I stopped in at a strip mall gunstore to see what they had. Clerk asked what I was looking for, I told him I liked older Smith and Wessons. Clerk pulls out an older M&P, 5" pencil barrel, with a lot of uneven blue wear. I'm mildly interested, then I looked at the price tag: $900. I thanked him and beat feet out of there.
Anybody have any similar stories of close encounters of the wildly over-priced kind? Sticking to handguns, please, as I really don't want to hear about your dating life.
Remember: Ammo will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no ammo.
That does seem a little overpriced.
A guy offered me only $800 for a 5" Victory model S&W
In the last 30 days I've bought four various used S&Ws, 2-inch, 3-inch and 4-inch barrels, guns all in nice 85-90% honest used condition, original unmodified ex-cop guns from Top 100 sellers off Gunbroker.
Did not pay over $450 for any of them.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
Now and then I amble over to Gunbroker just to see what older S&W K and N frames mostly are going for. More than likely, I'll only leave wondering if people have lost their minds? Or is that what they're really going for these days? I'm 69 years old and strongly lean towards the blued guns from days of old, Model 10's, 14's, 15', etc in K frame...hard to believe what some are priced at. N frames are another story, you just have to add a few more hundred for Model 28's. Pristine ones on upwards of $1,000. A pre-lock Model 29? Crazy prices. Oh well.
Murphy
If I should depart this life while defending those who cannot defend themselves, then I have died the most honorable of deaths. Marc R. Murphy '2006'.
That's pretty much what I've seen at the LGS. People are going nuts over CCW guns and glocks and they are being offered at ridiculous prices. That being said, I managed to pick up a virtually NIB Seville 7 1/2" revolver in 357 Max. for $500.00.
The sheeple are only interested in what the gun rags are promoting and have no clue as to the actual value of consignment guns.
Old enough to know better, young enough to do it anyway!
Men who don't understand women fall into two categories: bachelors and husbands!
Seems like people have become rich overnight or gone brain dead. I bought a almost pristine Model 13 some 3 or 4 years ago off an ex-cop for $500.00 and a full box of ammo. Felt like I had agreed to a bad deal until I started seeing price lately. There is a local selling outfit here (internet) and the prices on that place make Gun Broker look like a bargain basement seller. Guy on there has a Taurus 605? and he is asking something like $900.00 for it. Another guy has a Kel Teck 9mm carbine and is asking $1600.00 for it. Most of the guns on that site are just sitting for weeks on end with no buyers. But they keep asking those ridiculous prices and they continue to sit. I saw a box of common 30-06 ammo and the asking price was $85.00. Another guy had 5 20 round boxes of ammo and was asking over $300.00 for it. You would think that everything they have for sell is gold plated at the asking price. oh well, vent over, James
I've been noting that the price of used firearms seems to be getting out of line in the last couple of years than I compare them to the prices of new. New seems to have increased more.
2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. - "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
"Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of different perspectives? Because if not, there’s absolutely no point."
– Amber Veal
"The Highest form of ignorance is when your reject something you don't know anything about".
- Wayne Dyer
I've been watching a small lot of reloading tools on Gunbroker, priced at about double what you can buy it for new. Everything that seller has is priced that way. Greed? Ignorance?
Cognitive Dissident
Only thing worse than the crazy prices is there are those out there that don’t seem to mind paying them and they are there!
Facta non verba
People vote with their checkbook. You want "WHAT"? I guess I don't need one that bad.
Old retired guy in Baton Rouge La.
Not silly, it's the new normal.Originally Posted by 376Steyr
But there will always be deals out there
A friend recently bought a minty 5.5" blued Redhawk in 41 mag for $1200, he thought it was a great deal.
I thought it was a silly price...until I looked around for one. Yep, it's the new normal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001
I look at the Texas Gun Trader on a weekly basis to see if a bargain accidentally shows up.
It’s been a while since one has; although this week there was a Hi-point .45 carbine for $200.
There was a Savage Axis on there for $800
A Super Blackhawk for $1000.
THOSE kind of deals are the norm it seems.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
.
It looks like my retirement fund ( I invested in guns) is looking up.........
Now I lay me down to sleep
A gun beside me is what I keep
If I awake, and you're inside
The coroner's van is your next ride
A silver lining: I have noticed for the last several years that the younger buyers just flat out do not haggle over the tag price. I have sold some I had bought many years ago. I had them tagged with a whole of wiggle room. But with the young buyers; if they want it, they will pony up the tag price without comment. Quite phenomenal.
