Changelog & Version History
Track the evolution of FirearmDistributors.com with detailed release notes, new features, and improvements.
Current Version: v3.6.0 - Trust Signals & Final Audit Polish
Version 3.6.0 - Trust Signals & Final Audit Polish
Released: May 12, 2026
Live
Trust Signals
- •Footer trust strip on every page: 20 distributors, 400,000+ SKUs searchable, FFL-only access, PCI-DSS payments via Stripe and PayPal.
- •Founder credential update: footer and About page now explicitly cite Brad Bussell as the operator of The Gun Dock, an active Kentucky FFL retailer. First-hand-experience E-E-A-T signal Google's March 2026 core update rewards.
SEO & Copy
- •Davidson's snippet, second rewrite: pos was 17.4 after the May 03 push (worse, not better). New snippet leads with "Dealer Login, Pricing & Apply" plus Gallery of Guns brand to match dealer search intent.
- •About page modernized: corrected stale 217K product count to canonical 400,000+ SKUs, replaced undefined
freedom-redcolor class with the livepatriot-redacross 4 view files.
Why This Matters
Trust signals near CTAs are one of the higher-leverage B2B SaaS conversion levers per 2026 research. The footer strip and explicit operator credentials close the audit's "no trust signals" gap. The Davidson's rewrite is the third in a CTR-recovery series (RSR + Sports South already rewritten); GSC verify date is 2026-05-24.
Version 3.5.0 - Stripe + Apple Pay + Google Pay
Released: May 12, 2026
Previous
New Payment Options
- •Stripe Checkout as the primary payment path. One-tap support for credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay on mobile.
- •PayPal stays available as a secondary option for users who prefer it. Existing PayPal subscribers continue uninterrupted.
- •14-day free trial baked into the Stripe Price. No charge until day 15.
- •Stripe Customer Portal for self-service: update your card, change plan, see invoices, cancel — all without contacting support.
Behind the Scenes
- •Signed Webhooks keep our database in sync with Stripe events: new subscriptions, trial-end warnings, payment failures, cancellations.
- •Trial status fixed. Users in their 14-day trial are now correctly labeled "trialing" instead of "active" across the board.
- •Native trial-end reminder via Stripe's
trial_will_endwebhook (3 days before charge). No more depending on a daily cron for this. - •Idempotent event handling. Even if Stripe delivers the same event twice, our database stays consistent.
Why This Matters
Apple Pay alone typically lifts mobile B2B SaaS checkout completion 15-25%. Pairing Stripe with our existing PayPal option means dealers pay the way they already pay, on any device. Combined with the 14-day free trial that has no charge until day 15, we removed the last objection to signing up. v3.5.0 is the final piece of the conversion-audit Sprint started this week.
Version 3.4.0 - Conversion Audit Sprint 1
Released: May 12, 2026
Archived
Activation & Onboarding
- •Historical Sample Preview on the dashboard for new users who haven't connected distributor accounts yet. Real distributor products from the past 120 days so dealers can see what the live dashboard will look like for them. Clearly labeled, distributor-compliant.
- •Onboarding Tutorial Refocused on the actual first step: connecting your first distributor.
- •Sitewide Trial Countdown Bar across every authenticated page. Color-codes by urgency. Hides on auth and checkout pages.
- •Welcome Email Fixed. A bug in the verification flow was silently swallowing the welcome email. 6 users who were missed have been back-filled.
Mobile & Performance
- •Mobile Hamburger Drawer with full nav including Analytics, Watchlists, Alerts, Orders. Touch-friendly tap targets, slide-in panel, Escape and outside-click both close it.
- •Tailwind CSS Compiled and Self-Hosted. The runtime CDN build is gone. New compiled static bundle is purged and minified to under 100KB, eliminating the previous render-blocking script.
- •Alpine.js Self-Hosted at a pinned version. No more floating-version CDN dependency.
- •LCP optimization: hero logo gets fetch priority, below-fold screenshots load lazily.
- •Reduced-Motion Honored. Users with motion-suppression turned on at the OS level no longer see auto-rotating sliders or scrolling marquees.
SEO Infrastructure
- •Sitemap Rebuilt. Per-section truthful lastmod dates instead of one "everything changed today" date. Login-gated URLs removed. 515 URLs, XML-valid.
- •CTR Snippet Rewrites on the three biggest underperformers from Search Console: distributor login portal hub, Sports South, and RSR Group.
- •Duplicate Organization Schema Removed from page-level JSON-LD.
Trust, Security, Accessibility
- •Skip-to-content link, modal ARIA dialog semantics, focus rings on icon buttons, autocomplete on every registration field.
- •Permissions-Policy header added; deprecated X-XSS-Protection removed; HSTS unconditional in production; CSP tightened to remove unsafe-eval.
