edwardware
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- Feb 23, 2010
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Hey! I resemble that remark!A person who wants to buy a gun is often driven by impulse and impatience. Getting the desired gun begins takes prominence over discipline.
Hey! I resemble that remark!A person who wants to buy a gun is often driven by impulse and impatience. Getting the desired gun begins takes prominence over discipline.
Well, see while it may be a low ball from the LGS that guy has to try to turn and resell the gun, the other guy doesn't. If the LGS bought at $500 like the other guy he'd have to try and sell for MORE than that and run the risk of not selling at all (and thereby, loosing $500). People don't see the difference between involving a middle man and selling directly to the end user and that is why you'll almost always get less when selling to a gun shop.
What's your take?
I understand how resale works. The example I gave would have been a 100% profit, if the gun sold for $500. Being a S&W guy and given the condition of the gun, it was worth even more than that. My fat fingers typed model 19....it was a model 29, P&R. I know I would have gladly given $500 for it on the spot, but out of courtesy to the other gentleman, I stepped aside. So......either the clerk didn't know what he was looking at, or he was lowballing the guy. Now, the clerk was not the owner, but the main gun counter guy. Have bought several firearms from him myself. I'm thinking he knew exactly what it was. I'm thinking that's why he got so upset when the other customer offered $500.
Electronics depreciate in value so fast it'll make your head explode. It ain't even funny.It would help if all people had to run a small business that bought used items and had to sell those same items at a profit that kept their business doors open.
However, most are getting a paycheck from an employer and are removed from the concept of making a business operating level of profit. Almost every one of those people get offended by offers of 30% to 40% of retail for any item when taking that item to a dealer.
The answer is simple, but not often taken well. If you don't want the dealer's offer, sell it elsewhere.
People ought to be glad that guns hold some value at all after they've owned them for any length of time. Considering what people throw away in the purchasing and using of electronic items, we all should be thankful. This laptop I'm writing on right now is two years old and maybe worth 1/3rd what it was new. Just wait another 10 years and let's see what it's value will be.
Yikes. I'm sorry to hear that. I definitely haven't been doing it that long but I try to chalk it up to Capitalism, I mean, it's the very heart of capitalism to make as much profit as you can. I don't think most people wake up in the morning wanting to screw someone else over (maybe just screw them....) But maybe I'm naive.Having worked in "the industry" for more than fifty years and used GB as well as many of the big auction houses, my "take" is that the vast majority of the people in "the industry" today are low-life thieves out to screw anyone and everyone in order to put a dime in their own pockets. At the top of the list is Cabela's and the idiots who work for or did work for them and now work for another den of thieves. There aren't possibly enough bad things to be said about this company. Working down the list, next come the auction houses that take 10 - 25% from the seller and another 10 - 25% from the buyer and then add a outrageous amount for "handling and shipping." Some of the thieves in the auction houses will even buy items from their so-called competitors and then sell them at their next auction or use their FFL to buy brand new firearms at wholesale prices from manufacturers and distributors and sell them at their auctions. Next are the thieves who see the "flipping" shows on tv and decide they can do the same thing with firearms. They actually will buy a firearm from one website and then try to sell it after jacking up the price anywhere from 25 to 100+% on another website or auction. And it goes on and on downhill from there until we get to the thieves who steal firearms, often literally steal, from widows and grieving families or families being torn apart by fights over inheritance. Now that I'm thinking about it, these thieves probably should be pushed up the list to second place just below Cabela's. So... exactly where do you fall in this list?
Working down the list, next come the auction houses that take 10 - 25% from the seller and another 10 - 25% from the buyer and then add a outrageous amount for "handling and shipping."
I'm just a guy working for a larger company not trying to screw people over but also being forced to use the Blue BookHaving worked in "the industry" for more than fifty years and used GB as well as many of the big auction houses, my "take" is that the vast majority of the people in "the industry" today are low-life thieves out to screw anyone and everyone in order to put a dime in their own pockets. At the top of the list is Cabela's and the idiots who work for or did work for them and now work for another den of thieves. There aren't possibly enough bad things to be said about this company. Working down the list, next come the auction houses that take 10 - 25% from the seller and another 10 - 25% from the buyer and then add a outrageous amount for "handling and shipping." Some of the thieves in the auction houses will even buy items from their so-called competitors and then sell them at their next auction or use their FFL to buy brand new firearms at wholesale prices from manufacturers and distributors and sell them at their auctions. Next are the thieves who see the "flipping" shows on tv and decide they can do the same thing with firearms. They actually will buy a firearm from one website and then try to sell it after jacking up the price anywhere from 25 to 100+% on another website or auction. And it goes on and on downhill from there until we get to the thieves who steal firearms, often literally steal, from widows and grieving families or families being torn apart by fights over inheritance. Now that I'm thinking about it, these thieves probably should be pushed up the list to second place just below Cabela's. So... exactly where do you fall in this list?
