Willingly traded at a loss, and was happy?

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trapper1

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Most folks I would imagine want to walk away from a gun trade feeling it was an even swap in value, or came out ahead of the deal. I suppose I'm no different, but have in the past, made trades knowing I was taking a bit of a loss, but walked away with no regret. I recently traded a Winchester 1300 with combo barrels for a Marlin 883 .22 Mag. Based on the gun value books I have, and condition of the guns, the value differed some $60 to $80 favoring the shotgun. I traded even up anyway, as this Marlin has one of the prettiest grained stocks I've ever seen on a .22. That, and I have too many shotguns and not enough .22's. :D

Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences with trades.
 
If you get what you want in a trade, whats the difference ? We have a saying around here, works with anything... guns,cars,retail stores.... "It,s not the deal you got... It.s the deal you think you got" If you loose value, or gain value.... as long as you are satisfied with the deal.
 
I traded a century FAL for a Marlin 336. At least $100 difference in value, but I walked away light one brass destroying, jam-o-matic gun that never grew on me (they are sexy though, I will give them that), and heavy a pre-safety barely used 336 with nice wood that has become one of my favorite rifles. Never looked back on that one even though the value was much different. The guy who got the FAL loves those things and had no use for the 336, so it was a win-win, which is all that really matters. I don't own firearms as an investment, and loose less money trading firearms than I do just maintaining my trail rig...
 
Traded a Hakim for a Vz-52 rifle and was happy with the Vz. Regret losing the Hakim, though, because at the time everyone insisted that Turkish 8mm would cycle in them.
 
My latest "trade at a bit of a loss" was a G-19 with lots of extras for a push feed M-70 Win in .223 with a Older Burris compact 3-9 scope

I REALLY did not like the Glock, and I am VERY happy with the rifle. :cool:
 
It's only "value" is what it's worth to the other person. Sometimes you just want to get rid of something and if you can lose $50 and move the item without any headache or challenge to find someone to pay just a bit more sometimes it's easiest just to move the item.

Glock for 686 pre-lock...WOW, nice score.
 
I sold a couple of Italian Colt/clones cowboy guns when the Lipsey 44 special Ruger flattops were first out. I really wanted one and the shop had one in stock. My clones were in 44 special, with 38's being the most popular, I didn't want to wait to try and sell my 44's at the best price. Took what I could get and got the Ruger. I was happy. Mark
 
I always undercut myself, Left retail sales in the 90's with a bad taste in my mouth watching the way people spent their money.

When I sold my old Jeep, (75 Cherokee Chief... still miss that car but life dictates actions) I cut $200 off of the price without asking when a couple came along with a kid, looking for a car to rebuild as a project.

I'm happy knowing my Jolly Green Giant found a home where it got the rust fixed, and likely is still bashing it's way through the trails here, rather than destroyed by some jerk who just wants to whoop it up and destroy the car before moving to another one.
 
Gotta agree.

Sometimes I just want to sell something and move on.

I've sold/traded cars and boats at an obvious loss, at least on paper, but if you don't need or want it, why try to extract the absolute max price out of it?

I recently moved out some .22 pistols to friends and they all got REALLY good deals on them. I haven't used them for years and what was the point of haggling over $50-$100 bucks if somebody else really wanted them?

The bottom line? If it's out of the house, it's gone and there's no use beating yourself up because you "could" have squeezed a few more bucks out of the deal.

AD
 
I had a Star MOD 30MI that I traded for a nice old, first generation Charter Arms Undercover. The Star is one killer 9MM and I had 5 mags for it but I wanted a carry .38 and couldn't afford one, so I traded even up for one. The Star was simply too big for carry and it gobbled up ammo at the range like crazy. Now, if I want to shoot 9MM, I'm content with a 9MM Norinco Model 213.
 
I recently traded a Sig P239 for an OD Glock 26 and am very happy about it. The Sig was 'worth more', but not to me.
 
Traded another member on this forum a NIB (with manual & original receipt from '73 o '74) commercial 6" Mauser-made Luger in .30; It was a gorgeous gun, and valued at $1,200. What I got? A like-new S&W 629 3", which books out about $850.

On paper, I took a ~$350 hit. In reality, we both ended up with something we wanted more than what we had. Neither of us would have been able to quickly sell those guns at full price, and there would have been no guarantee of finding what we were after and being able to buy it with the proceeds.

I'll get another Luger someday, but one that's already been shot and without collector value. For the time being, I'm much happier with a 629 I shoot than a pretty Luger I was almost afraid to take out of the box.

I also hastily sold a stainless HK USP .45 to fund a LNIB S&W 1006; I only got $600 for the HK, paid $525 for the Smith and couldn't be happier with my decision.
 
I've lost more total than I've ever came out ahead. The one that comes to mind is the 44 special Bulldog I had. I hated everything about that gun. I didn't have it long at all. I sold it at about a $100 loss. It turned me off of Charter Arms forever.
As far as trades go, I just lost $80 trading in my Hi point carbine. I traded it in on a Springfield 1911.
 
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Trading down

I get enamored with some gun and get it. If it lives up to my exections, its value is more than it would take to replace it. If it doesn't it becomes essentially worthless so I move it out. I can't tell if a gun suits me without trying it. I sometimes get soured on a gun or type of gun that I have had for years. What is important to me is how I feel about it.
 
As my son's interests changed, I traded a Bushmaster AR to him in exchange for his Remington Model Seven Youth. He got the better end of the deal from a monetary standpoint, but I kept the rifle that was his first hunting gun "in the family" rather than having him sell it to buy what he wanted. I put it in a full-length H.S. Precision stock, and it's still in the safe when and if he wants it back.

Sav .250 said it well: "Trades are what you make of them. If you end up getting what you wanted, then it's a good trade."
 
I think you did fine. You got the nice wood stock you were desiring.

I hear the talk about selling guns and making money by non-FFL's, but the reality is that unless you really keep your guns for years and they go up in value mostly due to inflation's effect on new gun prices, you generally break even or loose a little. Sure, you get lucky sometimes.

As a buyer or seller you have to be willing to say NO no matter how nice the stock is or how perfect that particular gun fits into your collection IF you are strictly looking at guns from a profit-loss perspective. If you don't get the price, you don't buy or sell. Period. Take a lession from FFL dealers. They buy guns at 70-50% of market value.
 
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I sold/traded a CETME for less money mainly cause it destroyed cases and could not reload for it -- it killed me that everytime I pulled the trigger the case was destroyed -- even if the case was not reloadable (berdan primed) it bothered me.

Of course I made money on the deal in a way -- because I purchased the CETME I also purchased alot of 7.62 battlepacks at $0.15/bullet and sold them at $0.45/bullet.


UK
 
I don't think I've ever came out behind on a gun trade. I've came out even a few times, but never lost out. The only trade they may have been close was I swapped a Smith .44 Mountain Gun and 300rds for a Browning A Bolt .30-06 with Leupold Vari X ll scope on it.

I still have no use for a 4" .44 magnum, but I really don't have use for a .30-06 either, I just wanted it.

Either way, I only had about 200 in the Mountain Gun.


On other junk, yessir, I do my best to get rid of stuff that sets around and doesn't work or eat. Just sold a craftsman riding mower for 50 bucks to get rid of it because it was just setting in the backyard wasting space.
 
Sometimes I just want to sell something and move on.
Click to expand...

I don't ever keep guns for long, unless they are family treasures (even if they have no real value) I buy/trade for guns I want, then when I get bored I toss em for something new and exotic.
 
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