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[STAGE 2]

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[mike100]

that would go away fast as an $1100 consignment. They figure that if you are cracked out enough to need the money today they are going to go ahead and rectally enlarge you for the trouble.

Another theory I have is that the biggest money maker are used guns, especially unknowing non-shooters who bring in guns to get rid of from deceased relatives. They are accustomed to paying 25 percent of what it is worth. Some stores do a good business in consignment, especially if the seller is willing to go down to a price level that will make the gun move that same week.

[anotherone]

There is a shop exactly like the one you just described in South Sacramento that I stopped doing business with. They've got an AW Permit and will literally hand your rear end to you if you sell them a registered AW. I saw them offer just $400 to a guy who had a Bushmaster XM-15 HBAR with a Colt scope on it and it was even retrofitted after the fed ban lapsed. He told him he'd give him $25 extra if he gave him all 10 of his pre-ban mags.

Moral of the story: when selling your guns, the internet is your friend.

[CALI-gula]

HK P7s are well-liked here on Calguns, especially if P7M10 or P7M13. Put it in the "For Sale" forums here at a reasonable price (not MSRP) and you'll have offers the same day. You are sure to do much better by setting it up for PPT than trying to do a consignment arrangement or sell outright to a dealer.

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[Turbinator]

If you're doing it for the money, NEVER sell to a shop. No offense to the shops out there, but they do have overhead and expenses to pay, and everyone in business is entitled to make some money. If we as consumers aren't happy with how much they are trying to make, we can vote with our wallets and go elsewhere.

Awhile back (maybe 10 years ago now) a friend sold his Beretta 92FS plus hicap mags to a local shop - he got $200 for the gun and $5 per hicap mag. OUCH! I told him afterwards that *I* would have bought all of that off of him if I knew that he would settle for those prices!!

Turby

[prebans]

Those are HORRENDOUS offers! $500 for a P7 series gun, even the oddball PSP, is HORRIBLE. That gun is worth $1,000-$1,200 used (depending on condition, accessories, box and papers, etc.). As a dealer, I understand covering the electric bill, water bill (toilets, etc.), rent, licensing fees, insurance costs... But $500 is out of line. If your gun was worth $1k at best, I could understand $750 as a fair offer. If you've got a $1,200 gun, I can see a $900 offer.

But $500??! Put it up on GunBroker and sell it yourself. Even if you take a UPS/FEDEX overnight hit, you'll still be FAR better off.

Ack.

Mike

[eckerph]

Gunshops will give half or less value for a firearm. My friend got in a tight spot (divorce) and sold all of his guns, got half of what he could sell them for himself but hey gunshop owners gotta eat! and there is alwayz the 4 sale forum on calguns.

[461]

Gun shops do themselves no good by their terrible business practices. I've always said if they'd quit being Jackasses to most of their customers they'd double or even triple their business.

Instead they hire idiots who spread stupidity and scare away more customers than they service, inflate prices to make a quick buck instead of a steady income by pricing responsibly, try to rape a steady customer and lose them instead of working with them and gaining a long term relationship, the list goes on for days.

I've resigned myself to not being able to have a decent relationship with any shops in the area and concentrating more on PPT's instead of new guns for the most part.

Hear that Sacramento dealers, You're missing out on dollars I'd love to give you!!

[brassburnz]

Don't be surprised by the low-ball price a gunstore or pawnshop for that matter will offer you for a gun. You are thinking retail, they are thinking wholesale.

It's the same way with used cars. You wouldn't go to a new car dealer to sell a used car because you KNOW they won't give you squat. Why would you expect a gun store to offer you anything but wholesale on a used gun?

The problem is, there are plenty of places and ways to sell a used car, but there are only a few places to legally sell a used gun.

Plus, sometimes people don't really want to sell an old gun, they just want to get rid of it. I had an elderly friend who brough back a Nambu pistol from Japan after WWII. It looks to be unfired with matching serial numbers on the gun and both magazines and the original holster and personal property transfer tag from the Army. One day he just handed me a paper bag and said, "I was going to throw it in the trash, but I remembered you like guns."

