Consignment selling...?

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Shanghai McCoy

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OK, as I've mentioned in the past it's time to thin the herd. I'm thinking of taking a couple of the dusty "safe queens" to one of the shops close by for consignment and was wondering what I should look out for? I've talked to the one in Eudora and they charge 15%, which sounds reasonable to me.
Anyone ever do this and have some pro/con advice..? :scrutiny:
 
I do it a good deal at a shop I am a regular at. He gives me 100% of the money after any fees and such as long as I spend the money in his store. Otherwise, it is 20%. Usually, I will see something I like and put it on layaway. Then I will bring something in for consignment and it will usually sell quick because I have interesting stuff at fair prices not boring Glocks and ARs and then presto I have a new gun. Beats trade in value every time.

In general 15% is a good consignment fee and at that rate it would be a good way to divest yourself of some firearms. Remember that even with a low rate like that you will not be getting what they would be worth in a private sale. However, I find my guns sell quicker on consignment because this store gets lots of traffic and specializes in used/older guns.
 
I’ve sold a few that way. Seems like I was only charged 10% though. But then again, I was close with the shop owner(s) and they always told me ahead of time what they would “try” to sell the gun for, and what the minimum was they would actually “take” for it. I don’t remember ever having to take a gun back, but I remember a gun that sat on the shelf for a little over a month once.
As far as advice goes, all I can tell you is if you’re not good friends with the shop owner(s), know how much your guns are worth before you put them on consignment. I guess that’s only common sense though…I’m not much of a businessman.
Like earlthegoat2, I've usually seen a gun I liked, put it on layaway, then the next time I got to town, brought in a gun I'd gotten tired of or bored with, and put it on consignment. When the gun on consignment sold, I'd pay off the gun on layaway.
Right now I have a 264 Win Mag on layaway in a store clear up in Idaho Falls...100 miles. I don't have any guns I want to let go of right now though, so it will be another week or two before I get the 264 out of layaway. That's okay...it's too cold, and there's too darned much snow out there to get out and work up a load for my new 264 anyway.:)
 
Just remember, if it doesn't sell or change your mind, you'll need to do a 4473 and background check, just like you would at a pawn shop.
State a term limit, whether that is 1 month, 6 or 1 year. Are you going to allow a reduction? If so, state how low the store can go without calling you every time.
 
Sold one a few months ago on consignment at a LGS. Consignment fee was 20% and it sold in about 3 weeks. It was my first consignment sale and I now have another one down there on the rack. Simply MUST sell some safe queens to make some storage space available. When the first one sold I didn't know it until the shop owner mailed me a check for the amount of sale minus the fee.
 
Sorry I'm ignorant but wouldn't selling private sell for more in your pocket and get the buyer a better deal. Figure consignment fee and 8 percent tax dealer charges turns a 100 gun to 80 to seller and 108 to buyer.
 
ericuda said:
Sorry I'm ignorant but wouldn't selling private sell for more in your pocket and get the buyer a better deal. Figure consignment fee and 8 percent tax dealer charges turns a 100 gun to 80 to seller and 108 to buyer.
Click to expand...
True but unless it's a face to face sale I'd still have the hassle of packing and shipping via a dealer anyway.
 
A private sale would net you more money usually but not always. People impulse buy in stores and they get to handle the item before they really even know whether they are interested or not.

Stores that turn over a lot of inventory and have lots of pre owned guns can be a good place to sell on consignment.
 
LGS gets 10% here. Not a bad deal at all. He just sold one for me.

He sold another for me about a year ago and I immediately bought one from him. I got 100% of the selling cost on that deal.
 
No such luck in my area. Consignment fees range from 30%-50%. I did sell one on consignment once. It was a Bersa 380 that had been stolen from my apartment, and recovered by the sheriff's office. I came back to me in pretty poor shape. I cleaned it up, made sure it functioned properly and brought it over to a local shop for consignment. I was up front about its history, and at the end of the day I walked away with about $120. Personally, I was ok with that given the situation. If the fees were down around 15% I would much more readily use that option as opposed selling it myself.
 
Donj't use a pawn shop for consignments. Tampa has lots of places and the ability to do FTF anyway.
 
I've only sold one firearm through consignment. I took a plain 20ga 870 Express in, talked with the LGS about how much I expected to get out of it, got a receipt, and walked out. They called me a couple weeks later and said they sold it, they were even able to get me about $20 more than I expected, and that's after they took their cut. Maybe my expectations were low. Overall it was the easiest firearm sell I've ever made.
 
Consignment is a good process for selling a firearm with little to no headache as long as the service fee is not a ripoff. I would never pretend to tell an LGS how to run their business but I think that the service charge should be stairstepped or a flat fee based upon value - a $300 gun and a $1000 gun will take (about) the same effort to sell - 20% fee for the $300 gun produces a $60 return while the $1000 gun produces $200 return - same labor, same overhead, same 4473, etc. I don’t buy the argument that “I have rent, electric, insurance, labor, etc - those are fixed costs whether my gun is there or not - you are never told “Hey 10% is fine by me, I have none of my money tied up in your gun, your sale ROI is just about 100% profit.
Anyway, my point is do not be afraid to negotiate if the LGS is accommodating - a consignment deal is usually much, much more lucrative for an LGS than an inventory sale. Remember, it is your money until you decide to release it.
 
I've sold gun privately and through a shop. The shop benefits are you don't have to meet face to face with people you don't know, some of whom are a little sketchy, no clandestine parking lot meet ups, etc. No worries about selling to a felon, maybe no problem legally in a private sale, but better for your own piece of mind. I'd hate to have it come back to me that a criminal used the gun I sold him to do something stupid.

The shop will generally get a higher price than you can privately, and more people get to see it.

I think 15% is reasonable.
 
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