Cash price vs trade value

22-Rimfire said
I think the point is that the trade goods have to be valued more than the cash price for a deal to be considered since inorder to liquidate the "trade goods" it will take time and effort before "cash" is seen. The value is subject to the buyer and sellers agreement and I don't think you can inflate them for the deal.
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I guess if the goal is to sell, that's a good point.
How many individuals are doing that, though?


MLeake said
I think the point is that the OP is accusing sellers of being shady for offering a lower price for cash... which is odd, because a lot of sales (cars, gas, houses) are just that way.
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Not at all.

While I compared it to a car sales, I do consider it shady for a dealership to offer more trade and at the same time artificially inflate the sales price.

But I'm not seeing gun dealers do this. It's private, individual sales primarily.

The point all along, as it pertains guns, has been why two values for a cash deal vs a trade deal in a private, non-dealer sale?

Marketing, resale, and just because have all been discussed.
 
Same concept. The seller knows the value of your cash. He does not know the practical value of your trade.
 
I disagree. Buying for cash and trading for cash are the same thing.

At any rate ... thanks everyone for the "debate". It was certainly thought provoking.
 
I disagree. Buying for cash and trading for cash are the same thing.
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I believe you're wrong there if the objective by the seller is to put cash in his pocket ultimately. The seller is taking another risk by accepting a trade; hence he wants a higher value of the trade item(s) as compared to the cash value he has placed on the gun.

It would be perfectly understandable if the seller said $500 for my gun cash or $500 +3% with credit card. This is done all the time at gunshops. The seller simply wants to minimize his risk when considering a trade for his $500 gun. Assuming the seller's objective is cash in his pocket that he can spend... he wants more estimated value on a trade for his firearm. He can't buy groceries with a gun valued at $575 until he takes the time to sell it which might take months.

Would it be more understandable if the seller said $500 cash or trade + $75?? Dealers at gun shows do that kind of deal all the time. Essentially they are getting their "profit" in cash before trying to sell the higher valued gun.

The problem there is that if it is a regular FFL dealer, the used gun price on the $575 gun is probably more like $900 to make the deal work.
 
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I have done something similar to what you are describing when selling a gun before. At the time I preferred to sell so I put in the ad what I considered the value of the gun and said I would be willing to trade for the right gun but would accept $50 under my considered value for cash. There is nothing shady about it, just giving incentive for someone to buy it rather than making a trade.
 
"But I'm not seeing gun dealers do this. It's private, individual sales primarily."

I know one successful gun store over in the Valley that has listed 2 prices on their hang tags for the past 15 years or so. They list the cash price and the trade price - which is usually $100 more on your typical $1000 to $3000 shotgun by Guerini, Browning or Beretta.

They do the same on their handguns, but being a cash customer I don't recall the price spread.

It takes cash to run a business and a bunch of extra guns sitting on the shelf for some unknown period of days or weeks won't pay the bills this week.

I suppose the short version is that there's a discount for cash buyers.

John
 
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