Silly Asking Prices

[charlie b]

I've noticed the same with other 'collectible' firearms. The sellers do not consider it an auction, just a cheap store front for their business. Ebay has a lot of folks like that as well.

[CastingFool]

I attended a gun show last Saturday afternoon. Attendance was the lowest I've ever seen. One dealer showing a bunch of military rifles had a Russian sks, with a price tag asking $1100! I didn't pick it up to look at the date on the rifle. The rifle looked good, but not exceptional. Certainly not worth $1100.

[magnumuser]

haggling is dead these days.. sure us under 50 year old kinds may not be smart enough to be able to tell when the price tag you put on that gun is an actual haggle room included price.

All we know is that your selling, say a model 13 4" in 90% condition for and the price tag says 1000$. We know the tag says 1000% and the only ones appearing on online gun sites are 8-1000% and many are not even 50% condition.

Sure, i was at a gunshow this year. There were a few people selling N frames. 1 guy wanted 1900$ for a 45 acp in stainless with a lock, another guy was selling current production 629 with 6.5 and 8 inch barrels for 1500. I beat the feet the other way.

[rintinglen]

To me, the key is knowing what it is worth to you. I spent this summer acquiring about a Half Dozen pocket pistols of pre-WW II design. I only over paid for one, when some buffoon, err, rival bidder, ran my bid up to the very max. (I'd bid 575.07, he bid up to 575 in the last hour, $5.00 bucks at a time). My 1935 Beretta cost me $495 delivered., much less than most were being offered for.

Anybody crying the blues about gun show prices is delusional.

The thing about Gun Broker is that by the time you pay the dealer fees, 35-50 dollar shipping, sales tax, and the Gun Broker fees, you have added 10-25% to the cost. And used accessories are almost cheaper at a show than on GB. Are there high prices at gun shows--sure. Guys with tables want to make their week end worth while, but come Sunday afternoon, especially after a slow week end, make you your best offer; that 1000 dollar price tag may not be written in stone after all. If it's not to be, it's not to be, but I have more often than not found that it can happen.

[magnumuser]

alot of people have no choice. The golden days are gone. No more do you go to the gun store and buy a gun, most gun stores arent actually gun stores.. they are "sporting goods stores". If your lucky youll find a savage or stevens break open next to a display of life jackets and swimsuites and sun tan lotion.

No one has the option of walking into an actual gunstore and buying a near mint model 13.. for any price, let alone the "450" that gets talked about so much on the interwebs.

[Recycled bullet]

Virginia arms is/was selling a used/consignment Ruger LCR 38 special snub for $950. The revolver is visibly scratched and beat up looking. I asked the man if the price was right.... and afterwards I see there was a new one displayed in the adjacent gun case (not even ten feet away) for $580. I got two feet and I used them to walk away.

[delftshooter]

This online selling of heavily used smith and wesson revolvers as overpriced items is not helping the used market. BUT it is helping the NEW GUN MARKET>

Why purchase a used model, that regardless of personal feelings on current smith and wesson policies, politics, and that internal safety system, that is typically being listed as the same or MORE then a brand new model?

Its why Taurus is so popular. A taurus 66 may not be the exact same quailty as a 586 made in 1989, but at half the price you can afford to spend the rest of your yearly fun budget on press, primers, powder, slugs..

[Battis]

For what it's worth...
I recently bought a Dreyse 1907.32 acp that was in tough shape - frozen slide, no grips, gunked up - for $99. New grips were $40. New Wolff springs. Anyhoo, I put the work into cleaning it, and now it's a sweet little gun.
I bought it at this store. Check their inventory of used guns - rifles, shotguns and handguns. There's several at real low prices that "need work." I'm not sure if they'll ship but it might be worth asking if anything jumps out at you.

https://www.ccgguns.com/inventory/used/

[Carrier]

I used to get bent looking at prices that people wanted. I just don’t let it bother me anymore. If I want something bad enough then I have to make a decision. Life is to short these days to worry about it.

[35 Rem]

This online selling of heavily used smith and wesson revolvers as overpriced items is not helping the used market. BUT it is helping the NEW GUN MARKET>

Why purchase a used model, that regardless of personal feelings on current smith and wesson policies, politics, and that internal safety system, that is typically being listed as the same or MORE then a brand new model?

Its why Taurus is so popular. A taurus 66 may not be the exact same quailty as a 586 made in 1989, but at half the price you can afford to spend the rest of your yearly fun budget on press, primers, powder, slugs..

This is exactly why I got a FFL back in 1988. I was primarily interested in varmint rifles in 22 centerfires, so round count of a used gun was always something of concern as barrel life isn't all that long. When I found out that I could buy new guns cheaper than used from wholesalers, I was thrilled and did so often. In the intervening years it has gotten more and more difficult to get a wholesaler to sell to a little guy so there's not much to be saved anymore. It was good while it lasted though.

