Anyone else have any good stories about haggling?
I would not have posted this experience up if this thread had not been started. I met some real *ahem* class acts at the gun show this weekend. I'm not worried that the folks selling at the show will read this on a forum because, well, I don't think they do much reading. Sorry for the length of this.
I found a Kel-tec SUB2000 in 9mm (Glock) on a table. It was being offered with 10 of the Glock 33-round mags for a total of $800. I looked at it briefly and mentioned to the gentleman that my local FFL gun dealer told me he'd sell the same gun to me for $300. He said "well, mine is brand new and his is probably used". I said, "no, his is new too". I also mentioned that I don't want 10 of the 33-rounders. He said he'd sell the gun with only 5 mags for $600 and keep the rest to sell on his own, if I wanted. I went to get cash. I came back to him, in no rush. The older gentleman who I spoke with was sitting next to his son, who was probably 18-20.
I came back to look at the gun and noticed powder residue all around the chamber and in the internals. I asked if it was new. He said "it's been fired at the factory". I said, "yeah, one shot". He turned to his son and asked if he had fired the gun. His son said "no"; I don't believe that based on the amount of build-up. I pulled the cash from my pocket and I said to him "I'd like to offer you $550 for the gun and 5 mags". He stated that "the gun is worth $425 and it is going up". I said, "I can get the gun cheaper from my FFL and I know I can get the mags cheaper from a friend who owns a gun shop". He said "the dealer can only sell cheaper because he buys at wholesale; I have a lot of money in this gun and you are asking me lose money". I responded "it is worth less than $400 to me". He said "you can have the gun and 3 mags for $550". I thought for a bit and said "I'll do it for 4 mags". He said "now you are asking me to lose money - you think you can get these mags for $20 and that's just crazy, blah, blah, ...". At that point I cut him off and said "no, I never said $20; I said I can get them cheaper". He went on ranting and then his son got into the argument, yelling "you think you can get these mags for $20, well there is no way!! I went all around this gun show and they sell for $40 and no cheaper!! Tell me where you can get them for $20!". I said "alright, please stop putting words in my mouth; I never said $20; I can get these mags for a dollar or two dollars cheaper from a gun shop by my house". He went on yelling "well, does he have a whole stack of them? you can't get them for less than $40 anywhere at the show; tell me where you can get them cheaper!!". I said "I just did". At that point I walked away and walked around with friends for an hour or more.
Thinking about the math, I thought our argument was pretty silly. The mags he values at $40/ea., making the gun valued at $400 by him. For $550 for the gun and 4 mags, that means he'd be giving me a $10 "discount" - actually $10 closer to the real value in my perception. I walked back just to mention that we were only talking about a $10 difference here. His son was the only one at the table. They had a new sign that said "3 mags $550/5 mags $600". I mentioned to him that the math works out to a $10 difference with the 4 mags and now he is asking $50/ea for the mags(?). The kid said "if you bought 5 mags, you'd get them for $25/ea". I said, "huh?" and then spelled out the math for him, essentially "5 times $40 is $200, plus a $400 gun equals $600". He looked puzzled and got his cell phone calculator out!! As he did the calculations for himself, I said "look, I didn't mean to cause any hostility -sorry if my offer was taken the wrong way; have a good one". I walked away.
As I was walking past the table with my friends nearby, later in the day, my friend (who knew about the dealings earlier) told me he heard the kid say to his dad "oh, here comes that f**king ******". He then got up, told my friend "move!" and literally pushed past him.
Before I left the show, I spent 5 minutes looking around and ended up buying several of the Glock 33-round mags for $36/ea