Can't Believe what people pay at Auctions for guns

[Flyboy73]

I have been going to local estate auction in the last year, when they have a big selection of gun up for auction.

Once again i am amazed at what people pay.

$300 for a hi point carbine. THATS almost twice the new price.

Me and another guy were laughing at that one.

And most of them went for alot more then they should have.

I research all the guns with the blue book and figure out what i will pay before i go.

I am not sure if these people, don't know and hadn;t done the research.
Or just got up in the bidding.

I ended up only with a sears old bolt auction .410 for $120. A little more then i wanted to go. But it will be a good gun for my sons.

Brion

 

[hillbilly]

For some reason, people at auctions freak out when they bid on guns.

I saw the same thing happen at my late Uncle's estate auction last summer.

A pair of junky little pistols (A Jennings .380 and some sort of dinky little .25 auto cheapo thing) both went for at least $50 more than they were worth brand new, even from a gun shop with a reputation for obscenely high prices.

In fact, my aunt asked me to look at the pistols before she auctioned them, and asked me if I wanted to buy either one of them.

They were so junky that I passed on both.

But those things sky-rocketed in price once the auctioneer started calling them.

Unreal.

hillbilly

 

[Beachmaster]

It has something to do with auctions themselves. There have been many studies that show that people will bid way higher than they know they should because they are in a "competition" with other bidders, and for many reasons don't want to lose.

When marketed to the right audience, an auction will usually bring in higher prices than if the items were sold in a store.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

Easy to believe. Bubba stands around watching his wife bid on doilies, quilts and glassware all day, a couple junk guns come up, testosterone kicks in.

"I know guns, I'll bid on these." Result: Bubba goes home with $200 gun, $500 lighter in wallet.

Estate and farm auctions are great places to unload rusty relics. Seen it many times.

 

[Majic]

I research all the guns with the blue book and figure out what i will pay before i go.

Then you probably don't buy much as the Blue Book can be way off base on a lot of it's prices.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Auctions. Yeah, gotta love 'em!

Only way to bid @ an auction is to decide what is your upper limit for the item in question, keep that price in mind, and STOP when (if) the auctioneer gets to yr limit. Get a limit from Blue Book, or pick one out of the air. But you must establish a limit. Then if the piece sells for $1 more and you backed out, tough. That's part of the game.

But boy is that hard for some people.

When my parents-in-law sold out of dairy farming you'd have thought those were the last cows that would ever be sold, the way they got bid up. Then the old stuff from the house went, and sure enough, there were an-teeky people there from the city with more money than sense. It was spooky. There was a pile of rusty junk. I KNOW it was all junk, I piled it. Two guys got into a bidding fight over it. There were machinery collectors there to bid up Pop's old tractors. The Amish guys from down the road wanted the wagons. It was just absolutely crazy, and it went on all day. My parents-in-law were stunned when they counted it all up.

I dunno, something about auctions. Sure is nice for the seller.

 

[Clipper]

I once bought an old Springfield .22 autoloading rifle at a rummage sale. Took a chance for $40.00. The darn thing would stovepipe anything but CCI Stingers, and even those would hang up now and then. I gave up on it and took it to the local horse auction, and got $125.00 for it...

 

[antsi]

----quote----------
Only way to bid @ an auction is to decide what is your upper limit for the item in question, keep that price in mind, and STOP when (if) the auctioneer gets to yr limit.
--------------------

I've only been to one gun auction, but that's the strategy I used. It was an estate sale of a collector's rather extensive collection. Before the auction started, looked at the items and found about eight different guns that for one reason or another would be nice to have. I mentally assigned a "reasonable price" for each one - a price that I would consider to be a fair market price if I saw the same gun at a gun show or in a dealer's used cabinet. When the auction actually started, the bids skyrocketed past my "reasonable price limits" in a matter of seconds. Many of those guns sold for 2-3 times what I considered a reasonable price - many substantially above retail.

I think the competition aspect alluded to above is one reason prices go so high at auctions. I also watched the auctioneers themselves - their job is to get people riled up and add to the excitement. In addition to the auctioneer - the guy yammering in the microphone - this crew had a couple of guys who would go wandering around the crowd and point to whoever the high bidder was, gesturing and yelping at other bidders to entice them to bid above the current high bid. Obviously their goal was to get people hyped up and drive the prices higher and higher.

All in all, it was an interesting exercise in mob psychology but an insanely expensive way to buy a gun.

 

[zastros]

I also watched the auctioneers themselves - their job is to get people riled up and add to the excitement.

