resource(s) for determining what is and is not a "good" Price?

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Detritus

Detritus

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Jan 19, 2003
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Location
Central NC
I have come to realize a significant downside to my current situation compared to 8 years ago when i lived in central North Carolina and could just drop by the comparatively numerous local FFLs in my area to see who has the best deals.
Neither of the two FFls "local" to me are very usable as a guage of what constitutes a "good deal", one I won't deal with (discussion best left to another time and thread), and the other has a fairly small inventory, that includes none of the guns i have an interest in getting "new" in the next year.
And currently I can not justify the expense to drive an hour one way into Houston just to browse, i do however hit the Houston shops if i have a chance while up there on other business but not often enough.

this has left me wondering about how to determine what is and is not a reasonable price/deal on the various firearms I am looking at. And thus which shop(s) will receive my wife's and my business in the coming year.

I will NOT ask this forum "what's a fair price on 'Gun X'?? " that's not what this site is for. what i WOULD like to ask is if there is a resource on-line or otherwise (on-line preferred though) that any of you use to guage what the prices SHOULD be before you go forth to browse and possibly haggle. and if the resource is something like GunBroker or the Davidson's "gallery of guns" page how to you use that information to arrive at your "fair price" (ie do you say "prices listed +/- some set or average price or percentage")?

Well anyway thank you in advance for any help or advice you can give. it is as always appreciated.
 
nobody has a resouce they use for this!?!?

oh well, once more around the horn just to make sure,

It can't be that i'm the only one who's in need of this type of info. if this doesn't exist maybe it aught to.
 
I go to gun shows and a few gun stores in the area

and I check Guns USA which is a fixed price sales site, not an auction, and I check Auction Arms and Gun Broker which are auction sites. If you check these repeatedly over a period of time you get an idea of what certain guns are priced. I also used the Gun Manufacturers web sites to see what the MSRP for a new model and I check miscellaneous other sites.
 
Detrius,
You’ve actually posed a very difficult question that has no “sure-fire” answer. First, realize that prices and values can be regional., so you need to define your “region”. It sounds like your region may be the two gunstores that are in your area. Unless you are willing to expand your region, they will determine what is or isn’t a “good” deal.
As said by others, the internet (GB, GA, GUSA,etc) will give you a look at the “national” region, but this might not be a true picture for where you are. I find the prices on the internet to be a bit higher than I can find locally while some find them lower. Just remember that if you go to the internet you will run into FFL “handling” fees and shipping costs. (which can be quite stiff for handguns). These can boost an internet price from a “good” deal to one that isn’t necessarily so.
It would be nice if there were books or on-line sites that would just give actual values that everyone would abide by. Or would it? It sure would make collecting boring. Yes, there would be no “bad” deals, but there would be no “good” deals either.
All I can recommend is to get as much experience as you can. Go to gunshows, pour over the gunboards , study the auction and for-sale sites. Talk to as many knowledgeable folks as you can. Learn from experience. (This will require a number of “bad” deals. Just chalk them up to education and move on.)
If you start to worry too much about “did I get a good deal or not”, your gun buying/collecting experience will be miserable.

Dean
 
go to your local bookstore and buy a firearms value book. the borders near me sells the exact same book that gander mtn uses to decide how much money to pay for guns from the public. it has values based on NIB, new in box, 98% 95% ect. there are even pictures in the front to show you what a 98% or 80% or whatever gun should look like. thats the best youre gonna get.

as far as selling things, its only worth what someone will pay you for it.
 
I use the knowledge i've acquired over the years to ball park it, and then use this forum and the brand specific forums to fine tune it.

The Blue Book of Gun Values is ok, but the value of some guns(ie: pre-lock S&W's) change so quickly the book doesn't help much.

Steve
 
I believe that what guns "should" cost....

and what people sell them for can be wildly different. I usually go to "Gunbroker" or "Auction Arms" to begin to price what I want. Then I'll check out an online store or two, "Bud's" seems to have fair prices. "Davidson's" seems to price guns for those who don't shop around, in other words, HIGH. Occasionally "J&G Sales" in Arizona has good sales. And the best mail order gun shop I've found is "CDNN Sports" in Abilene, Tx. Of course their good prices are negated somewhat for Texans. We have to pay FFL transfer, shipping, AND state sales tax for their guns.
Then depending on what I'm looking for, I'll check the large chains like "Dick's", "Academy", or "Sportsman's Warehouse". "Bass Pro" and "Cabelas" are usually too high. And lastly I'll check a couple of local gun shops, usually just to handle a gun and get the feel of it. With rare exceptions, they're usually on the high side too. IMO most gun shows are a waste of time, but you never know.
The best deals I've gotten have been through "Gunbroker", "Auction Arms", and for used guns, you can't beat The High Road's Buy/Sell forums.
These are the things that have worked for me. I'm sure others here have some excellent suggestions as well.
 
My price check on new guns is usually Buds Gun Shop in KY. I use Bud's numbers for what would typically be a really good price. They have a web site with prices. Use the Blue Book too and check the auction sites occasionally.
 
You can get some idea by looking at the "completed auctions" on GunBroker, to see what people actually paid. The asking prices are often sort of a fantasy thing.
Marty
 
Best way to find out what a good price is to go ahead and pay the asking price, post what you paid for it and let people tell you who got robbed. :) Not much help I know. I used to pay asking price up until I discovered the Internet a few years ago. With enough Googling you can get a pretty fair estimate. Even so, I still pay top dollar for what I have to have right now!
 
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