Offer received from local dealer for gun collection.

[silicosys4]

I thought this might make some of you laugh. It certainly made me chuckle.
There is a guy locally who advertises "Best prices offered for guns and gun collections". Supposedly gets a lot of business from elderly widows and estate sales. I'm in the process of selling a fair amount of my collection to fund an upcoming home purchase, and I decided to load all 80+ firearms into my truck and drive them to his house (he works completely out of his house) so he can see if he was interested. I made up a spreadsheet of my collection with some details, and here is what he returned to me, marked with his offers. The blue numbers are his offers, red numbers are his friends' offers.
Now this guy wouldn't stop telling me how generous he is to the widows, how everyone always goes straight to him after talking to all the other shops, When he buys from private collections he gives 80% of retail, just enough to get by, etc..etc...
I'm curious as to what you think of these numbers. Descriptions of condition are purposefully conservative, they are all for the most part in very nice shape. Sorry for the chopped up page, i had to consolidate four pages of spreadsheets into one.

 

[Spats McGee]

I'm no expert by any means, but I'd have a very hard time calling those numbers "generous."

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I'd have a hard time calling those prices "80% of retail".

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

Just no and a little social justice in the mix. "Honey, why is there a flaming bag on the Poarch"?

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

I thought this might make some of you laugh. It certainly made me chuckle.
There is a guy locally who advertises "Best prices offered for guns and gun collections". Supposedly gets a lot of business from elderly widows and estate sales. I'm in the process of selling a fair amount of my collection to fund an upcoming home purchase, and I decided to load all 80+ firearms into my truck and drive them to his house (he works completely out of his house) so he can see if he was interested. I made up a spreadsheet of my collection with some details, and here is what he returned to me, marked with his offers. The blue numbers are his offers, red numbers are his friends' offers.
Now this guy wouldn't stop telling me how generous he is to the widows, how everyone always goes straight to him after talking to all the other shops, When he buys from private collections he gives 80% of retail, just enough to get by, etc..etc...
I'm curious as to what you think of these numbers. Descriptions of condition are purposefully conservative, they are all for the most part in very nice shape. Sorry for the chopped up page, i had to consolidate four pages of spreadsheets into one.

View attachment 1165783

How much would you want for the USP 45????? I might be able to convince Dad to buy it (we are an FFL) cause we could test it with a suppressor vs my 1911. But back on topic, that guy is full of it. His offers are trash lol.

 

[jar]

They are about what I would expect from any reasonable dealer.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

They are about what I would expect from any reasonable dealer.

I cannot disagree here.
Because no reasonable dealer can pay 80% of retail and survive.

A friend of mine, a now retired FFL, would buy estates and bulk. He once told me he aimed at 20¢ on the retail dollar.
That way he could cover overhead, paperwork, the dogs that wouldn't sell, time to sell (money costs money over time), etc etc.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Gen 2 Colt SAA .44 Special with Ivory Grips .$1,000! lol

Dealer going to sell for 2.5-3x the price he is offering you.

Have you look at: https://durysguns.com/

they been in business for a very long time and send you boxes to ship back the guns. If it’s a large estate, they send a person to your house and evaluate and handle your collection

very upfront offers: They take 15-20% of the sale price, depending in consignment or outright sale to them

 

[481]

I thought this might make some of you laugh. It certainly made me chuckle.
There is a guy locally who advertises "Best prices offered for guns and gun collections". Supposedly gets a lot of business from elderly widows and estate sales. I'm in the process of selling a fair amount of my collection to fund an upcoming home purchase, and I decided to load all 80+ firearms into my truck and drive them to his house (he works completely out of his house) so he can see if he was interested. I made up a spreadsheet of my collection with some details, and here is what he returned to me, marked with his offers. The blue numbers are his offers, red numbers are his friends' offers.
Now this guy wouldn't stop telling me how generous he is to the widows, how everyone always goes straight to him after talking to all the other shops, When he buys from private collections he gives 80% of retail, just enough to get by, etc..etc...
I'm curious as to what you think of these numbers. Descriptions of condition are purposefully conservative, they are all for the most part in very nice shape. Sorry for the chopped up page, i had to consolidate four pages of spreadsheets into one.

View attachment 1165783

Personally, I think that you might do a lot better for yourself on GunBroker if you are willing to spend the time necessary to list them and ship them through a cooperative FFL.

 

[LiveLife]

I'd have a hard time calling those prices "80% of retail".

More like less than 50%.

Look at Glock 19 for example ... Gen3 RTF2 with 8 magazines ... Uncommon yet popular brand/model/caliber with good following and should sell well, say $375 - $400 retail with 2 magazines - https://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/search.cfm/kword/police trade in/brand/glock

6 extra magazines will likely add another $60 (Police trade-in Glock mags $9.99), so retail price would be $435 - $460 with 6 extra magazines.

80% of $375-$400 is $300-$320 + $60 for 6 used magazines = $360 - $380.

