Garage Sale Honesty

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Aries

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The reason I joined this thread was because of what happened to me at a yard sale Saturday. I had $25 in my pocket and nothing to do so I drove into town to hit some garage sales. It was close to noon and I was at my 4th sale when I hit the jackpot, it was a back yard sale and it was full of milsurp and ammo and knives and swords. I scanned quickly but didn't see any guns. I over heard the owner say this was all her father's stuff he had collected while in the Air Force. I bought some ammo, some camo, and for some reason I bought 4 tiny china teacups that were stamped made in "occupied Japan" for $1 each. As I was leaving I noticed a table of costume jewelry. A quick scan found 3 rings that were definitely not costume jewelry. One was marked 18k WG with a diamond setting and the other two were marked 925, one had an amethyst and the other had some blue stone I couldn't identify. Each was marked $3. I quickly counted my change and came up with $6. I could only buy 2 rings, or I could offer her $6 for the 3. Or. I could tell the lady about her mistake. After pondering the price of silver and gold for a few seconds I called her over to the table. I showed her the rings and she began to cry because they belonged to her late mother and they had overlooked them when they set up the sale. The title Honesty at Garage Sales made me read this thread and reflect on how much richer I was by doing the right thing instead of making a big score.
Good for you! You made my day....
 

JR777

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The atf decides that grey area
That's true and also not true. But the ATF has in the past given quite a bit of direction on what they consider okay and not. Again, if you're generating the kind of business where you have unexplained income, that's when you're playing with fire. And not just with the ATF, but also with the IRS. If you're generating that kind of following, you would be silly not to get licensed though because you would be missing out on so much business that you could only serve as a licensed dealer, like transfers and such.
 

JD8

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But the ATF has in the past given quite a bit of direction on what they consider okay and not. ch.

I don't know about that, seems the ATF can't decide on a lot of things..... like...... braces. You'll get a different answer depending on what day it is.
 

JR777

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Not reporting the profit is illegal. It is income.

But mentioning you can’t make money off of it at that price, contradicts the assumption he’s buying for a collection.
‘He then says "at that price, I can't make any money on it, that's just how it is, you know?" Then, without any response on my part, he hands me it back, tells me how he buys guns all over the place and shops hundreds of garage sales, and leaves.’
At this point, I wouldn’t put it past 3 letter agencies from intentionally dropping hints of illegal activity or ineligibility when buying guns. Best bet is to call the buyer out and don’t sell.

As I say often, group x sucks at policing themselves.
In this case it would be capital gains. If it's income then you're in the business. What you have to report though depends on a lot of different factors. If you're to the point where an accountant would advise you to self report because you have obvious unexplained income, then you're way over the line with the ATF, too. To generate that kind of money from guns you would have to be selling multiple guns a day likely.
 

JR777

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I don't know about that, seems the ATF can't decide on a lot of things..... like...... braces. You'll get a different answer depending on what day it is.
The ATF has actually been very consistent when it comes to the braces. A lot of manufacturers just massaged the truth a little, and some straight up lied. And even then, it's not like they started arresting people. Even the manufacturers who straight up lied got a pass, despite the ATF having them dead to rights for having sold lots of unregistered SBRs, technically.
 
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