- •Legal Docs Updated: Terms and Privacy now reference PayPal correctly. Privacy security-audit language softened to match reality.
- •Sitewide em-dash sweep in customer-facing copy.
Why This Matters
v3.4.0 attacks the four bottlenecks identified in this week's full audit: search-result CTR, visitor-to-signup conversion, mobile experience, and signup-to-verified email completion. The biggest unlock is the Historical Sample preview on the dashboard. New dealers no longer have to imagine what the platform will look like for them. They see it the moment they log in, with a clear path to switch from sample to live data by connecting their first distributor.
Version 3.3.0 - Credentials Onboarding & Missed Opportunities
Released: May 7, 2026
Archived
API Credentials Page Overhaul
- •Step-by-Step Start Panel - New dealers see a clear 3-step guide at the top with a "connected" counter and jump-to-first-distributor link
- •"How do I get credentials?" Help Section - Per-distributor walkthroughs with screenshots showing exactly where to find API keys on each distributor portal
- •Prominent Add Buttons - Bigger, bolder "Add Credentials" buttons so unconfigured distributors are impossible to miss
- •Inline Help in the Setup Modal - The same step-by-step instructions appear right inside the credential entry form for each distributor
- •"Get Help Now" Button - Stuck? Pick which distributors you need help with from a checklist and our team gets the request directly with your dealer info attached
"You Missed This" Marketing Slider
- •Real Sold-Out Inventory - Homepage and features-page slider shows actual rare-manufacturer guns that briefly hit a distributor and sold out everywhere
- •Mobile-Friendly Carousel - Smooth touch-scrolling, snap-to-card behavior on phones, three-up grid on desktop with arrow navigation
- •Real Timestamps - Each card shows the exact distributor, date, and time the item was last in stock. Proof of opportunities our alert system would have caught
- •Auto-Rotation - Cards rotate every 7 seconds when visible, pause on hover or touch
- •Stock Snapshot History - Background cron now records every stock-quantity change for rare manufacturers so the slider keeps growing richer over time
Site-Wide Polish
- •Consistent Numbers Everywhere - 20 distributors / 400,000+ SKUs / around 150,000 in-stock products, surfaced from a single source so we never drift
- •Manufacturer Name Cleanup - Acronyms and case-mangled labels (SIG, SIG_SAUER) display as proper "Sig Sauer" everywhere
- •Bangers Renamed to Iron Valley - All references to the old "Bangers" name now display the current "Iron Valley" branding throughout the platform
Copy & UX
- •Ordering Feature Acknowledged - Help and FAQ pages updated. We now offer direct STS and dropship ordering, not just price comparison
- •No System Popups - All confirmations and prompts use clean inline panels and modals, never browser-style alert/confirm dialogs
- •Cleaner Customer Copy - Em-dashes swept out of dealer-facing text in favor of standard punctuation
Why This Matters
Connecting your distributor accounts is the unlock for live pricing, inventory, and one-click ordering. v3.3.0 turns the credentials page into a guided onboarding experience so no dealer gets stuck on day one. The new "You Missed This" slider drives the point home: while you were chasing inventory the hard way, our subscribers were getting alerted the moment these guns landed.
Version 3.1.0 - STS Order Management & Dealer Dashboard
Released: February 25, 2026
Archived
Ship-To-Store (STS) Ordering
- •Place Orders from Search - Order directly from 20 distributors using your own credentials
- •Order History Page - View all your STS orders, filter by status, distributor, or date range
- •Tracking Integration - Check shipment status with one click, auto-detects carrier from tracking number
- •20 Distributor Order Classes - RSR, Zanders, Lipsey's, Sports South, Davidson's, and more
- •Account-Level Controls - Feed-only accounts restricted from ordering as needed
Dealer Experience Improvements
- •"What is FD?" Page - New explainer page for dealers unfamiliar with the platform
- •Credential Setup Nudge - New users guided to connect their distributor accounts
- •Orders Nav Link - Quick access to order history from desktop and mobile navigation
- •Carrier-Aware Tracking Links - UPS, FedEx, USPS, Spee-Dee, DHL, OnTrac all supported
Why This Matters
Dealers no longer need to log into each distributor's website separately to place orders. Find the best price across all your distributors, then order it right from FirearmDistributors.com — shipped directly to your store.
