I don't understand people like this.

Status
Not open for further replies.
H

hometheaterman

Member
Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Messages
1,115
I'm sure you all have friends like this too. Anyway, it seems like I often have either friends, or people that I talk to every once in a while that run out of money and have to sell guns. Every time I ask about buying them, they give me an almost new price. For example a friend had a Remington 710 with a $50 scope he had added to replace the factory scope. He wanted $300 for it and finally told me he would take $250. I told him I'd give him $150 which I thought was more than fair for a Remington 710. He told me no, that if he couldn't get close to what he had in it, he'd just sell it to a gun shop. Now keep in mind that often times gun shops want to give him about 1/3 of what I am offering. So instead of him making more off of it, and me getting an okay price, he'd rather sell it to a gun shop for 1/3 of the price I offered, and me not get it for a price that according to him "is a lot less than it's worth". This is just one instance. I have 2 or 3 friends that constantly do this. They get ripped off all of the time by shops, but refuse to sell to me, or any other person that wants to buy it, unless they want to pay near retail for it. They'd rather get 1/3 of what we are offering than sell it to me or anyone else for a pretty good price for both of us.

The other thing one of the guys is famous for doing is refusing to sell the gun to me, or anyone else for a fair price, yet he will trade it with his local "ffl" buddy and get totally ripped off. Like for example he traded a Ruger 44 magnum carbine lever action in perfect shape straight across for a NEF single shot .243 with a $30 Tasco from Walmart. The gun is full of rust, scratches on the stock, and just looks plain worn out and beat to hell. I wouldn't have given $100 for the .243 single shot. Yet he traded a $600 gun for it. He could have just sold me the gun for $450-500, and gone and bought a brand new NEF single shot and still had $150-200 in his pocket. Yet for some reason he refuses to do this, but is always eager to trade this "ffl" and get ripped off.


Anyone else run into people like this? If any of you are like this can you explain why? I just don't get it. I'd want to get the most money I could get for something, and I wouldn't care if it was the shop, or a person that got a deal.
 
It's pride, plain and simple. They don't really want to give up the gun, and selling it to someone they know would be a constant reminder. Even though they get hosed by the gun shop, they don't have to hear about how much fun their friend had at the range with THEIR gun.
 
They just cannot stand the thought of you enjoying their gun.

Offer to go with them to the gun store next time, and then discreetly offer him $25 more than what the gun store offers him.

mbogo
 
The pride & constant reminder thing? That could be quite likely.

Also, sometimes it's simply best not to do business with many friends.

Good friends, okay. Casual friends, not so much.

As you age you can really start to tell the difference between them.
 
Some people have rules about not selling anything to friends.

Last time I sold a car to my friend, he spread rumors about how I don't change oil, and I switched out the brake pads etc... Keep in mind this is no race car, just a good old 2005 Toyota Corolla, so I don't gain anything from swapping out anything from this car... But yeah, from now on, I rather sell to dealer or trade it than sell to a friend.

If you have a lot of friends that won't sell things to you, then maybe you appear to them to be someone that will give them trouble down the road?? Just a thought, means nothing more :).
 
If they're good friends tell them you'll buy it from them and let them buy it back from you for exactly what you paid them for it when they get the cash.
 
Well, I have several friends in the same group that will sell stuff to me so I don't think it's that none of them want to do business with me. Unfortunately, most of them are the ones that don't waste their money, so don't need to sell stuff quickly at good prices. The others always try to sell their stuff to me before going to a gun shop, but they always want me to pay near retail of a new item, for a used one, which I'm not going to do. So instead of selling it to me cheaper, they sell it to a gun or pawn shop. It's not just me though, a couple of the other guys in the group we hunt with are the same way as me and would love to pick up some of these things, but they won't sell them to them either unless they want to pay near retail.
 
Yep. A guy I used to work with wanted out of his Glock. Not really the type of person that I call 'my friend'. I told him I'd give him $400 for it, if he couldn't sell it for the price he was asking. I think he wanted five or six hundred dollars for it back then. He said that he'd rather hock it than to sell it for that. I told him not to expect $400 from a pawn shop. He either didn't believe me, or he didn't care, so he hocked it for less.

Same guy wanted to sell the late 90's Camaro that he'd had since he was 16. He wanted retail price, but I told him that if he couldn't get that for it, call me because I will definitely give him $X,XXX (I don't remember the offer). He ended up selling it for a good bit less than I was offering.

After both of these occasions, I followed up with him to see where we were at in regards to the items he wanted to sell. After he told me that he had sold each, and then the prices he'd gotten, I asked why he didn't just take my offers, which were higher. He stammered around in search of a thought, and ultimately had no answer for me.

Some people.
 
If these folks' money habits are bad enough to where they are regularly buying guns and then "running out of money" to the point where they have to sell the gun to buy ramen noodles, then I don't know why you'd expect them to be any smarter about it selling them on the back end.

I've bought from, and sold to my friends. If anything it may be one of the only cases where you probably get to actually shoot it before you buy. I consider it just like any other "used stuff" deal though, after the transaction is complete I wouldn't hassle or expect to be hassled about any issues that could potentially come up down the road. If I had a "friend" do that I would not do any more deals with them.
 
I have had a friend not want to sell me a gun for different reasons.

One fellow and I were in a pawn shop. He saw a like-new 3 inch J frame and was offered 320 out the door.

I told him that if he didn't take it, I would. (around here that gun is 425 minimum). He was not so sure because he was unfamiliar with J frame prices.

He will not sell it to me because he can sell it for a nice profit but would feel bad about making money on me.
 
I would imagine some people choose to sell it at a cheaper price out of spite. The "well if they wont give me what I want they wont get it at all, Ill show them" attitude.

