What is a reasonable resale value?

[NorCal-gunner]

I'd like to ask the forum what is a reasonable resale value for a rifle? I understand that there're many factors involved: usage, brand, factory built vs home built, etc. But i personally take usage as the most important element.
So let't say a rifle is fairly new, with 2 complete upper and lower purchased less than 100 rounds fired How much should i expect to get back from the initial investment? Let's take a $1000 rifle (just for simplicity of value calculation) as an example.
This is mainly for the sake of both seller and buyer to prevent "low-ball" or exaggerated expectation for a quick and smooth transaction.

[Meety Peety]

Even with a hypothetical "purchase price", you still cannot really give an accurate answer without knowing the components of the rifle. Each brand has it's own resale value, each part has it's own resale value and the overall flow and design of the rifle can greatly affect it's resale value. I would "estimate" that if you spent about $1000 building a franken gun, you can expect to get around 65% back. If you have a factory built rifle with documentation, maybe 70%-75%. That's just my rough guess though and there certainly isn't a standard price range for this platform. Some else's rifle could sell for far higher simply because the design flows better and it looks nice. Same quality of parts could have been used, but no two AR15s are the same.

I do see a ton of franken ARs for sale all the time that really have a hard time selling. I think the fact that it is so easy to assemble one yourself drives people to avoid buying these rifles and instead build their own. For this reason, uppers sell quite well when separated from the lower. Seems to me like the best way to get your money back on an AR is to part it out.

[static2126]

Imo, I will pay around 65% of the value for a franken gun. For a manufacturer built rifle, it depends on what it is and if I'm having a problem locating a new one.

As for rounds fired, I personally view anything under 500 rounds as more or less new.

For an AR best way to get back your money is to part it out.

[Spyder]

I won't pay anywhere near retail price for a used rifle, even if it's "only had one magazine through it!" AR stuff, I'll pay WAY less than retail, because it's so easy to find anything out there, and exactly what I want. More rare or oddball stuff, I'm willing to pay a bit higher percentages on.

[Quiet]

Last 4-5 years, prices have been inflated due to supply/demand economics (high demand, low supply).
Prices are now starting to drop back to where they are suppose to be due to supply/demand economics (low demand, high supply).
Which is why a complete AR that cost $1200 NIB a few years ago, are now selling for $800 NIB.

[Bansh88]

I would need to save a SIGNIFICANT amount of cash to buy a used rifle.
Some cheap bolt on crap does not sweeten the deal.

The weapons market and the consumer is so varied, it makes buying and selling a very odd thing. Many guys are clueless to what they have, what a realistic current value is and what is good/junk.