earlthegoat2
Member
When I was in the business, for the majority of transactions, I bought used guns and set the used gun prices based on GB completed and sold listings. For a sale price, I took a mental average of all the ones I saw and then added 20%. You can get away with adding the 20% because in store you do not pay shipping and transfer the way you would with purchasing off GB directly. Plus, that gives some haggle room.
For the most part, I did the same with buying but instead, subtracted 20% from the GB completed listing average. This could be adjusted based on what the owner wanted for a profit margin.
This gave an unadjusted profit margin of 60% before haggling. Usually this would wash down to 50% because the shop had a reputation for accepting offers. This, I have come to realize is how many smaller shops do it and using nearly these same figures. Larger shops can cut the percentage down on both ends which is nice for the seller and nice for the eventual buyer but with slightly less margin for the shop. Larger places deal in larger volume and can usually get away with smaller margins.
CAVEAT: You will hear this sometimes but the first time I ever heard this phrase it had a profound effect on me.
Customer: Why is this gun priced so high?
Store Owner : I made a mistake and bought it for too much. Now I have too much into it and I am hoping I can break even on it.
Sometimes this happens. There is not much a customer can do about it then. Taking a loss on inventory is something a retailer will try very hard to avoid.
For the most part, I did the same with buying but instead, subtracted 20% from the GB completed listing average. This could be adjusted based on what the owner wanted for a profit margin.
This gave an unadjusted profit margin of 60% before haggling. Usually this would wash down to 50% because the shop had a reputation for accepting offers. This, I have come to realize is how many smaller shops do it and using nearly these same figures. Larger shops can cut the percentage down on both ends which is nice for the seller and nice for the eventual buyer but with slightly less margin for the shop. Larger places deal in larger volume and can usually get away with smaller margins.
CAVEAT: You will hear this sometimes but the first time I ever heard this phrase it had a profound effect on me.
Customer: Why is this gun priced so high?
Store Owner : I made a mistake and bought it for too much. Now I have too much into it and I am hoping I can break even on it.
Sometimes this happens. There is not much a customer can do about it then. Taking a loss on inventory is something a retailer will try very hard to avoid.
