Selling firearms and percentage takes; math is hard.

[Trey Veston]

Looking to sell three firearms; an AR-15 in .450 Bushmaster, S&W M&P40c, and Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt.

All are fairly odd firearms that aren't really popular around my area. But I've been hearing how the gun market is crazy. I looked on Gunbroker, and the prices on those weapons are not that impressive. I'll likely make my money back from buying them new a few years ago.

Gun broker fees are a little odd, as they charge 6% for the first $250, then 3.5% for the remaining amount.

I have sold a firearm on there before, and it was not bad. The seller paid me via PayPal, but this was ten years ago. Not sure how private sellers get paid these days that is quick and easy for both buyer and seller.

Plus, I have to do all of the packaging and run to town to mail it off, then have to fight with the post office or UPS to figure out how to mail a firearm to an FFL in who knows where.

So, I heard the only gun shop for 45 miles or so offers consignment selling.

I called them up and asked for their terms.

15% of selling price, plus a $10 shelving fee, and they take care of everything. That seems a bit ridiculous. I would likely lose money on some very nice and like-new firearms in the middle of a supposed "seller's market".

Plus, I have to set the price and guess what the value is in my local market. In Texas, an AR-15 in .450 Bushmaster might be worth $1000, but in my area, where there are no hogs, and almost no one sells ammo for it, would be worth considerably less.

My biggest concerns are the shipping and the payment. What is the best way to handle that if I go with Gunbroker?

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Sell the gun locally for what you can get for it. Figure out your bottom dollar price before you advertise it. If you don't get your minimum, don't sell it.

Another option is to find out if an an FFL will charge you to ship it to another FFL. You provide the packing materials. (Figure that into the price of your gun.) Sell it online, but do some research on listing fees at gunbroker + your other costs. All of that has to go into your minimum sell price.

Next option is to pay the local FLL's $10 fee and put it on consignment. Figure out your bottom line and add the 15% + $10. That's the minimum price the FFL may sell your gun for. Be prepared for your gun to sit on a shelf for a while if it's overpriced.

You've got some leg work to do if you want to make sure you get what you want. You may find that you can't get what you want. I think a lot of people, myself included, tend to overvalue their stuff. (In the same manner that buyers undervalue items listed for sale.)

 

[Sistema1927]

What you have learned is that the lies we tell our wives that our guns are investments are just ways that we try to justify our actions. Either do the hard work yourself, or pay someone else. Either way, you aren't going to get what you think they are worth.

 

[wiscoaster]

15% consignment fee is really a bargain. My preferred FFL charges 20% to sell one of my guns. You have to remember they're doing all the selling and transferring work for you. All you have to do is turn over the gun, sign a form, and wait for your check. 20% is a pretty reasonable cut for what they do. You can do it for less. It's a no-brainer. Go with it.

 

[DustyGmt]

Armslist? Just because you think they aren't hot ticket items in your area doesn't mean somebody isn't out there looking for exactly what you've got.

 

[Poper]

The only way to know the true value of your gun ( or any item, for that matter) is to list it as a Penny Auction - No Reserve and see what it sells for. I have sold several firearms in GB that way and have yet to be disappointed. All but one sold for more than expected and a couple for a LOT more than expected. YMMV, of course.

 

[243winxb]

Got email from GB today.

New Listing Process

• The New Listing Process will go live on April 12, 2021. You can try it now by clicking the link at the top of the current List an Item page.
• The new responsive listing page makes greater use of item defaults, allows for easier picture loading, supporting rich text descriptions and working with standard text all in one place.

View attachment 990749

Has GB been sold? Seen where an offer was in the works?

 

[earlthegoat2]

I’ve done all the different selling styles and have settled on consignment from my favorite LGS.

He takes 20%. I leave the shop (unless I’m browsing) and he calls me when it’s sold and I pick up a check.