Offer of $225 is way too low.

 

[starling]

OK the USP 45 in 98% with 7 new magazines made me laugh out loud for $350. I would feel guilty if I bought one for that and likely try to give them more. The home FFL must be a real character. That or he is a complete snake.

I wonder what he offers for Lugers and HK P7M8s LOL.

You have all nice firearms on your list. I would do a little work at a fair selling price then maybe mark 10% off and put them on gunbroker or forum listings such as here or firearms specific forums. Those are all desirable firearms. Heck, Ive wanted a USP 45 for over 20 years LOL. You can find someone with deeper pockets than me though. Dont short change yourself by dumping them cheap. That would be foolish. Do a little work and reward yourself for taking such good care of all those firearms through the years. Almost all of those are 95-100% so you obviously cared about them. Good luck on your new house!

 

[FL-NC]

The guy is a charlatan who is used to people who don't know any better. I have sold a few collections for widows to actually get them a decent price for their late husband's guns. I do this for a pinnance, just to prevent scum bags like the guy the OP mentioned from taking advantage of widows and the like.

 

[Scout21]

If those prices are 80 percent of retail then I'd love to shop in his market.

The fact that you went through all of the effort to catalogue your firearms with descriptions, conditions, and manufacture dates tells me that you are at least somewhat familiar with how firearm sales go. The fact that he saw the effort you put into it and still thought he could pull the wool over your eyes with repeated lowball offers is laughable.

The few firearms that don't have a price, does that mean he didn't make an offer on them?

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Seems like 30-50% of retail, so Im not surprised.

Could you rent a table at the next local gunshow and sell them direct yourself?

 

[armoredman]

Man, I'd sell blood plasma for an 98% FAL with mags and scope for under $1000, this guy is nuts. Unless you need the cash right now, I'd reccomend selling privately, if you can.

 

[jonnyc]

You will always do better selling privately, but there's a lot of costly work involved. For offers from a retail establishment he wasn't too far off the mark. It costs a lot to run a firearms business, and they need to make a profit to stay in business. And FWIW, extra mags, holsters, scopes, etc., don't really up the offers much.

 

[Scout21]

And FWIW, extra mags, holsters, scopes, etc., don't really up the offers much.

That's a fair point. Often times I don't factor mags or accessories into the value of firearms I'm buying/thinking about buying, I just consider them extras to help sell the product or set it apart from similar offers.

 

[starling]

LOL... even if he sells 1/4 of those firearms himself he will likely fetch more money that the whole offer from that FFL.

HaHaHa... found another gem. $200 for an original sig P229 with 7 magazines at 95% condition. This FFL is a hoot. I dont like messing with people but I would probably lead him on and say Im seriously considering it. Let it work on his mind a little. I bet he is trying to lowball you LOL. Yeah I would definitely play around with this... Ask him if thats the best he can do etc.

I would literally give my firearms away to people I know and care about before letting someone take advantage of me like that. Its an insult offer. Might as well just pay him to take ownership LOL.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

OK, I'm just going to say it. His offer on the USFA Colt 44spl. Blatantly theft. Companies gone and with 7 of the 22 tool / die guy's dead It will never open again.

 

[Old Dog]

Now this guy wouldn't stop telling me how generous he is to the widows, how everyone always goes straight to him after talking to all the other shops,

If this guy insults you -- an individual with a collection of pretty good guns and thus presumably knowledgeable about firearms -- he would certainly take advantage of some widow who knew nothing about her late husband's guns while he was still with... Just like the assclown that ripped off my mother-in-law and gave her $700 for well over $10K worth of classic old guns.

This FFL is either not knowledgeable about firearms or he's a crook. Likely a bit of both.

Let him know about this thread after you politely decline his generous offers. Hopefully, he's not up here in Washington, but I know a couple dealers of his ilk.

 

[starling]

Be funny if everyone sent him made up lists of firearms just to see his offers.

Colt Gold Cup National Match 99% ...$250
Korth Mongoose Unfired NIB... $800
Simson and Suhl Makarov with 8 magazines 98%... $150
Colt SSP Prototype.... $600
Steyr GB 97% with 6 magazines (these aint cheap!) ... $350
Rohm RG-14 (the actual firearm used in assignation attempt of Reagan with full documentation) ...$40

 

[sgt127]

It’s kinda what a gun dealer would offer. IF they even want your gun. Stock is pretty heavy at most gun stores right now.

If he flips them on Gunbroker, he’s got fees there too.

Gotta stop looking at it as guns you might want. Just Tennis shoes he’s got to flip to stay in business, pay bills etc.

If he’s not making at least $100 per gun, pure profit, it’s likely not worth it.

 

[JohnKSa]

His idea of how valuable your guns are is based on the profit he can make by reselling them, not based on what you can sell them for in private sales. That's understandable.

