Silly Asking Prices

[M-Tecs]

I totally agree.
Most of my gun acquiring is at gunshows. Mostly used guns. I can usually tell in a few minutes of chit chat while examining a gun if the seller is a wheeler-dealer like I am, or not. There have been a few occasions, I just pay the price on the tag and finish the transaction. Sometimes, I haggle.
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WHY am I posting, I gotta tell ya about a friend of mine. We have gone to many gunshows together...and I've also been with him when he was at a motorcycle dealership, haggling on price. This friend could wear down the Pope. I like to go to a typical size gunshow and am usually ready to go in a couple hours, BUT with this friend, if he is working on a deal...he will spend hours working on a deal, going to other tables, asking questions, going back to the table with the gun he wants every so often. Talk-talk-talk-talk. It's incredible. I can't count the number of times I was ready to leave a gunshow at 11am, and we are still there at 4pm. He always says 4 to 5 is the golden hour for deal making. Back to the motorcycle dealership, can you believe the salesman got so sick and tired of him, that he walked away, then the salesman send over the manager...and my friend wore out the manager...LOL...the manager just retreated to his office for a phone call and never came back out. I felt like I was in a episode of Seinfeld.

The first car that I purchased was a 1972 Delta 88 Oldsmobile with a 455 engine. That was in July of 1976. That has at the height of Jimmy Carter's oil crisis. The dealership first listed it at $1,795.00. A couple of weeks later they dropped the price to $1,595.00. A couple of weeks later they dropped the price to $1,395.00. I had just turned 16 at the time. I had a buddy give me a ride to the dealership. After about an hour I was ready to agree to $795.00 but the salesman stated that if I could not afford it, I should be looking for something cheaper. That ticked me off so 2 hours later I agreed to purchase at $595.00. The general manager had to step in. When it came time to pay you should have seen the salesman face when I pulled out 30 $100 bills. At the time I was making $1.95 pumping gas after HS.

Later when I was in college, I need a different used car. They were asking $3,995.00 for the one I wanted. Four hours later it was mine for $2,500.00

Back to gun shows. The last hour on Saturday is very good since lots of the sellers have their eye on something they want cash on hand for Sunday morning before the show is open to the general public. On Sunday the last hour is very good also but that can be more hit and miss.

[bedbugbilly]

Gee . . . . my 5" pencil barrel S & W M & P MUST be worth at least $1,200.00 then, 'cause IT HAS A HOLSTER!
Mine was born the same year I was - unfortunately it still look great while I show my age!

[dverna]

Gee . . . . my 5" pencil barrel S & W M & P MUST be worth at least $1,200.00 then, 'cause IT HAS A HOLSTER!
Mine was born the same year I was - unfortunately it still look great while I show my age!

Ain’t that the truth!

[michael.birdsley]

I have noticed that about the younger crowd too. Never been taught to haggle. Grandad taught me well. Told me always be prepared to walk away.

you are correct. if i think it’s a fair price i buy it. if it isn’t a price i’m willing to pay than I don’t buy it. I don’t have time to haggle over price.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[M-Tecs]

The "time" argument doesn't fly with my personal experience. Using my first car purchase as an example a couple of hours negotiations saved me over 400 hours of labor required to equal the money I would have expended had I not negotiated. Same for the $200K plus I have saved over the last 50 years.

Personally I enjoy negotiating. Some don't feel the same way.

[dverna]

I find most people haggle. But I do not interact much with folks under 25.

When I list an item on Craig's list I add in "wiggle room" unless I am selling firewood.

When I list something here, I put what I think is a fair price.

[georgerkahn]

One of my "tricks" is to ask if seller accepts "plastic" (credit cards) and if so, suggest that should give a 4% cash discount. 99% of the time, this works. Of course, the asking price must be in an acceptable-to-me range. A while back a nearby (65km / 40 miles) shop took in a Colt Anaconda .44 in stainless, and I had to see it. In the back of my mind, I reckoned, too, that I could go one grand for it with perhaps as much as an extra $200 for MY "want". The tag price on this firearm, albeit it came with original box and papers? $2,350.00 USD! Dealer also had a 6" ss Colt Python for $2,100. By happenstance I spied an old Marlin 27S .25-20 at a high-but-doable price. I tried the "cash" discount and floundered about a bit; joked re my kids needing to walk to and from school -- both ways uphill, barefoot in the snow -- at his asking price. Bion, he dropped to a lower price than I had hoped for; threw in a (crappy, but still free) set of .25-20 reloading dies, and the firearm followed me home.
I regularly look at it as entertainment rather than haggle. Most all sellers I've known understand it is much easier to lower a price than raise it. If the high price is not questioned...
geo

[charlie b]

I always post a price well over what I really want for the item. If I want it to sell fast, not much over. If I can take my time a lot over.

The first person to offer me over what I really want gets the gun. Then they can brag about how good they were at negotiating.

When I buy, I offer what I want to spend. If they don't take it I leave my number for them. Sometimes in a week or two I get a phone call accepting my offer.

And, yes, you can almost always get a car cheaper than what the dealer lists it for, especially if they have more of that model on the lot. Also, look around at how many salesmen they have and if they are busy or not. It they are all standing around they will be more desperate for a sale of any kind.

