"padding prices" when selling guns

C

chack

Moderator
About a month ago I had four AKs listed for $325-$550 here on TFL with only a few bites. I ended up selling them on gunbroker and at a gunshow for my asking price or higher. I have a couple more that I'm selling as soon as I can get access to the guns I put into storage before I deployed. I'll list them here again before taking them to a gun show in November. The gun show was fine, maybe even better, because many of the contacts I got here were obnoxious and downright insulting.

OK, If you think $700 for a new unfired AR with accessories is too much, fine, don't buy it, but to send an email saying I'm trying to screw someone over and then offering $500 for it if I include shipping for free is stupid.

Also, I think adding $30 flat rate shipping to my price to cover my time and shipping/packaging costs is pretty fair. Just because the actual shipping charge to you may only be $23 doesn't mean that I'm unscrupulous somehow. You aren't going to complain if it costs $32 so the jerks that cry about how I'm a dick for "padding my prices" can just get over it.

Another thing, screaming about how I'm in violation of ATF laws because the laws in your state are different than the laws in my state just shows that you are ignorant AND rude. The FAQ on the ATF website isn't the law, it is just a simplified synopsis and doing something not described in the FAQ isn't necessarily a violation of the law.

Frankly, many of the members' posts here are so rude and obnoxious I don't even know if I want to post here alot of times.

So in a nutshell, if you don't know what you're talking about, either shut up or learn by asking polite questions.
 
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It's a tough call... but this may get locked as a rant.

However, the topic IS something many TFL members have experienced.
I had several rifles posted here, over the last 8 months.

The 1955 Tula SKS had the uncommon side-stamped receiver. Average value was about $475 for its condition. I went all the way down to $275 on the price. ...No takers; just people insulting me, telling me that they shouldn't have to pay $300+ for an SKS (with ammo...), when they can get a Romanian/Yugo/whatever for less (with no ammo).

The 1895 Krag was a DCM carbine, and described as such in all postings (I had it listed several places). (It started life as a rifle, but was modified to a carbine by the DCM {pre-runner to the CMP) in about 1920, prior to being sold to the public.) Yet, every piece of correspondence about that rifle included people complaining about how I bubba'd a piece of history. I only had it listed at a fair market price of $225, but the offers were often less than $100. :rolleyes:

The Mossberg 800 I had listed was every bit of a $350 rifle. But, since no one had ever heard of it... Every message I received was an insult to myself, or the rifle (since the prospective buyer assumed it was just a "piece of crap", due to unfamiliarity; and assumed I was trying to rip people off). The best offer I received was $125.


In the end:
I sold the Krag for more than I paid for it, via a local FTF sale.
I traded the SKS for another rifle, and came out on top with extras (a nice amount of ammunition, brass, bullets, and dies).
And the Mossberg... well, that "piece of crap" rifle got traded straight across (locally) for a $550 revolver. ;) (And I only had about $45 invested in it. :D)

Moral of the story:
If you want top dollar, TFL is a bad place to list firearms.

...but it isn't, necessarily, the fault of the community. One of the biggest problems here, is that buyers have nothing more than pictures to go on. Even with good, detailed photos, it can be really difficult to commit to a firearm purchase. The only reason that changes when you go to a firearm auction site, is because people are there to buy (not just browsing); and they believe there are better safeguards in place, to protect them from being worked over by a seller (and assume sellers will be more honest).
 
Sometimes the least knowledgeable have the most to say.

One of the offenses here on TFL is pooping in a For Sale thread. If you post an item For Sale and get unwanted advice on your asking price, in the open in that thread, report the post.

PMs are just that: private. You can however report harassment by PM and we will intervene.
 
I've PM'd people about their ads before but you can do that without being rude. I remember a guy that was trying to sell AK mags for $35 ea plus shipping. I didn't tell him he was nuts or that he was way overpriced. I just sent him a link to the same mags for $12 and wished him luck with his sale.

I've also sent a PM to someone that described a stamped AK as a milled gun when it was clearly riveted. he corrected hi ad and said thank you. People make mistakes, I've uploaded the wrong picture and made typos before too.

But to get to the point, some basic etiquette isn't that hard to manage.
 
If you post anything on the ol' nets, you're gonna get some folks who just can't leave it alone, right or wrong. You may as well get used to that.

You will be better off finding a local site to sell guns, unless you happen to live in BFE.

I've sold two guns on boards that are in my state, (GA) a newish looking refurb Yugo SKS for $350, and a Taurus PT 101p for $300.

I post pics of the guns from all angles, offer more if needed, offer FTF sale in my town, will ship with buyer paying all charges.

I don't let folks come to my house, nor to I go to their's. We'll meet in a heavily trafficked area and I only accept cash.

I got my share of low-balls and folks that wanted me to drive 200 miles to meet them, it's gonna happen, I just replied, "Thanks, but the price is firm and I'm not going to drive 200 miles, I'll be glad to take more pics of whatever you need."

Eh, just like anywhere else, folks want something for nothing.
 
As a whole in my experience it is tough to sell guns online. I think this is the main reason I have not bought nor sold online. I tried selling a Beretta on here and I got only two bites. One was a guy who seemed like he was just confirming the price to see if he could get me to lower it. The other guy pestered me for pictures every which angle and close up here and close up there. That's fine... But then he said he decided to get a revolver. Very aggravating! He wasted a lot of my time for something he wasn't serious about. I ended up taking it off here and traded it for what I wanted at a LGS. Crazy thing is that I got the same trade value I was looking to sell it for. Pretty much unheard of for selling/trading at shops.

