Has a gun dealer ever ripped you off or tried to? What happened?

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No, I guess I have been very wise in my gun deals that I've never gotten
ripped off. I always tried to deal with persons that kept both hands on the
playing surface; and NOT under the table~! Nowdays, I don't have that
problem, cuz I only deal with my bossman.:D
 
I told them the price I wanted to sell it for and left. A few weeks went by and they didn't sell. I waited a few more weeks and decided to stop by the gunstore. I looked in the case and saw my guns with a price that was about $75 higher than what I told them to ask. They were going to sell them for the higher price and keep the difference.
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Let me get this straight, you were mad because the gun store might have been able to sell your guns and give you the amount you wanted to get for the guns, but if they made more, you thought they were ripping you off??? If you were to get the money you requested, then how the heck would you have been ripped off? YOU set the price YOU wanted, not the store.

How do you know they were going to keep the difference?

Yes, they did not sell and for that being upset is fine, but hey, you were too lazy, too busy to do it yourself. You say you needed the money, but still it took you a few weeks to even get back by the store.
 
to the original poster-

Seems to me like it could be a case of miscommunicaiton to me. They may have interpreted your statement as 'lowest offer you will accept' not 'please mark it this price'

alternatively, it is possible their experience is that many people like to haggle over used guns, and hence the listed ticket price is not the BEST price, just a starting point. People will walk in, see 300, pay 250 and feel they got a better deal than walking in seeing 250 and paying 250
 
I have to side with albanian on this one.
The guns were not the shops firearms, they belonged to an individual who agreed to place the guns for sale at the store and pay a set amount to the store for handling the transaction.

When an individual sets a price for something consigned, the shop does not have the right to mark up or attempt to profit in any way other than the agreed amount.

Maybe they were planning to pay the additional profit to the firearm owner or maybe waive the 15% handling and process fee but that doesn't matter.
Because the owner was not notified of their intent in the handling of the consignment, the actions could be seen as underhanded in my opinion.
 
Let me get this straight, you were mad because the gun store might have been able to sell your guns and give you the amount you wanted to get for the guns, but if they made more, you thought they were ripping you off??? If you were to get the money you requested, then how the heck would you have been ripped off? YOU set the price YOU wanted, not the store.
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I've never seen a consignment work this way - I've always set the ASKING price, the shop takes their cut from that, and I get the rest.

Let's face it - different firearms sell at different price points. It doesn't take much dealer markup to move a firearm from the 'it'll sell in a week' category to the 'it'll probably collect dust for a year' column. If it's my weapon and I'm selling it, I'm the only one that get's to determine which of those two categopries I want that weapon to inhabit.
 
The times I've done consignments- horse tack, not guns- I've always told them what I need and they add their's on top of that.
 
mine

One dealer in Atlanta had the common practice of only giving one mag with NIB firearms, when gun would ship from factory with two or three mags. Caught him trying it with a CZ85 ... extra mags were $35 each at the time. Called him on it and he acted as if it was a mistake. Ok... next deal a few months later ... FN HP from factory with 3 mag... only one in box ... call him on it again, acts as if it is a mistake and I remind him that he used the same line on me 4 months earlier with the CZ. Asked him to stop the pretense if he would like my continued business, which he did. Turned out to be a good guy to deal with, just had to mind my Ps and Qs around him.

Axe
 
Whenever you place a firearms on consignment with a dealer you relinquish ownership over that firearms. It ,technically ,becomes the property of the dealer. That is why when you pick it up you have to complete the 4473. When I take a firearm on consignment I ask the owner what he wants to get for it. I will help him if he doesn't know. I have a flat fee up front and will split whatever the amount over his asking price. I will take in consideration his need to sell it quickly. If his need is great enough and I think I can make more money than he is asking I will buy it.
 
The guys where I shop make faces when I walk in, but they're the friendly sort. :)

It probably helps that I've been averaging about a gun a month, plus misc. supplies every now and then.

They have not tried to rip me off, and as far as I can tell, they're an upstanding bunch. (PDHSC, I know some of the other NC THR-ers have mentioned them positively.)
 
The best one I've seen was at a store in central FL - 440 round tin of Polish 7.62x54R - $125. These sell online from the big ammunition dealers for about $33 + shipping. Asked the dealer if that was the case price and he said nope, price was for the 440 round tin. Bit my tongue and moved on. :eek:
 
the only time and the last time I will buy a gun online.
It was gunbroker and it was a armscor 1911 45acp. After I paid for it I got a bag a parts and a story about how his son had taken it apart and He (seller) could not figure out how to put a 1911 together. after I replaced all the missing parts it was a good shooter, Lucky for the seller I did not shoot him(joking) (not really)
 
Making a killing on both ends-

This has happened a couple of times. A dealer (one at a show, one at his shop) will concede a value for my gun that I agree with. He then explains that to make a profit that he can only pay me $100 less than the value.

I understand profit and overhead, so this doesn't scare me off, though the margin seems a bit high. I am looking to trade, and figure it will even out on the gun he has (or the one I want him to order for me).

Then the guy who thinks an FFL is a license to print money shows me the invoice for the gun I want in return. You guessed it, in order to make a profit, he HAS TO mark up $100. I figure he's making out if he gets his way on either, but I can't go along with getting double-pumped.

I'm not real big on haggling, and I don't think that it is any more acceptable to require it for gun purchases than when buying a jar of mayonnaise. I am willing to give it a shot, but when the guy gives a "take it or leave it" attitude I am only encouraged to find someone with less of a need to make his weekend on one customer.
 