Version 3.0.0 - Card-Upfront Registration & Platform Overhaul
Released: February 18, 2026
Previous
Registration & Billing
- •Card-Upfront Registration - 7-day free trial with card required at signup for higher-quality signups
- •Authorize.net ARB Integration - Automated recurring billing with cancel-from-account support
- •Promo Code System - Admin-managed promotional codes for discounts
- •Webhook Processing - Real-time subscription status updates from Authorize.net
SEO & Content Overhaul
- •SEO Breadcrumbs - Structured navigation breadcrumbs on all pages
- •Dynamic Blog System - Database-driven blog with admin management
- •Swagger API Documentation - Interactive OpenAPI docs at /api-docs
- •Service Worker v2 - Improved offline support and caching
- •Messaging Repositioning - All site copy updated to reflect accurate platform positioning
Per-Dealer Feed System
- •19 Distributor Feeds - Real-time pricing from RSR, Lipsey's, Sports South, Zanders, Davidson's, and 14 more
- •Credential-Based Access - Each dealer sees pricing from their own distributor accounts
- •API Credentials Page - Dealers manage their own distributor credentials securely
- •Encrypted Storage - All distributor passwords encrypted at rest
Major Architecture Change
v3.0.0 is the biggest release since launch. The registration flow was completely rebuilt to require a card upfront (7-day free trial included), the per-dealer feed system went live with all 20 distributors, and the entire site messaging was repositioned around accurate value propositions.
Version 2.4.2 - Search Optimization & Timezone Fix
Released: November 10, 2025
Previous
Powerful Search Improvements
- •Mixed Query Support - Search UPC + keywords together (e.g., "098289001375 COLT KING COBRA")
- •Enhanced Keyword Search - Now includes UPC, SKU, and internal SKU fields
- •Increased Timeout - Complex searches now have 5 seconds (up from 2) to complete
- •Flexible Searching - Combine any mix of UPC, SKU, brand, and model in one query
Timezone & Display Fixes
- •Local Timezone Display - "Last updated" times now show in your timezone
- •No More Future Dates - Fixed UTC timestamps appearing as future times
- •Automatic Conversion - JavaScript converts all timestamps to your browser's timezone
Version 2.4.1 - Extended Sessions & UX Enhancement
Released: November 5, 2025
Previous
Session Management
- •Extended session lifetime from 8 hours to 30 days
- •Clear "Your session has expired" messaging when timeout occurs
- •Automatic return to your intended page after re-login
User Experience
- •Graceful session expiration handling across all pages
- •Smart redirect preservation - resume where you left off
- •Works seamlessly with AJAX requests and API calls
Version 2.4.0 - Trial & Email Excellence Edition
Released: October 28, 2025
Previous
Trial System Updates
- •Streamlined trial activation on login
- •Automated re-engagement campaign for verified users
- •Auto-activation of trials on login
Email System
- •Outlook-compatible email templates (table-based layouts)
- •Fixed back-in-stock notification rendering on all email clients
- •Fixed duplicate notifications (24-hour cooldown, one per product per day)
Performance
- •Admin users page significantly faster (query optimization)
- •Database indexes added for role and verification queries
Version 2.3.0 - Email Deliverability & Security Edition
Released: October 7, 2025
Previous
Email Deliverability
- •Fixed verification emails going to spam/clutter folders
- •Automated verification email resends after 24 hours
- •Cleaner email templates with improved unsubscribe headers
Spam Protection
- •Added reCAPTCHA v2 checkbox ("I'm not a robot")
- •Triple-layer spam protection (honeypot + v2 + v3)
- •Blocks automated bot registrations effectively
Version 2.2.0 - Analytics Intelligence Edition
Released: September 14, 2025
Previous
Analytics Suite
- •Velocity analytics with product movement tracking
- •Inventory intelligence with low-stock alerts
- •Price arbitrage system for profit opportunities
- •Market trend analysis and demand forecasting
- •Competitive intelligence and distributor performance ranking
- •Real-time price history tracking
Content & Marketing
- •Professional blog system with admin management
- •SEO-optimized articles targeting industry keywords
- •Comprehensive anti-spam protection for contact forms
Bug Fixes
- •Fixed price history modal loading errors
- •Corrected distributor name mapping between databases
- •Resolved velocity analytics API configuration
- •Improved mobile header logo sizing
Version 2.1.0 - Professional Edition
Released: August 31, 2025
Previous
- •Professional homepage redesign with dual-state user panels
- •Environment-aware configuration system
- •Enhanced database architecture (3-tier system)
- •Real-time admin database sync functionality
- •Progressive Web App implementation
Version 2.0.0 - Major Platform Overhaul
Released: August 15, 2025
Archived
- •Complete architecture redesign from monolithic to modular
- •Multi-database integration for scalability
- •Real-time search engine across 20 distributors
- •Comprehensive admin panel
On the Roadmap
Mobile App
Native iOS and Android apps with barcode scanning and push notifications
AI-Powered Alerts
Intelligent notifications based on your purchase history and inventory patterns
Dropship Ordering
Place dropship orders directly from search results, shipped to your customers
More Distributor Tracking
Tracking status checks for Zanders, Lipsey's, Sports South, Gunarama, and more
Custom Reports
Personalized analytics reports and PDF export for purchasing decisions
POS Integration
Sync with popular point-of-sale systems for seamless inventory management