Would hardly call them friends.
 
It's a simple reason, and I don't mean this as an insult to anybody involved.

Some people just do not know how to conduct business with other people. That's the plain truth. People who are content with being employees, with their livelihood given to them by an employer. There's nothing WRONG with that, and I'm certainly not trying to imply that there is. It's just the fact that these people generally never have had, and never will have experiences on how to conduct a business transaction with another person.

These people, so as to make themselves feel more competent, impose upon themselves strict and often nonsensical codes of conduct for selling an item, or even worse, try to apply typical social stigmas to it.

The first of these, and what most of you are encountering, is the notion that if you can't come to an agreement with a person the first time, it's somehow shameful or improper to approach them again.
 
What hardworker said^;
I've been doing this with the same circle of gun friends for years.
One guy's wife likes to run up debt, unknown to him, until the bill collectors start calling.
I've bought(and sold back) the same gun(s) with him many times.
 
RX-178 said:
It's a simple reason, and I don't mean this as an insult to anybody involved.

Some people just do not know how to conduct business with other people. That's the plain truth. People who are content with being employees, with their livelihood given to them by an employer. There's nothing WRONG with that, and I'm certainly not trying to imply that there is. It's just the fact that these people generally never have had, and never will have experiences on how to conduct a business transaction with another person.

These people, so as to make themselves feel more competent, impose upon themselves strict and often nonsensical codes of conduct for selling an item, or even worse, try to apply typical social stigmas to it.

The first of these, and what most of you are encountering, is the notion that if you can't come to an agreement with a person the first time, it's somehow shameful or improper to approach them again.
Click to expand...
This^^^

I see it all the time in enterprise wide, corporate sales. Low level employees think someone has to win and someone has to lose. And if they don't think they are winning, they won't play, even if it means selling for less (or paying more) somewhere else.

Folks smart enough to understand that it is best to strive for a win/win deal usually rise up the ranks of companies (and life). Others try so hard to "stick it to the man" that they end up sticking it to themselves.
 
ny32182 said:
If these folks' money habits are bad enough to where they are regularly buying guns and then "running out of money" to the point where they have to sell the gun to buy ramen noodles, then I don't know why you'd expect them to be any smarter about it selling them on the back end.
Click to expand...
^^ THIS.

Poor decisions chasing poor decisions.

They don't sound vary smart to me.
 
Here is how I handle it. We both go to the gun shop. Clerk gives him a price and I would add 10%. Or you can loan him 10% less than they offerd him and tell him the gun is yours in 60 days if he doesn't pay you back by then. I use similar methods to this with some of my sub contractors. I got sick of loaning them money. Now I have a few guns and a couple guitars....Russ
 
I have a couple of friends who are always complimenting me on my old revolvers and don't seem to understand what " not for sale" means. So after they refuse to listen, I sometimes ask a lot more than a fair price knowing they won't spend that much. I'm always amazed to hear them say, "Well you don't want to sell that very bad do you?" !!
 
Well, that's often not the case with what I'm talking about as it's not me approaching them to purchase their gun, scope, or other item. It's them approaching me saying they need money and have to sell it.

I did have one friend that did come back to me after a few months and agree on the price I'd initially offered him. It was a more than fair offer as I really wanted his item, and I told him long before he ever had to sell it that I wanted it if he ever went to sell it. He called me the first time he needed money and tried to get me to come up about $75 from what I wanted to pay. I told him nope. About a month later he called me and told me he needed money again and he would take my offer. That's about the only time I've had that happen. I have one other friend that sometimes tells me what he needs to sell if I'm around.

The rest of them either don't want to deal at all like the ones mentioned above, or they are like me and don't blow their money on a bunch of crap they don't need and then have to sell off all of their stuff to pay bills.
 
It's great to be able to sell or buy a gun from a friend, with the stipulation to "if ever" buy it back for the same price...that is a friend helping a friend, EXCEPT......when you never get a chance to buy it back. Either the friend keeps it, or sells it before you ever get the money again. I have been involved in many friend gun deals, and often there is a bit of a rub. Either the friend low balls you, or buys it and sells it for a quick profit, instead of pointing you to the deal. Or they buy it and the pain begins when you realize you should have kept it, and you can't for Adam talk them into selling it back. I had a neighbor sell a bunch of guns, most of his favorites, in a quick-get-cash thing to bail out his wife's gambling. I told him I didn't have the money, but bought them anyway, and told him I would probably sell them. So many months later, he particularly wanted an EAA Witness .45 Compact back, that I had sold to my son-in-law for the "good deal" price. SIL didn't want to sell, and the neighbor was bummed. Sometimes it might just be better to let a friend get beat up by the pawn shop or gunshop.
 
A buddy of mine bought a box of bullets. He tried them and didn't like them so he asked me if I wanted them. Sure, I'll take them. I pay the price marked on the box, then he adds up the sales tax! Geese, I was doing him a favor because I thought I might use them.
The poor fellow doesn't really know the value of a friend vs. the value of an item. His life is filled with transactions that have gone "wrong".

Thanx, Russ
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

T
  • Locked
Some people just don't understand safety.
2
Replies
27
Views
1K
Sevenfaces
S
S
  • Locked
What is Wrong With People?
2 3
Replies
71
Views
5K
Paladin7
P
Cump
  • Locked
Ruger the new Hi-Point and other weird trade offers
2 3
Replies
55
Views
5K
ol' scratch
ol' scratch
N
  • Locked
How should I sell these guns?
Replies
22
Views
1K
jfh
jfh
S
  • Locked
You Just Never Know....
Replies
15
Views
1K
rcmodel
R
Back
Top