Then you also have the ones that yell and point at imaginery bidders in an effort to raise prices (and their cut). I watched one auction where the only two bidders were the the auctioneers' sockpuppet and the floorman's sockpuppet. They didn't realize until all the real bidders had dropped out. I think the guy that owned the gun made them buy it.


Another annoying thing that some people would do was put something in an auction just to see what it was worth. They would let it be bid up to whatever then withdraw it. Just so they could say,"Well a guy offered me $$$ for it." Or possibly, to up the value for insurance.

 

[dfaugh]

When marketed to the right audience, an auction will usually bring in higher prices than if the items were sold in a store

I'd disagree with that---for most things besides guns. I routinely go to various auctions, and have bought tons of stuff for ridulously low prices. Heck, my whole house is furnished with stuff I got at auctions. Not junky stuff either, some of it "like new". I've got chairs I paid $1 for, a couple couches I got for $10-20. Antique furniture in good shape goes for a good buck, but I've snagged a few pieces that were less than perfect for next to nothing. A little cleanup, some light re-finishing on the surfaces (total time spent less than an hour), and turned around and sold them for 10x what I paid.

But guns...Oh, my!...As mentioned people seem to lose their minds when it comes to guns. Last auction I went to with guns there was a rusty old Savage .22 bolt action, MISSING THE BOLT that went for almost $100. I did manage to snag a decent deal ONCE, for and 1918 Bubba'd SMLE. They chopped the stock, but all the metal is in good shape. I got it cheap because no one else (there were about 6 guys bidding on about 24 guns) knew what it was, and the auctioneer didn't know either (didn't even know what caliber it was.) I got that one for $75, and I've now accumulated all the parts to restore it (for a total of about $50), back to the original condition.

But I've probably watched 200+ guns go through these auctions, and pretty much all of them went for WAY more than they were worth, some by a little, but many by an awful lot.

 

[moredes]

All in all, it was an interesting exercise in mob psychology but an insanely expensive way to buy a gun.

eeYuup. It amazed me to see what folks did at a furniture auction. I saw this chess table w/ 4 chairs I liked--sticker said, "new, retail was $2200" (with a line through "was $2200"). . Hmm, says I. Auctioneers' fee is 20% and then there's tax... now "New, Retail" might be $2200 at Macy's or Drexel Heritage, but it'd be one hell of a stretch--this wasn't any name-branded furniture--nice, but not 'most excellent' quality in its' fit nor finish. And I wasn't at Drexel Heritage; this was "Andrew's Furniture Liquidators" (that's the name of the store, not the Auctioneer's company name) in Mississippi. I thought to myself, it's nice; has drawers and wide borders around the chess board just like I want... now I'm cheap; I'll admit it, and I calculate that a good buy at "auction pricing" should be around ~$800 including commission and tax--to me, that means my top bid should be ~$625, and fees will take me to $800.... Opening bid is $200. There's quite a dialogue from the auctioneer to get the first interested bid. I raise up at the $600 ask, and am acknowledged; from the lukewarm reception, I think, "I've got a chance". Next bidder in front of me answers the query, "Anymore?" with 2 fingers.... price is now $800... he went through my logic like Guderian through France, and I'm out of it (little did I know). The "grifters" who're patrolling the crowd hover over him, pointing, like human huntin' dogs what found a bird. Auctioneer's voice gets all excited and he does what he's paid for--he stirs up the crowd. He foments a 2-way war with two folks in front of me--Mr. $800 and the opening bidder, who I'd outbid with my paltry $600. This no-name furniture set skyrockets. My wife asks me at $1200 if I want the table enough to outbid them, go ahead. No way, says I, "we're at $1440 no tax". "OH!" It closes at $1600. Plus fees means this set sold for what, 2 Grand plus?? I couldn't believed it--$2000+ at Andrew's Furniture Liquidators??? "Andrew" couldn't get that for it. Without the mediocre chessboard inlay, this set wouldn't have fetched $1500 retail; it just wasn't that well-built. Mob psychology and "competition" is right, and it's unbelievable to sit back and watch it work.

 

[bumm]

Guns and TOOLS can both go for way over new retail at auctions. I've picked up some nice stuff at auctions for decent prices, but I only get a small percentage of the items I bid on. Same thing goes whether you're bidding on things off a hayrack or a computer. As has been said before, set your limit BEFORE the bidding starts, and stick to it. Many people seem to think that if other people are bidding something up, it must be worth it. It often isn't.
Marty

 

[hso]

I don't even go to auctions any more because I learned the "feeding frenzy" drives the price up on any guns.

 

[Moondoggie]

Wife & I go to auctions quite often.

We do it enough that there's little chance that "The Fever" will get us.