Gun shows. I used to hang out near the door, especially on Sundays. If someone was walking out with a gun they wanted to sell (and I wanted it) I'd offer a low number. Sometimes it works.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP>>>

Gun shows. I used to hang out near the door, especially on Sundays. If someone was walking out with a gun they wanted to sell (and I wanted it) I'd offer a low number. Sometimes it works.

I have a table at one local gunshow, it's once a year in Sept...so it's coming up.
I have my table at the far end wall, opposite to the entry. While I miss out on any low priced "walk-in" guns, usually there is no such thing, anyway...I do get to make an offer after the "walk-in" has had a bunch of offers that they refused. Last year, I scored a sweet deal on a minty CZ-452 Lux with extra mags, from a "Walk-in"

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP>>>

Back to gun shows.
... On Sunday the last hour is very good also but that can be more hit and miss.

I got a long story about a Ruger #3 in 22 hornet I had been negotiating on (all weekend), with another vendor that was at the show that I had a table at. He wouldn't budge from the price on the ticket...and something about him rubbed me the wrong way, hence my continued haggling and offering up barder items in partial trade(in a jokingly way), all weekend. So, it's Sunday, after show close I am still packing up, he was all packed up and left the parking lot. Then he came back and accepted my cash offer, while his wife was yelling at him.

[uscra112]

I have to admit that I all but threw a guy out of my house a few years ago. I'd listed a Savage rifle for sale at what I considered a fair price in the local Bargain Hunter, but when he showed up he started denigrating the rifle in ways that I knew weren't true. I think he thought he was "negotiating" with a naive senior citizen, but he thought wrong. Reminded me of "early bird" antique dealers that showed up at a yard sale my mother ran in the '90s after Daddy died. Arrogant as hell.

[charlie b]

^^^and all of them 'experts' in the field.

Reminds me of a family acquaintance who ran an auction house. He commented that there was a post in the back of the room that made more than a few bids when he needed to 'encourage' bidders.

[uscra112]

The estate auctioneer nearest me will sell an item to that post if he doesn't get an opening bid quickly enough.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

It's been a long time since I was in a gun shop. I wonder what my mint condition S&W model 29-2 would bring these days?

[1I-Jack]

There is a time and a place to negotiate. There is also an art to negotiation. ... I do agree that with the younger generation negotiation skills are limited.

Speaking as someone who never learned the "art of negotiation" maybe someone should start offering classes. I guess my brain just doesn't work that way, but I'm sure I could learn at least to a limited extent. Generally speaking I just look at the price, decide it's worth it or walk away.

[M-Tecs]

Speaking as someone who never learned the "art of negotiation" maybe someone should start offering classes. I guess my brain just doesn't work that way, but I'm sure I could learn at least to a limited extent. Generally speaking I just look at the price, decide it's worth it or walk away.

Lots of college classes and books/videos available. I've always been good at reading people so negotiating comes naturally to me. I remember negotiating with my parents at 5 or 6 years old and I have very fond memories of negotiating with my first girlfriends. Almost everything in life is a negotiation. Sometimes it's with yourself. I negotiated a lot with myself before I decided if I wanted/needed a new truck and what features I wanted verse keeping the money in the bank.

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insight...-what-you-want

https://www.karrass.com/?msclkid=1f2...tion%20Seminar

https://www.bing.com/search?q=art+of...ANCMS9&PC=W000

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tion&FORM=VDRE

https://www.advanchainge.com/post/is...e%20positively.
Negotiation is often referred to as an art due to the creative and intuitive aspects involved. Skilled negotiators possess the ability to read people, understand their motivations, and adapt their approach accordingly. They navigate through complex situations, leveraging persuasion and communication techniques to influence the outcome positively.

[charlie b]

Deciding what you want to pay (or get if selling) is the biggest part. If you don't budge from that you will be 'successful'. They may not sell (or buy) but you will not 'lose'.

[shtur]

I'm mostly a hand gunner and look at the two most popular handgun forums in addition to this forum. Members of the two handgun forums state it is better to shop on gunbroker than to waste time and entry fee money at a gun show. I agree with them. There are some overpriced handguns on GB, but I have bought a few excellent priced handguns on GB this year and last.

[LAGS]

The entry fee at a local gun show is still cheaper than what shipping costs from places like GB.

[M-Tecs]

I liked Gunbrokers a lot more before they started collecting State Sales tax. I have well over 100 purchases on GB. I rarely use it anymore.

Gunshows can be hit and miss. Looking for a new firearm at a gunshow rarely gets you the best deals. Used firearms and miscellaneous items I tend to find good to great deals at gunshows. Last one I went to I purchased a like new Fosters Co-Ax reloading press with a set of 30/06 dies for $40. It's my third and I really don't care for them but I will give it away or sell it for a significant profit. Same show I got an unused Larry Willis Belted Magnum collet resizing sizing die for $10.00. They sell new for $119.99 https://www.larrywillis.com/ I also purchased a used 45 Colt Dillon Carbide Die set in a 650 toolholder and stand for $30.00. Current price for the die set is $125.00 and the toolholder and stand are another $75.00.

At that show powder and primers was more than I was willing to pay but no hazmat on $40 a pound powder or $80 to $100 on a thousand primers is doable if you really need them.

No shipping and no tax on most of the stuff I purchase at shows. If it's from a dealer I normally can get them to throw in the tax at a minimum