You just never know.

Randy
NRA Life Member
(Not really new to the forum, just had to re-register.)

[CALI-gula]

What is funny about this is a post I made over a week ago (12/5/06) on the exact same scenario, with an H&K P7M10 and similar price a dealer offered, but where it was to my benefit. I highly doubt it was the same dealer.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showpost.php?p=421954&postcount=15

From the link above - the thread was about exceptional finds and deals:

Every collector has a story like this, and I have a few good ones, but the best I ever had like this was a time when I was walking out of the store to leave and another guy was just getting out of his car to go into the store. Out of nowhere, he says, "Hey, would you like to buy a gun". (I'm thinking - no,not here in the parking lot). But I give him the time of day anyway, and he tells me he bought it years ago, never shot it, it sat on the shelf, and needs fast cash to pay his rent, and doesn't want to fool around. Like you, guess what, I had a good amount of cash in my pocket!!

So what does he pull out of his SUV? A new-in-box, never fired, H&K P7M10 and he only wanted $600.00. Now don't think I ripped the guy off - I made it clear to him they go for a lot more, over double that price, but I guess he went to a previous dealer that only offered him $500 for it. So, with cash in hand, and then in his hand, we went inside and did the PPT paperwork, just like that. I am sure the dealer we were at would have offered him more if the guy had just asked, but apparently, I was his first "victim". I wasn't going to argue, so...

No haggling or dickering, he wanted $600 and that was all.

It now resides in my safe, 2 years later.



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[xenophobe]

I'm going to preface this with I understand we (for the most part) are still a capitalist nation, and gunshops have to pay rent. I also understand this is California and prices here will be higher than the rest of the country. That said here goes.

I took a certian squeeze cocking pistol made by HK into a couple of dealers to see what kind of offers I could get for it. No I'm not interested in selling, just gauging the waters. This gun is NIB with all the extras. Still has the factory goo on it. Seeing as how the MSRP is $1500 and these guns are going for that and higher I fully expected some sort of 4 digit number.

Well, the best price they could do was high 500's. I understand wholesale and they have a profit margin, but the minute I left it would be sitting on the shelf for 1650. Why the ridiculous lowballing? Am I offbase or did Texas spoil me?

Unless you have some sort of rarity, factory nickel, M10, Jubilee, you're not going to get $1000 from a gun store for a used P7. You're saying that it's NIB, no it is not NIB. It may be unfired in box, but unless you are a dealer, the fact that you have possession of it makes it used. A gun store can't resell it as new, and you won't get any dealer to pay you wholesale price for your used NIB gun.

Fact is, even at decent prices, P7s sit for a while. Sure, everyone wants to finger them, but not too many people are willing to pay for them. Maybe the dealer was tight on money. Maybe he didn't want a handgun that would sit around. Maybe he knew you weren't interested in selling and was just shopping for price. I know I get pissed off if someone asks me to take a look at something and to give them a price on how much we would pay for something, even though you weren't going to sell.

Working at a gun shop, any standard P7M8 that is not used or a police gun would probably get about a $500-$700 offer for straight out cash. Maybe $100 more if you want to trade for store inventory. As a used gun, a dealer can only sell it for about the wholesale price of a new gun.

And if that bothers you, do you know how much comic or card shops are willing to pay?

[eckerph]

And if that bothers you, do you know how much comic or card shops are willing to pay?

Or video game stores, I traded 10 PS2 games for one Xbox360 game. But the prices gunstores offer are still low in my opinion.

[xenophobe]

Or video game stores, I traded 10 PS2 games for one Xbox360 game. But the prices gunstores offer are still low in my opinion.

Well, if you can't trade 10 guns for more than 1, all of which sold for relatively the same price range, I would agree with you.