I've also been amazed at what junky, rusty, common guns will bring. Especially handguns. Oh well, it's their money!

I snatched a brand new Lyman DPS 1200 electronic powder measure/scale for 5$ at an estate auction last year...still had the plastic film over the data display. Nobody else knew what it was, and nobody else even bid on it. Auctioneer started the bidding at $15, got no bids, I waited him out until he came down to $5. Got an "Attaboy" from my wife.

I went to another estate sale where there were 71 milsurps, including 30 M1 Carbines of various mfg's. Folks were paying premium prices for those guns. Priced me right out of the market real quick...but it was fun to watch.

 

[Art Eatman]

If the bidders are mostly dealers, you can pick up some good bargains. Otherwise, it's common for "Auction Fever" to set in. As mentioned before, competition is part of the deal; add to it that many people don't really know what something could be bought for, elsewhere.

Commonly, you can do well at a two-day auction. Go the first day and maybe bid on the first item or two if you're interested. Many auctions start off slowly. Then sit back. On the second day, most of the Big Money has gone home. Others are "bought out" and don't have all that much money left. The last half-day, you can find some really good deals.

I did that at a Tom Keilman auction, years back. Got three Navajo rugs for less than what one of them would have brought the day before. That was the auction where I bought the Jim Bridger rifle that's now at Cody, Wyoming. I wish I'd gone on and bought the Bigfoot Wallace rifle...

, Art

 

[lee n. field]

FEG PA-63, saw it go for $325, back when they were going for $99 from AIM, et al.

I started off correcting the auctioneer, who just called it a "9mm" (it's 9x18 Makarov). I stopped bidding on it when it went over $85. When it was all over I thought to myself "somebody's going to be peeved when they finally figure out what they got."

Feeding frenzy

Yup. Mostly I don't even bid on guns anymore. I watch for accessories, reloading bits, air guns, things like that.

 

[longrifleman]

I watched one auction where the only two bidders were the the auctioneers' sockpuppet and the floorman's sockpuppet

Sometimes that works out ok. A couple years back I was looking for a youth single shot, and saw one listed at a local auction. Going to auctions is a local pastime so I learned a long time ago to set a price and quit. The rifle went for quite a bit more than I thought it was worth, and I wasn't sure who was even bidding on it. About thirty minutes after they sold the rifle one of the ringmen walks up and tries to sell me the rifle. I tell him the price I had set, which had been my last bid. I have the rifle. I don't know who ate the difference. And I don't care.

I've noticed the same thing around here with firearms being way overpriced. I figure some premium may be due to no paper trail, but that can't explain all of it. Sometimes people are just crazy.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

About thirty minutes after they sold the rifle one of the ringmen walks up and tries to sell me the rifle.

I would have told him to eat the rifle. That is a dishonest auctioneer and he is a discredit to honest auctioneers everywhere.

A couple of auctioneers around here have a reputation for bidding against themselves, or taking a bid from the post you happen to be leaning on. I refuse to go to their auctions.

 

[evan price]

AUctions. Sheesh. Last one I went to there were a couple of single shot .22's, a Rem 870, a couple of S&W Model 10's. Plus the deceased had power tools out the wazoo. The guns quickly got bid up crazy high (The 870 went for $600 if I recall, it was nothing special, a well used stock 870.) He had a couple of air compressors, 240-volt single phase, 60 gallon upright type, an off brand like you get @ Lowes. And had been run hard and was low on oil. Guy had built custom cabinets in his shop & everything was well used and porrly maintained. Lots of woodworking eqpt and supplies... that air compressor went for $850... I laughed because I could have bought it brand new at Lowes for $499.
Did manage to snag a "box lot" (they had boxes of junk dumped together, if a box didn't sell, the auctioneer dumped it into the next box.. and so on, until there would be a large box of junk!)for $5, it was three lots in one, the last lot had a stainless steel USCG approved 2a10bc marine dry chemical fire extinguisher in it that nobody else had seen...I took the extinguisher and abandonded the rest of the crap.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Dad is an auction veteran, but when he closed his gun shop he held an auction to clear the inventory and was shocked at how much money he made.

He now says if he'd had the sense to have weekly gun auctions instead of trying to run a shop, he'd have made a lot more money.

Mostly, though, he's still upset because he put a couple of guns he really wanted to keep for himself up on the block. At the time, he was worried about paying the bank. Turns out he ended up flush, but his Winchester M1 Carbine and a couple of other things he really liked are now in other hands.

 

[Remington788]

Ah, but good deals can be found at auctions too. I recently picked up a S&W Model 29 for $325. I didn't need the gun, but at that price it was worth it.