It would be nice if he didn't talk about how he's such a great guy because it sounds like he's just doing what most any dealer would do, which makes sense since he is a dealer.

You could negotiate with him, or you can choose to look for another buyer or other buyers.

If this guy insults you...

Offers on items for sale can not be an insult, any more than a person's idea of what their item is worth is an insult to potential buyers.

I don't know where people get the idea that it's reasonable to think that an offer to buy is an insult if they perceive it is too low. If a potential buyer's offers are unacceptable, you still have all your property in exactly the same condition that it was in before the offers were made. You still have the same reputation you did before. You are in exactly the same situation you were before the offers were made. Someone's desire to make money by reselling your items, or to get them at the lowest price they can just to save money does not diminish you in any way--it really doesn't have anything to do with you at all.

If the offer is too low, you say no, you keep your stuff, they keep their money. Nobody is hurt, the guns have not been damaged or lost any value, nobody is diminished, nobody was called any names. It's just that for many, different, very understandable reasons, different people value things differently.

People can CHOOSE to FEEL insulted if someone offers them less than they think is reasonable, but that's their own choice--it has nothing to do with the reality of the situation. People who go around looking for ways to be offended will never be disappointed.

 

[Mark_Mark]

His idea of how valuable your guns are is based on the profit he can make by reselling them, not based on what you can sell them for in private sales. That's understandable.

It would be nice if he didn't talk about how he's such a great guy because it sounds like he's just doing what most any dealer would do, which makes sense since he is a dealer.

You could negotiate with him, or you can choose to look for another buyer or other buyers.

Offers on items for sale can not be an insult, any more than a person's idea of what their item is worth is an insult to potential buyers.

I don't know where people get the idea that it's reasonable to think that an offer to buy is an insult if they perceive it is too low. If a potential buyer's offers are unacceptable, you still have all your property in exactly the same condition that it was in before the offers were made. You still have the same reputation you did before. You are in exactly the same situation you were before the offers were made. Someone's desire to make money by reselling your items, or to get them at the lowest price they can just to save money does not diminish you in any way--it really doesn't have anything to do with you at all.

If the offer is too low, you say no, you keep your stuff, they keep their money. Nobody is hurt, the guns have not been damaged or lost any value, nobody is diminished, nobody was called any names. It's just that for many, different, very understandable reasons, different people value things differently.

People can CHOOSE to FEEL insulted if someone offers them less than they think is reasonable, but that's their own choice--it has nothing to do with the reality of the situation. People who go around looking for ways to be offended will never be disappointed.

There are good fair dealers out there. I still believe people are good. The OP knows the value of his guns. I think this post is to let us gun collectors not to leave your guns to Probate. Have the value of your guns written down or have a competent trustee handle a valuable collection.

What I’m trying to get at is… everyone with a sizable collection should talk to a Will & Estate Lawyer

 

[JohnKSa]

Yes. Ultimately, if a person plans to pass on without liquidating their firearms; they would be wise (and kind) to make provisions for the survivors to help them deal with the situation. I got to help an acquaintance with his father's collection of hundreds of firearms. Figuring out what they were and getting rough values for them was a ton of work. Everyone would have been better off if the father had, at the very least, kept a list of what he had and would have been WAY better off if he had taken the time to maintain it with estimates of current value.

There are good fair dealers out there. I still believe people are good.

How did this get to be an issue of good and bad, fairness and unfairness? Neither the buyer or seller is under any obligation to the other; neither owes anything to the other; neither can force the other to make a deal. There is no requirement that they deal with each other at all. If they can't reach an agreement, everyone leaves in EXACTLY the same condition they came in. If the buyer is only willing to pay a dollar for a Korth and the seller is ok with that, which one of them is bad and which one is good? If they agree to the price, and low to the point that some think it is immoral, how is one more to blame than the other?

Who gets to set the moral threshold/fairness criteria for profit on gun sales? Should it be a calculation including a dealer's operating expenses based on the business model he chooses? Do we get to tell him his business model is unacceptable because it requires profits that are too high? How deep do we get to dig into his personal life to determine what a moral profit level would be? Can we tell him he should have had fewer kids so he didn't have to worry about so much college expense so he could keep his profit at a more righteous level? Does the allowable profit margin change based on who he's buying from or on the seller's valuation of their firearms? How much should it change? Does who he buys from change his operating expenses or personal expenses? Does a seller get to justifiably feel righteous indignation only when the threshold is breached, or is a gradual increase of "insultedness" allowed as the profit margin approaches the threshold? How is all this going to be enforced and where will the official morally acceptable profit levels be recorded for enforcement purposes? Will they be regularly adjusted based on inflation and other general financial considerations?

It's really simple. One person has guns and wants to sell them. Another person has money and wants to buy them. Agree on a price? DEAL. Disagree on a price? NO DEAL. Either way, there's no good or evil, there's no fair or unfair. It's only when someone is being coerced or has no choice that things become different.