Britons shall never be slaves.
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.
I'm neither cheap enough nor poor enough to want to waste my valuable time on all that nonsense. Actually, when it comes right down to it, the maximum interaction I ever want to have with a seller is getting back my change...My preference is to not talk to them at all. I don't care about their BS and I'm certainly not going to stand there jaw-jacking back and forth to save $5. If the marked price for something is "worth it" to me, I'll hand over the cash. If not, I'll move on without a word. Somebody else can waste their time making an offer.
Plus on on what Keplode said^^^.
I don’t haggle at the gas pump, the grocery store or at a restaurant.
At my LGS I know their markup on new guns is only about 10-15%.
I don’t haggle them either. I see their vehicles and know where they live. They aren’t getting rich and I do want them to make enough money to keep their store open. If there was a tip jar on their counter I’d probably drop a buck in the bucket once in a while.
Silly prices…..I think that’s largely due to ignorance. I’ve personally seen at a Cabela’s Gun Library a used 629-6 priced at $1599 when there was a new 629-6 in their new gun counter for $1099. The clerk on duty in the Gun Library knew it too. He didn’t set the prices. That was up to the young lady who was the Gun Library Manager. Her comparison was a 629-4 4” Mountain Gun. It sold for $1599 so she priced her 629-6 6” at $1599. Ignorance.
I was at a gun shop recently that had several consignment pieces from an estate. There was a minty Browning Baby with its second magazine in a box priced at $275. As I was looking at it I asked the clerk if that price was correct. He said yes the gun is only a 25 and no one wants those. Turns out I did!
In the same batch of estate guns was a very used Sistema Colt. No markings on the slide indicating Argentine Army, Navy or Air Force. There was a mix of thin blueing, rust pits, nicks and dings on the outside. I’d call it poor condition. The magazine was stuck in it. The barrel was a replacement. Only the slide and the frame had matching serial numbers. They have it priced at $700. To me that is a silly price for a rusty old mil spec 1911 made in Argentina.
"Time and money don't do you a bit of good until you spend them." - My Dad
There is a time and a place to negotiate. There is also an art to negotiation. I purchased a new truck this year. I was told the price was MSRP or nothing. When it was all said and done,
I got the truck for $4,800 under MSRP.
I just purchased a used Remington SP-10 10-gauge magnum. Starting price was $1,250. I paid $850.
In the past 50 plus years of negotiating prices I have saved well over $200,000.00. When I built my current house, the builder wanted $20K more than I wanted to pay to do Spancrete in the garage so I could have my shop in the basement under the garage. I got my basement shop for the price I wanted to pay.
On the flip side I have made a significant amount more money negotiating for higher wages. In one case it was $5.50 an hour. That over $10K a year. I only stayed there a couple of years but was a baseline to start negotiating the new wages.
I can't criticize anyone for asking whatever they want to ask. I do blame people for paying silly prices. If people stop paying the silly prices the prices will come down. Ultimately market prices are set by what the market will bear.
When selling I love people that don't know or understand the art of negotiating.
I currently am helping a friend's daughter sell of his estate. We have two prices set. First is what I think I can get her and second is what her bottom line is. She wants the stuff gone in a reasonable amount of time.
Since Cabela’s has been sold, I haven't shopped there. When I did purchase from the gun library, I always paid 10% to 20% less than tag price with one exception. The asking tag price was about $2K under market rate. I didn't want any questions about the tag price so no thought of negotiation, but I did just about break my wrist getting my billfold out.
Most gun shops have a significant margin on used firearms. On new the margin is much less but negotiations are still possible and normally expected. After I retired, I worked part-time at a gun shop for the employee discounts and to get out of the house. I do agree that with the younger generation negotiation skills are limited.
Last edited by M-Tecs; 09-03-2023 at 04:58 PM.
2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. - "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
"Before you argue with someone, ask yourself, is that person even mentally mature enough to grasp the concept of different perspectives? Because if not, there’s absolutely no point."
– Amber Veal
"The Highest form of ignorance is when your reject something you don't know anything about".
- Wayne Dyer
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.
.
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001
There’s a whole lot of dinks in this younger generation - dual income, no kids.
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