Resale value of your firearm?

I very much understand the mark up percent value all gun shop and department stores need to do in order to make a profit. I only had to deal with trade in a firearm a couple times in my life. It's kinda frustrating for return customers that they know you're done lots of business with them in the past and all the rest of their merchandise is marked up in some cases 100 percent or more. Why do returning customers always need to haggle over a selling price of a used firearm?? My firearm at that time was sold to a gun dept. for $780, but according to there 30 percent mark up policy. I should have receive $805 for my used firearm, since they will sell it for $1149.99.
 
Selling any firearm to a retailer is the worst way to sell, no matter if it's a dedicated gun shop, or a retailer like Gander Mountain.

You'll come out on the short end each and every time. I don't make it a habit of selling firearms, but when I do, I put the word out, and within a week or so, I have a buyer.

Some retailers don't even buy guns or take them in on trade. All they do is sell new stuff, no used stuff.

Once in a great while, I'll establish a relationship with a dedicated gun shop. But, that takes a lot of effort and work. Once you have, there is the possibility that you will receive more favorable treatment than the guy walking in off the street.
 
I sold my Taurus PT-111 back to the same place I bought it from, and got little better than half of what I paid, to put on another gun. Decent sale price for both, but poor trade-in value. Lesson learned. Had I not wanted to be rid of the Taurus at all costs, I probably would have sold it outright.
 
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Every once in a blue moon, I happened to have a firearm for sale, that NOBODY wanted to buy ( at/through several venues), whether it be online, at a fun show, whatever............:eek:


THOSE are the ones I either trade in, or sell to, a dealer - because a firearm is not worth a red cent, until somebody's willing to give you something of value (money, guns, etc) for it. :p



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The book is just a guess. The real market value is what someone is willing to pay for it.

And a private buyer is going to be willing to pay more for a gun than a retailer will.
 
They are going to give you what it's worth to THEM. Not necessarly what you or some book might say it's worth, but what they're willing to pay for it. Shoot, they might not even really want your gun. They might have a dozen "unobtanium 500's" just like yours.

Which is exactly what I would do if you were trying to sell it to me.

You're free to go someplace else if you don't like the offer.
 
Most replies have to do with the monetary return. More important is to be sure that the firearm is no longer associated with your name. If it is ever used in a felony and can be traced to you and you have no proof that you sold it, you could be in serious trouble. There have been cases where, after decades, a gun has been traced to a former owner who has found himself in very great trouble. It is also important that you have a "way out" if one of your weapons has ever been reported stolen.

willr
 
I have bought and sold guns both from retail establishments and from private individuals. In my opinion, it's less about the dollars, and more about the risk.

When I sell at my LGS, I get cash there on the spot. They assume all the risk on how much they end up getting when they sell the gun.

When I seel on FB/Armslist/forums, I exchange messages, texts, emails, and phone calls. I drive to a mutually agreeable location, which may or may not be in my local community. I assume all the risk.

In terms of "valuing" a firearm, my LGS doesn't bother with the book. Searching the completed auctions on gunbroker (after sorting them by number of bids from high to low) will tell you what people are paying for your gun. Best way to guage the market is to look at the market itself.
 
Places like Gander Mountain prey on desperate or uninformed people. I've seen them offer 30% of what a gun was worth. While there isn't anything illegal about that, it's unsavory business practice at best.
 
NO GUNS, AMMUNITION, ARCHERY, KNIVES OR PAINTBALL GUN SALES: This is per Facebook Policies.

Well so much for the FB groups....
 
From personal experience the dealers will offer roughly 50% of what you paid for the gun when it was new if you are lucky. Some have offered 40% of purchase price. As stated it may sit in the show case for weeks, months before selling. Its the same as car buying when trading in a car. Low ball offers, so as they say it pays to try and sell privately.
 
Don't forget stores also love to sell guns for more than they are worth. I recall the local Cabelas had a crescent arms shotgun for sale that was falling apart. A good one sells for 100, they wanted 250. I will never sell or buy any firearms from a dealer.
(unless its one of those new glock 41s):D
 
You do need to watch Cabelas, and especially with guns in their gun library. My dad got them to ship a used Browning 525 they had listed at another store to the one near us. They were asking $2500 or so for it, and it came as is, with no chokes or box, etc. While he was talking to the boy in the libary about it, I walked out to the counter to look around. On the rack, were a bunch of brand new 525's selling for $1800. I went back in and asked the boy my dad was talking to, what was the difference. The look on his face was priceless, and not very pleasant. Needless to say, my dad bought one of the ones off the rack.

Ive seen them put German police trade in P1's (P38's) in the gun room for over $500, while at the very same time, have the exact same guns in the case out at the counter, for under $300.

On the other hand, I have seen some really nice older rifles out in the used long gun racks, for next to nothing, and know for a fact, they were well under priced.

I dont know if they are really that cagey, or its just incompetent people doing the pricing. Still, it pays to know what youre looking at and what costs what if youre looking there.
 
It's like trading in a car vs selling it to a private party; if you are willing to do the work to sell it, you make more.

That being said, the resale value of all my guns is $0, because it's never going to happen.
 
. Ive seen them put German police trade in P1's (P38's) in the gun room for over $500, while at the very same time, have the exact same guns in the case out at the counter, for under $300.
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Oh there trade ins are absolutely ridiculous
 
Short form is, gun sales groups are perfectly fine on Facebook. They have not been banned, and are very much alive and well.
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Maybe so - maybe not..

I have a feeling that, since the groups I applied to are closed groups, the people that run the groups will have the final say - no matter what Facebook says.

http://bstpremier.com/rules.html
 
Some places are more greedy than others, or offer next to nothing because they prefer not to deal with used firearms.

I've had some "well respected" shops offer me literally pennies on the dollar. In one instance, I was offered $75 for a group of three centerfire rifles easily worth $750 under the worst circumstances.
(They're all gone now, but just a few weeks later, I traded just ONE of those rifles for a $550+ revolver; and I traded another straight across for a $425 deal about 6 weeks later.)
 
Awhile back I made an offer on a gun at a pawn shop. They wanted $349 (asking price, and we all have an idea what they paid for it). I offered $150 plus a pile of ammo I wanted to get rid of (NATO surplus I was never going to shoot). The pawn shop guy said he wouldn't take it for the gun; but would still buy the ammo for $60! I laughed and walked out. The next weekend at the local gun show I barely made it in the door and had made $200 off of said ammo!! If I hadn't taken the first offer I got, I'm sure it would have been more.
 
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