Buying a collection of guns

[Polishrifleman]

I am considering buying a collection of guns from a friends dad. My friend leans a little the other way so only has sentimental ties to firearms and other than that doesn't like them. His folks are getting on in years and could use the money.

How would you put a value on the guns? It is a collection of guns and not a gun collection. All are used except one and in varying states of condition and age.

If they take them to a dealer there is the consignment fee, if they take them to a pawn shop there is a huge markdown, etc...

For instance they have a Model 94 Golden Spike Carbine, value would be around $400 bucks NIB, it has some slight blueing damage and the hooded front sight is screwed up. A dealer is going to put a value to sell the rifle at about $300 bucks and take a fee giving them around $225. The Pawn shop is going to give them $125 and try to sell it for $300 and I look at it as a nice "used but never fired" model 94 worth about $200.

How would you approach puting a value on a collection of guns to be fair to all parties?

 

[EddieCoyle]

I'll take a crack at this one...

My experience has been that whenever you buy a collection of something, there's going to be some pieces that you want, and some that you don't. Since this person is a friend, pay him fair market value for the pieces you'll keep, and "dealer" prices for guns that you'll dispose of. If you sell the ones you don't want to a dealer, you'll break even. If you sell them in an online auction or gun show, you'll earn the discount (auction fees, the hassle of listing, shipping, answering questions, lugging the stuff around, show fees, etc).

 

[waterhouse]

I agree with Eddie. I've had a couple times when a friend who doesn't shoot wanted me to buy their parent's collection. Both times I listed the gun make and models and had them bring the list to a gunshop and see what the gunshop valued the collection at. It is usually pretty low. I've then gone through, picked out the 2 or 3 guns that I will actually keep, and give them full "used" price, which you can usually find with a little searching on gunsamerica or gunbroker. The rest of the collection usually gets a lower value, but I explain why and let them know that if they want to work at selling each piece privately they will make more money.

The main thing is to be honest and fair. I once couldn't find any info on a rifle from a collection, and it turned out to be a nice custom job that I had undervalued by a large margin when I bought the collection. The people didn't know what they were selling, and I didn't know what I was buying, but they trusted me to give them fair money and I hadn't. I wrote another check to the family several months after taking the collection in, and they were happy to get it and have sent a bunch of business my way. If you walk away feeling like you got the deal of the lifetime, you probably did something wrong. If you walk away thinking you got some pretty good deals and helped a friend out, you probably did ok.

 

[redneck2]

there are some things more important than money...

friends, family, integrity, reputation...

that said, you're doing them a favor by disposing of unwanted items and getting them cash. I'd agree with the above, but if you get a $250 gun for $200, I wouldn't lose sleep

I worked in a gun shop and had friends that were in the pawn business. Trust me, you'll probably give them a better deal than they'll get anywhere else