[Electrod47]

How come every time I try to sell a gun "Its a piece of Junk", nobody wants it. When I go out regularly I see the same gun "beat up and dog eared" for 3 times what I was asking......even in this "Hot Market" dudes still acted like they are getting their ox gored. No pitter patter like not that long ago. Just straight to the pullin' out the Charleston Blue.

[delftshooter]

there are a few decent guns for sale for what most would call a reasonable price, but once you enlarge the photos and see the physical damage to the guns.. not such a good thing.

I guess pay high now for factory new, and be the one to break it in.

[uscra112]

It's been a factoid for a very long time that used stuff (especially parts) is too often stuff the seller knows are unsaleable in a face-to-face situation. That said, I've gotten 3 or 4 astounding deals on Gunbroker, but it's always been because the seller identified the item so poorly that casual searchers didn't find it.

[Kestrel4k]

I haggle up and haggle down, esp. if the item isn't moving; have had a fair bit of success both ways. A bit of fun if both parties know the lay of the land.
The one thing I /never/ do as buyer, is to denigrate the sellers' item. When someone does that to me, I can tell ya that there won't be a sale. :-/

[Jtarm]

I’ve found a couple of gems at the local indoor range where I’m a member.

They get a lot of trade-ins and must really low-ball the buyers. It appears a lot of people trade in dad’s old revolver or 1911 for polymer-blasters or ARs.

[georgerkahn]

I’ve found a couple of gems at the local indoor range where I’m a member.

They get a lot of trade-ins and must really low-ball the buyers. It appears a lot of people trade in dad’s old revolver or 1911 for polymer-blasters or ARs.

I've noted the real old farts (me very much included) are still recalling the prices we paid for firearms when we -- several decades back -- purchased them, as opposed to what new ones, similar firearms, are going for now. As but one example, I OVER-paid, at the time, for a slightly used Colt Python, to see they're now going for pretty much three times the dollars I gave for it! A few folks focus on what the firearm cost "then", and are delighted to make even a wee profit. This is opposed to "those who (wink wink) KNOW" after seeing asking prices on auction sites and the like what they MUST get.
I have been in the similar boat where what I have is overpriced junk; with others demanding more dollars for similar, mostly worse condition, goods!
The way it (apparently) is.....
geo

[jdgabbard]

Most of the time I see what I like to call the "eBay Syndrom". Not every version of a particular gun is rare and valuable. Most of the time I see guns priced well over what they're realistically worth. But the reason they're priced like this is that in this market someone will buy them. Just like how a lot of you guys paid $150-200 for primers that just a year or two before were $30/k. Personally, I didn't buy any until they came down to like $70, and even then I did it with a little internal anger at the system.

Best example are Mosins. We imported what has to be millions of those things. You could buy them for like $50, and the dealers had a hard time getting rid of them. You're not going to convince me that the $50 rifle that was imported in such vast quantities that they lingered on shelves for over a decade are now valuable and worth $500. That's just not true. Is it a $100, or maybe $200 rifle, yeah probably. But not a $500 rifle. Some of yall have smoked too much of the devil's lettuce...

[HWooldridge]

And sometimes you have to change your expectations...

I spent a lot of years looking for a Winchester or Marlin lever action in 32-20 - but everything I found was shot to pieces or the asking price was a semester's worth of tuition at Harvard. Even the trash was overpriced. I still wanted a 32-20 in some configuration, so lo and behold - along comes an unmolested Savage 23C for less than half the typical asking prices of anything else I'd seen. Bore and finish looked like it had come straight out of the factory (obviously had never fired any BP rounds). I snapped it up and never looked back - the game I've harvested never cared where the slug came from - dead is dead...

[Jtarm]

Most of the time I see what I like to call the "eBay Syndrom". Not every version of a particular gun is rare and valuable. Most of the time I see guns priced well over what they're realistically worth. But the reason they're priced like this is that in this market someone will buy them. Just like how a lot of you guys paid $150-200 for primers that just a year or two before were $30/k. Personally, I didn't buy any until they came down to like $70, and even then I did it with a little internal anger at the system.

Best example are Mosins. We imported what has to be millions of those things. You could buy them for like $50, and the dealers had a hard time getting rid of them. You're not going to convince me that the $50 rifle that was imported in such vast quantities that they lingered on shelves for over a decade are now valuable and worth $500. That's just not true. Is it a $100, or maybe $200 rifle, yeah probably. But not a $500 rifle. Some of yall have smoked too much of the devil's lettuce...

There was a joke that when someone made a cash purchase at a gun store, they were asked if they’d like their change in Mosins.

Do I need to explain for the younger crowd what “cash” and “change” are?