Selling your guns to a store, how far will I have to bend over?

[FrankNmac]

Let's put it this way... Did the ad contain a good amount of bare toes, cause that's what sells it around this madhouse!

It definitely helped me nail down the sale of my shotgun!

 

[garytx]

I am selling a few firearms that have been lonely in the back of the safe for decades.

Here my current approach...
a) See if any of my firearm friendly neighbors want to buy the rifles.
b) Call a few of my local storefront FFL's to determine how they buy/list/consign.

Currently have a rifle on consignment for 15% of sale price. Slow process...
One dealer only buys firearms at 60% of the recent gunbroker sold prices. This guy then sells the firearm on Gunbroker.
Another dealer will sell on consignment on gun broker for 20% which includes shipping, etc.

I am going with the 20% consignment option Gunbroker has a much better chance than anything else.

 

[N5JBD]

So, like the title says, I have some stuff I need to move that just doesn't have demand around here. I don't want to put them up for consignment and sit on them for months, only to pay the store 10-20% if they sell. I figure I would just go and sell them somewhere. Bass Pro, Cabelas, maybe village tactical. How bad am I going to get screwed? Are we talking pawn shop 40% of street value screwed?

Remember people offer what the gun is worth to them. A gun like everything else is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. When I make an offer I usually look at "Gun Broker" and see what that gun model is selling for, what buyers are willing to pay for it.
Price your gun at what it's worth and be patient...

 

[Sgt Dog]

If its 50 or even 60% from a dealer and you’d consider that the first question I’d have is have you dropped prices anywhere near that for listings here? But I get it.

On one hand I have a Uberti 1873 in 32-20 and I have an 1893 in 32-40 (half round). I go back and forth about gunbroker and the fees, shipping, & FFL vs opportunity for higher price in a larger market-view and there they sit in my safe.

Last thing I’d do is consignment or huge markdown from a local shop.

 

[Schlafftablett]

Everyone is saying you’ll get 50% of retail… but that NEW retail and were talking about used. Like it or not the industry standard is that, just like a car, as soon as a gun sells it is used and worth less than new regardless of condition.

For some reason, people want to look at guns as an “investment“. The problem is 99% of guns actually lose value as soon as they are purchased. Now, they may appreciate somewhat over time but that is usually on par with the rate of inflation or in direct proportion to the increase in cost of a new replacement. The only time a firearms’ value tends to outpace inflation is when there is something very specific about it that makes it rare such as limited production numbers, exceptionally high quality, or that specific gun‘s condition vs ALL of the similar copies.

When people trade firearms in, they always claim that it was only shot by a little old lady on Sunday, thinking that will make the gun worth more. The reality is, people tend to vastly overestimate how much they shoot. Almost every one of my customers will sit there and tell you how many tens of thousands of rounds they fire in a year but you never see them buy ammo and literally every gun they ever bring in for any reason is also basically brand new and unfired. That means most guns that are traded are of similar, high condition.

As far as quality, perception is reality. Products from companies, such as Taurus, SCCY, Rossi, Anderson, Savage, and several others generally function on par with their sale price but the overall perception of their quality tends to be very low and their second hand price tags absolutely reflect that.

The most popular guns are usually also the ones that are produced in the highest numbers. Pretty much anything that says Glock, Sig, HK, or S&W on it will at least hold its value because of their overall high quality and good warranty, but very, very few will ever actually appreciate as a collectible simply because of the huge numbers produced.

With all that said, you have to look what a gun is actually selling for on the used market and then expect to take $100-$150 less than the most common sale prices. If your firearm books for over $1000 used, I would add at least an additional $100 to that deduction and $100 more for every $1000 jump thereafter.

 

[mr ed]

Rehomed my dads collection at Wanamakers last april.
Ask pawn shops what they would give.
Wrote down prices on gunshow dealer tables. Split the difference, added 10% for the big guy. Rehomed 65 in two days

 

[tynyphil]

Wanted to get an easier to operate EDC for my wife and really liked the Shield EZ with green laser. Took the Walther ppk/s that she couldn’t operate and I hated to a little place towards Mustang to do a trade. Backside is still sore from that deal.

Sold a duplicate Kimber I had to Drury’s in Texas. It was a fair deal and easy to accomplish.

 

[Chaparral]

And it is not the case people do not like your offerings, it is also available funds to spend. Otherwise I really like your 9mm and would have loved to buy it had I the funds!

 

[ramco]

People tend to think the value of a firearm has increased just because they could sell it for more than they paid for it 20 years ago. Simple inflation causes the “increase”. Take gold for example. The value of gold has never changed. In 1900 you could go into any gun store and purchase a Colt SAA and a couple of boxes of ammo for a 20 dollar gold coin.
Guess what. You still can.

 

[HMCS(FMF)Ret.]

Sooner State Pawn will take pieces “on consignment” at a 10% commission.

Damn. I love SSP, but never knew that. I might just try them. I have a few guns I haven’t been able to sell here. Then again, I’m getting into the mindset of just keeping everything. I don’t buy trash anymore. Only things that have great ratings, quality guns that I get cheap, or collectibles. From now on I just might add on to the number of gun safes I have instead of selling.