Where to buy used guns online?

C

Carmike

New member
Hello all,

I used to buy/sell through armslist, but that site now requires a membership, which I'd pay for, but in my area at least, the listings are WAAAAY down, so it seems like I'd mostly be paying to view guns for sale by FFL's that I could just view on their own websites.

Is there anything out there similar to the "old" site? I used to love perusing the site, buying more than I needed, selling less--but my attempts to find something that replaces it have failed.

I can imagine the liability and other issues that come with hosting a site like that, so I suppose I get why such places might not exist anymore. But...do they?
 
You can watch firearms auction sites, but it's hard to find "good deals" online because every mother's son just wants to win the auction, and that runs the prices up over what they could buy the gun for locally once they pay S&H.

Some of the firearms auction sites have "penny auctions" or special categories for parts guns, but remember that another gunsmith has already looked that gun over to see if it makes sense financially to repair it.

You can haunt the pawn shops, but they have internet access and can research prices too, and often pawn shops just ask stupid prices anyway.

If you can get to know a pawn shop operator, you might get a shot at guns that came in to pawn in need of repair. I have an arrangement with several pawn shops to fix broken guns, but many of them won't accept guns that don't work.

You can look around at estate sales, but many of those have arrangements with dealers to sell the guns so they don't have to deal with gun sales laws.

Face-to-face private sales are frowned upon in many states, but you can still find people who don't care and just want the money. I do this, and since I'm a FFL I'm not breaking the law.
 
Thanks, guys. Yeah, the auction sites' prices don't always seem that competitive (I'm sure there are some deals out there, but I don't have the time to follow them religiously). And the pawn shops around here have prices that are barely under new.

I suppose maybe the days of Armslist-style sites are over. Sadly.
 
From what I've seen on auction sites I expect many sellers also have accounts as customers, possibly multiple accounts. They can then bid on their own items to drive the price up. If they don't see what they're wanting for their item they'll throw out an unrealistic highball bid that no one in their right mind would match.

No reason they can't have friends or co-workers helping them out too.
 
From what I've seen on auction sites I expect many sellers also have accounts as customers, possibly multiple accounts. They can then bid on their own items to drive the price up. If they don't see what they're wanting for their item they'll throw out an unrealistic highball bid that no one in their right mind would match.
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They'll end up paying a commission on their own sale and I'd then assume they'd still want to sell it. That seems penny-wise/pound foolish, if anyone even does that.
 
From what I've seen on auction sites I expect many sellers also have accounts as customers, possibly multiple accounts. They can then bid on their own items to drive the price up. If they don't see what they're wanting for their item they'll throw out an unrealistic highball bid that no one in their right mind would match.
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Conspiracy theories abound, and seldom stand up to even minor scrutiny.

When you set up a firearms auction online, you can choose the lowest price you will accept ("reserve price"), the length of the auction in days, and if you will allow a "buy now" option. You add a description, photo, then post the auction.

People bid on the guns, and often bid them up to stupid levels forgetting they still have to pay transfer fees, shipping, etc. I have my own theories about why people bid these guns up so high, but I suspect the main reason is they get emotionally involved about the purchase and won't let go when the price gets too high.

Now, there are dealers who don't know what a gun might be worth who will set the reserve price very high to see how much interest there is in their gun and get a "market price". Those guns are never meant to sell, they are intended to generate a value for the gun and a list of interested buyers. If they do sell, the dealer is obligated to pay the auction fee and ship the gun to the buyer.

But I seriously doubt that dealers set up dummy accounts to bid on their own guns. When a gun sells, you have to pay a fee, and paying a fee on top of not getting money from the sale is just foolish.
 
I like looking through buy-and-sell section of gun fora (even TFL has one, just not very active). There are a lot of good deals to be had. Some sellers insist on local face-to-face transaction, and some are willing to ship.

I just bought a Femaru M37 from a member on calgun a few days ago.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
OP, not sure where you are from but Pawn Shops offer good opportunities if you are patient and know what you are looking for. Meaning, understanding all the details of your gun and how to properly check. Through the years I have found great deals on revolvers. But the thing about Pawn Shops I have found is you need to know which ones are most likely to turn up deals. Once you start making your rounds that will become apparent. You will find some parts of town are hardly worth the bother. Others you will stop in frequently. But that’s really the key I have found from my experiences.
 
I have a Gubbroker account but have never actually used it.

What I prefer to do is use GB as a sourcing platform. I look for auctions with a buy it now option that ideally have free shipping and no CC fee. Not always available but if you wait long enough you can generally find what you're after eventually.

Once I find a firearm I want I call the dealer directly and ask if the item is still available. If so I ask if they'd be willing to take a slightly lower offer than the BIN option on their auction.

I have yet to have a dealer say no to this, I'm not exactly sure if the details but my understanding is that by doing this they don't have to pay royalties or something to GB so they actually end up with more money on the sale when it's all said and done, even if they sell to me at 3-5% below their asking on GB.

I'll concede that I only ever do this with new firearms, but you could still use it to buy milsurps and the like.
 
With pawn shops you may have to ask at the counter is something is available. Depending on the shop the displays are either limited in space or only the pretty guns get displayed.


As such, too specific of a question may be counter productive as to price. If you ask if they have a (made up for example) M&M Model 444 in .32-20 their asking price might be higher than if asking if they have any .32's not on display.
 
A fine but important point for excitable media types.

We cannot buy used guns online.

We can arrange a sale online. The actual transaction will occur at a Federal Firearms License Dealer.

ID,Background check,and form 4473 required.

We do not have an internet open firearms flea market.

We have internet marketing,not internet sales.
 
HiBC said:
A fine but important point for excitable media types.

We cannot buy used guns online.

We can arrange a sale online. The actual transaction will occur at a Federal Firearms License Dealer.

ID,Background check,and form 4473 required.

We do not have an internet open firearms flea market.

We have internet marketing,not internet sales.
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Once you get to "fine points," you have lost most people. To support this, I point to your statement above. When I purchase a firearm from an on-line source, I buy the firearm from that source. I send the money directly to the FFL who is selling the firearm. He then ships the firearm to me, in care of the FFL in my state whom I have chosen to perform the transfer.

The actual [sale] transaction is completely between me and the remote FFL. The FFL in my state doesn't handle any money related to the sale, and generally doesn't know (pr care) what the selling price was. I pay my local FFL a separate service fee to process the transfer. I am not purchasing the firearm from the local FFL. The gun is already my property when it arrives at the local FFL's shop. I already own it -- the only question is whether or not I am then legally allowed to take physical possession of it.
 
Online prices are ridiculous for all of the reasons stated. I have a gunsmith I am good friends with and he gets the line on estate sales and folks selling and usually gives me first dibs because I give him a lot of business.
 
have to be honest have used gun broker,. and once in a while find something worth buying. about a year ago, bought an Ithaca 37 12 guage, had to replace the stock and forearm but was a good price, 239 and stock and forearm was about 80 on ebay. Now looks really good, and shoots really good. Have also bought a couple of 45 ACP PISTOLS, but that was before covid, and now they are pretty high.
 
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