I’m not in the industry, and buy/sell few guns, but this is not my experience with mainstream firearms that, when bought at a reasonable price, hold value very well.That and guns depreciate in value the way cars do, perhaps even worse.
Caveat emptor. The free market will educate the ignorant.I blame stores like Bass Pro for a big part of this as well. Someone that made the mistake of paying $1100 for a Sig p226 today at Bass Pro is going to think they can get something like that back out of it when they sell not realizing that online retailers recently had the same gun for under $600 new.
Having worked in "the industry" for more than fifty years and used GB as well as many of the big auction houses, my "take" is that the vast majority of the people in "the industry" today are low-life thieves out to screw anyone and everyone in order to put a dime in their own pockets. At the top of the list is Cabela's and the idiots who work for or did work for them and now work for another den of thieves. There aren't possibly enough bad things to be said about this company. Working down the list, next come the auction houses that take 10 - 25% from the seller and another 10 - 25% from the buyer and then add a outrageous amount for "handling and shipping." Some of the thieves in the auction houses will even buy items from their so-called competitors and then sell them at their next auction or use their FFL to buy brand new firearms at wholesale prices from manufacturers and distributors and sell them at their auctions. Next are the thieves who see the "flipping" shows on tv and decide they can do the same thing with firearms. They actually will buy a firearm from one website and then try to sell it after jacking up the price anywhere from 25 to 100+% on another website or auction. And it goes on and on downhill from there until we get to the thieves who steal firearms, often literally steal, from widows and grieving families or families being torn apart by fights over inheritance. Now that I'm thinking about it, these thieves probably should be pushed up the list to second place just below Cabela's. So... exactly where do you fall in this list?
I think you are right, and I am guessing the pawn business gets the same type of offers.So, as a person whose job it is to buy and sell guns I've noticed a trend in both buyers and sellers (but mostly people selling/trying to get us to buy their gun).
That trend is to look the gun up on GunBroker, take a cursory glance at the prices there and assume that is the worth of their firearm.
What I feel is part of the problem, and please, I'd like to start a civil discussion here, is that many people don't realize that GunBroker is a lot like eBay in that a seller can ask literally any price he/she/they feel like BUT that DOESN'T mean the seller will actually fetch that price. I think a lot of people who use GunBroker to find a value for their gun don't take this into consideration and assume that a seller's asking price must be what the guns are currently going for without digging further to see what the guns actually consistently SELL for.
What that further compounds the issue is people don't realize that in order to re-sell a gun at what it's worth (and at a fair enough price to move the inventory in a reasonable amount of time) the seller is going to, naturally, offer less than a gun might be worth.
I think there's a shift that needs to happen and it starts with the proper use of sites like GunBroker (it's only one aspect of the disconnect between buyers and sellers but I think it plays a large part).
What's your take?
My take is that Gunbroker is just another avenue one may buy and sell guns on.
So, I'd a person thinks for whatever reason their gun is worth XXX amount, they can feel free to attempt to sell in any legal venue in which they believe might get then their asking price.
Conversely, people are also free to BUY in the same fashion in order to get the best deal possible.
My answer to people who think their gun is worth excessively high amounts based on any source, such as an auction on Gunbroker, would be to ask them "If I tried to sell YOU this gun at that price or higher, would you buy it, especially when you can find the same thing over here for much cheaper?"
That and guns depreciate in value the way cars do, perhaps even worse.
Jeez. You should start your own business to help out the oppressed.Having worked in "the industry" for more than fifty years and used GB as well as many of the big auction houses, my "take" is that the vast majority of the people in "the industry" today are low-life thieves out to screw anyone and everyone in order to put a dime in their own pockets.