I think the problem is that people expect the same experience online as they do going into the LGS. The issue is that is the LGS purpose of being there. While for me 10 Joe Schmoes wasting my time is really frustrating.
 
When someone seems as if they're interested in something I have and angling for a lower price, but acting like a complete tool, I start RAISING the price for them.

I've found that to be incredibly effective in getting them to simply go away.
 
Just ignore those insulting messages.
Keep in mind, this is an online discussion forum. All forums have one thing in common, they are populated by a large percentage of over age juveniles. These people use anonymity to express themselves in ways that would not be tolerated with in person conversations.
The worst thing you can do to them is to ignore them.
 
Frankly, many of the members' posts here are so rude and obnoxious I don't even know if I want to post here alot of times.
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I've honestly never run into that when selling here. Lowball offers maybe, but not rudeness. Though I've typically sold older pieces, which may attract a different crowd.

FWIW among the sites that I'll list on, TFL tends to have the most aggressive hagglers - i.e they come in lower and increase their offers by less. But I can't complain, because I often do the same.
 
Ragging on guns and prices in the classified forum finally caused the owner of the M1911.org forum to change the way it works. He made the For Sale areas read-only. The seller gets to post his item, and it's automatically locked. All contacts must be made by PM, in order to eliminate such idiocy.

I've never tried to sell anything through any gun forum so I don't know if the M1911.org approach works. I CAN say that the same behavior is rampant on Jeep forums. On one forum, there are guys posting loud and often that they just HAVE to have such-and-such model. I happen to have two of them that I'd be happy to pass along for what I paid to keep them out of the scrap yard: $100 for one, and $200 for the other.

Man, you'd think I just raped their baby sister from the responses I've gotten.
 
Chack, what you describe is not limited to this web site. It’s common in the world wide web. I strongly believe people get a little braver then normal because they can hide behind a keyboard, knowing full well that you will never meet up with them. Human nature I guess? I normally brush them off and forget about them. At times I will even “play” with them a little, then suddenly they will realize I’m having more fun then they are and they disappear. Then there is the rare times that they get under my skin, which is my fault for allowing it. 99% of the people on this forum are good folks. It's that 1% that ruins it.
 
I've never tried to sell anything through any gun forum so I don't know if the M1911.org approach works.
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The admin on TargetTalk had to do something similar - not lock the thread, but prohibit smack talk about the listings. Because you'd inevitably get someone, typically the same handful of people, posting complaints about the price, the model, the description, whatever. It's apparent that some people just can't stand to see someone sell something for a higher price than they think it should to be.
 
Casimer said:
It's apparent that some people just can't stand to see someone sell something for a higher price than they think it should to be.
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I haven't studied psychology (seriously, anyway) since I got out of college, and that was awhile ago. Nonetheless, my take on this is that such folk are diehard cheapskates, and at some (possibly subconscious) level they think if they consistently complain that any asking price is too high, they can somehow drive the market down to the level where they'd like to see it.

I've always wondered what sort of prices they'd put on their own gun (or Jeep) if it was for sale ...
 
They could also do as 1911.com does and that is NO guns for sale period. I had my 4 screw S&W for sale and was told that the responder could buy a new S&W for my asking prices. It take all kinds to sell and all kinds to buy
 
I haven't sold any guns, but have sold lots of stuff on Craigslist , E bay and regular old print ads so the theory still applies.

A few common threads:

When the prices get to the lower end of what ever object, many of the people that have a look are _EXPECTING_ a perfect object. They can't comprehend that the object is being sold at less than new because it is used / worn but still works.

It is very easy to reply to random internet ads for entertainment. I recently sold a object on Craigslist and got a reply from someone that was states away. This would not be so bad except the object was not worth shipping nor driving many states away because they could come up with the same object down the street from where they are. ( did a email / name search and they turned up on a VFD web site )

Now I have sold objects that are no longer made to people states away and they were happy to pay shipping that equaled purchase price.

When someone replies to a ad with just a few generic words, it is very likely to be either a scam or someone looking for entertainment. All lower case , run together sentences, really bad grammar or just generally stupid is easy to pick out.

I've gotten a few, " I can buy that new for $ XX " , these get ignored especially when the item they are quoting is not of the same brand / quality. I tend to put a link in the ad for a item I'm selling and what the new price is as this tends to reduce any questions as to what the item is worth new.

This comes in handy when I'm selling a new item, usually I advertise at 1/2 of new if I'm into the item at a good price. ( live auction purchases tend to be a source of this kind of stuff )

It isn't all bad, if I can talk to them on the phone it is pretty apparent if they are real or not.

Don't take any of what they say personally, it only takes one person with $ to make the sale and it isn't worth wasting time on those with no intention of buying. Selling stuff takes time, not everything in a retail store is sold as soon at it hits the shelves. While TFL has a good following, it is miniscule compared to the total population.
 
As a buyer, I always ask myself if I'm serious enough to ask the question. I basically have a few things I want to see before buying. On the other hand, when asked for pics, a seller should see this as an opportunity to sell the gun. This means send lots of angles, in good light, of 5 mp or higher. Show the good and the bad.

I wish people on both sides of the deal knew this was hard work and really focused on doing the deal right. Both sides will be extended money or gun at some point, so both sides should work hard to build the relationship which will get the deal done!
 
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