is true to the video posted. I have found that brand called "Big fireworks" will have the videos that are not deceiving. If you want to see some things before you go shopping go to bigfrieworks.com and click on products then the sub categories to look at different things. I am only using them as an example because I know their vids are the things they sell and only shooting one thing at once. I also like to look for videos from people on youtube that are shooting for fun..

Never stick with one Brand though. Almost every company has something that is extra good. Also check each year because what is good this year may be crap next year because China has no quality control.

if you can find any Clown Brand items get them if they are reasonable priced because most of their things are VERY good. So good that lots of them were recalled this year because they were overloaded.