[mscales5]

I can't speak for other dealers but if I buy a "used" hand gun from someone it has to be either a fast seller or have 8months left on the DOJ list. NOw, I don't know about anywhere else but a P7 is a slow seller because of cost. Yes, you can get $1000 for it used but here in Bakersfield you may sit on it until you have to discount it to sell. Please, do not forget that as a dealer we have to keep any hand gun we personally buy for 1 year before we can sell it so putting it in our name is not a option to keep from getting stuck. I stock firearms that sell fast. I pretty much do not deal in pre-owned firearms but because I can't screw someone on a price like that but I also can't buy something and risk it going off the "LIST". In most cases, dealer are just like most people here, they want the best deal. What I would like to know is why some people on this board begrudge a CA FFL dealer making money but when they want to sell to a dealer they call them cheap for not paying more for their used guns? I get people all the time wanting to sell their Beretta 92, with who knows how many rounds through it, When I ask how much they give me a price of $600 or more. Since I can buy new wholesale cheaper why would I even come close to that when I sell them for less? Why is the dealer always the one to blame why you can't buy or sell for the price you want? Considering that most retail busineses make much more then 20% on their products you would think that 20% to a CA dealer would be be much appreciated. Also, please remember that the only thing a CA dealer MUST sell you that you can't buy anywhere else is a firearm. You can buy everything else shipped to your door bypassing all FFLs. Merry Christmas to all.

[CALI-gula]

STAGE2, you've gone quickly from not comprehending the problem, to seemingly knowing all the answers as to why dealers are only paying 50% - 60% on the dollar of their eventual in-store selling price.

I think xeno outlined it appropriately, whether the truth is agreeable to us consumers or not, and from what I have seen over the past 20 years of buying and collecting guns in multiple states, it seems to be the norm. My nearly identical anecdote posted well before your inquiry serves as a valid example that most shops will only offer $500 to $600 on such a gun.

Does it suck? Yes. Makes you want to own a gun store doesn't it? I've never considered selling any of my guns to a dealer or do a trade, ever. It's a certain loss.

I also know many gun dealers that also seem to have prize examples of rare guns in their collections; yet another perk of owning a gun store. If someone brings in an original S&W .44 Hand Ejector New Century "Triple Lock" with silver-wire inlayed initials of "E.K.", in mint condition with perfect box, just who do you think is going to get that gun? In most cases, it will never see the display counter. Makes me want to open a gun store!

When you get into higher dollar guns, a buyer that can afford it is willing to pay the $250 more for the new gun from the manufacturer, just so things are perfect. This is true even if an as used but "NIB/never-fired" of the same exact model is lying right next to it. Higher dollar guns are a tougher sell, even if collectible, especially at Christmas time. Most stores can sell 30 Glocks (even used) to every one used H&K P7M8 . I would also think that with the "iffy" nature H&K has been on production of the P7 guns and their threat of discontinuance, it is likely most dealers are shy to buy it for fear of it going off the SB15 list soon. Then they must sell it to LEO or out-of-state only online or at out-of-state gun show, and a P7 is not likely to be bought by LEO with approval any time soon.

I am my own example of the above; I recently looked at 2 used Nighthawk Talons, as I plan to buy one in January. They were beautiful and like new, and priced at $1995 - however, they had some minor hints of wear at the muzzle, and the front sights looked like someone tapped them to one side with a mallet (probably due to their anticipating the shot, hammer-fisting the gun down on pulling the trigger, then blaming it on the sights being out of line so they whacked them). So I figure if I am paying that much, I may as well pay the extra $300 to get new without questions as to what the gun has been through.

So I think you have answered your own question just as others have reinforced - post it in the "For Sale" forums here on Calguns or on Gunbroker. Do it as a PPT, you'll get more money for it. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time trying to sell to a dealer - I would be surprised if any dealer gives you more than $700 for it.

Now think back to a time before the internet!! Let's say it didn't exist now at all, what would you have done then? If you hadn't posted it in Shotgun News, you might have been able to take it to the Great Western Gun Show in Pomona. Then you might have gotten $800 for it!!

Put it this way - you can post it online for $1200 just as well as the dealer can. You may as well do it rather than paying him $600 to do it for you.

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