I agree with the Albanian, the original poster. He told the shop what he wanted for it and they were supposed to add 15% for their cut.
He needed the money quickly so he priced it to sell quickly.
The shop had no right to pump up the price in order to make more on their cut.
The whole point is he wanted to sell it quickly and needed the money quickly.
I had a shop do this to me with an outboard motor. I had an old Evinrude 50 that I wanted $450 for. They were supposed to put $500 on it and keep $50 for themselves. It didn't sell for quite a while. I went over there and they had $750 on it. I told them to put it in my truck. I put it in the local paper and sold it the first day for $550.
 
Being a young'un, I've made my share of mistakes, the biggest one being my naive belief that the guy behind the counter is telling the godhonest truth all the time... "Sure, that Garand was an original WWII Springfield!"

Uh, no, it was a rebuild. Stupid, stupid, stupid me for not using all the available resources (read: the net) to check it out.

I still buy ammo at this store, and I'm probably going to buy a Glock or XD there next week, but I've learned a lot about discretion and investigation over the past three years. As it was said earlier in this thread: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
 
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I wasn't the primary victim, but I suffered from the collateral damage.

Back in the early '90s, I was shooting long range with a modified M1917 Enfield with target sights. At one point, the stock cracked and chipped at the tang.

I didn't have the time or money to replace the stock. A friend in Texas offered to sell me his '03-A3 Springfield as a replacement, and he'd defer payment.

The gun came and I was immediately puzzled by this "Springfield". The part of the receiver where the clip guide should have been was MISSING. It turned out that it was a BAD (National Ordinance?) copy of an '03-A3 with a cast(?) receiver and GI parts. They determined that the shooter didn't require the clip guide... or the part of the receiver into which it was machined, so they cast the action without it! Needless to say, it was a piece of crap, and if anything LESS accurate than the M1917 with the cracked stock. Of course I was short on time and had to have target bases installed to test it.

Somehow the [incompetent] gunsmith managed to retain the GI sights. I gave it up as a fiasco. A friend declared that I'd "ruined the gun". He wanted to buy that POS, but insisted that I try to recover the sights from the "gunsmith". In disgust, I replied that it barely qualified AS a gun, and that if he wanted the gun, it was his, but he'd have to get any parts he desired on his own. It's still sitting in my closet, not even meriting a place in my gun safe.
 
Only once but he wasn't really trying to rip ME off, just had a ridiculous price on a gun I could have bought if it was priced accordingly for a used gun. It was about 30 dollars off retail...of it if it were new! I told him if he priced it accordingly I would buy it but he argued the worth of it. He ended up having it for two years and sold it for exactly what I offered in the first place....
 
Yup, most definitely. There's a pudgy guy who runs a booth at all the shows here, soupbowl haircut, glasses, looks a lot like Dr. Octopus from Spiderman 2. I bought one of the FEG HiPower copies from him a few years back. He had it marked as NIB. Took it to the range that day, trigger fell out pn the third shot. Took it to a smith, he said there was a part of the trigger mechanism missing, it would cost around $40 to replace. I asked him about peening the pin, he said DO NOT do it. Took it back to the vendor. He refused to give me my money back, offering to peen the pin even after I told him what the smith had said. I managed to get partial credit towards a flintlock pistol. Took the flintlock to the car, cut the ziptie that is required at all the shows here, and lo and behold it wouldn't cock. Seized up solid. I marched back inside and demanded my money back. He refused. I then informed him that if I didn't get every penny back immediately, I would stand by his table for the rest of the show and tell my story to everyone who paused at his table. He coughed it up. He counted out onto the glass display case 3 $100 bills, and 5 $20 bills, picked them up, and handed them to me. At this point, I had a single $1 bill in my wallet, nothing else. Put the money he handed me in my wallet, went straight home, no stops anywhere. When I got home I went to take the money out of my wallet, and guess what I had? 2 $100 bills, 5 $20 bills, and the $1 bill. The guy had cupped one of the $100 bills off the bottom of the stack when he picked them up off the glass case and handed them to me. I went back to the show and complained to one of the promoters, and several policemen who were present. Got the same story from all, it was my word against his, wouldn't hold up in court.

Be VERY careful not to do business with this guy if you're ever at a show in the North La. area.

Oh yeah, I still see him every show, buying and selling without an FFL, with that FEG for sale marked as NIB. He ended up spot welding the pin in place then buffing it down and rebluing over it.
 
I bought Hungarian M44 for $150 and about 100 rounds of "non corrosive" ammo for about $20. I like the rifle regardless, but the ammo was accually Yugo heavy bal IIRC.

It had the red primer sealer. half of the sealants were green and has 1975 stamped on them.
 
The ONLY dealer in the whole area in Massachusetts was selling used beat up Beretta 92s that looked like they were run over by a car and dragged for several miles for $600.00.


I went to the Boston area when I lived there and another dealer was selling brand new Beretta 92s for $450.00.

The sad thing is that the first dealer somehow stays in business ONLY due to the fact that there are suckers out there.
 
I got screwed on a couple deals when I was first starting out shooting and collecting...got a colt ar-15 that magically came with a DPMS barrell, when I complained dealer said it was a mistake and he would give me a "machine gun barrel" which never happened...ordered 2 mosins one m44 and one m39 from aim and when I picked them up I got 2 m44 instead...when I called him on it they said they "mistakenly" sold the 38 and would order me another...months later and I never got the 38. It's sad cause I gave this guy lots of business(myself and referals) and really liked the workers but had to start watching my purchases carefully from them. Weird cause sometimes I would get great deals and sometimes I would get ripped a good one. Moved away and will never look back.
 
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