I give him a range of price so he can dicker with a buyer a little. Once one of my guns sold while I was in the store a few weeks later. I didn’t say a thing while the sale went on. He wrote me a check after the customer left.

That is what is a called a mutually beneficial arrangement.

 

[wiscoaster]

Has GB been sold? Seen where an offer was in the works?

AMMO Inc (Ticker POWW) made a tender offer for Gunbroker for which they issued a Letter of Intent to close in mid-April at last report, but it's not yet a done deal.
Disclosure: I'm a POWW shareholder and I think it's a pretty cool move by them.

 

[dh1633pm]

Just post them here. You’ve been a member for a while. Might be someone here that is interested.

 

[Madcap_Magician]

I like to offer it up on THR first. I have sold a gun or two here. But mostly I've sold on Armslist. The selling market is pretty good right now. I sold a used Sig P365 that I've carried a fair amount for nearly three years. I paid full retail when it came out, and only lost about $100 on the sale including the taxes I paid. I could have probably gotten a little more for it, but I literally sold it in a day, so I basically rented it for $33 a year.

Do not use PayPal for Gunbroker sales. It is against the PayPal terms of service to buy or sell firearms. If they detect the transaction, they will freeze the money (sometimes for a long time) and ban your account.

 

[Trey Veston]

Tried to sign up for GunBroker's pay system and they don't list my main credit union as acceptable for transactions. I have an account with another local credit union that they do accept, but it is only set up as a savings account since I got a home equity loan through them a few years ago.

Think I'll just go through the local shop. That way, I can include some factory ammo for the .450 Bushmaster to sweeten the deal. Don't really need the money, but I bought an AR pistol today and promised my girlfriend I would get rid of a couple of guns I don't need if I added another. She doesn't really care either way, but I told her I would, so I'll honor it. I'm sure somebody will pay me $800 for a used Remlin with a cracked stock...

 

[garandsrus]

Gunbroker is pretty easy. You can include a shipping cost that is in addition to the auction cost. As long as it’s reasonable, it won’t affect the sale.

You can ship the rifle yourself at a UPS hub. It has to go to a FFL, of course, but doesn’t have to come from a FFL. List in the auction that the FFL needs to accept shipment from an individual. You will need a copy of the FFL’s info and include a copy in the box (if I remember correctly).

I usually require a USPS Money Order for payment. You can cash it on the way to UPS to ship the rifle.

 

[kwb377]

I've also had good luck selling on FB Marketplace in the past year or so...list a picture of the box, title the ad as "Empty Collector's Box" or similar, and wait for the PM's to roll in. You'll have to sift through a bunch of idiots, but it's never taken me longer than a couple of days to sell anything.

 

[Trey Veston]

Listed it on Gunbroker as my local market is super soft on lever guns. Will sell the AR on GB as well, but will sell the pistol at the LGS since the last used M&P I saw there was $700. Pretty sure I can get back the $300 I paid for mine NIB in 2018.

 

[tark]

Last year I sold 28 guns through the Rock Island Auction Company. They charge 20%. Now, that sounds pretty steep until you consider: They really do do everything . They picked up the guns at my house, gave me an inventory of the guns on the spot, which I checked for correctness. Since I only live thirty miles from them, they waved the transportation fee. When they received the guns they sent me another inventory sheet confirming that they received all 28. The guns were listed in their catalog and were represented fairly as to condition. They E-mailed me the day after the auction, telling me what had sold ( all of them ) and the prices realized. It was much higher than I expected.

The R.I.A. co. is number one in the firearms auction world, and it is easy to see why. Going this route may not be all that practical for a small number of guns but it worked very well for me.

 

[Dale Alan]

Twenty percent is normal for consignment around here .

 

[JDeere]

My local gets 15% and I don't have to deal with anything. We discuss what it's worth and if we agree he puts it in his shop and on his website. I can set a minimum as well. If it don't sell no harm no foul...

 

[SamT1]

I’d swap you a 300blk AR15 for the 450.

 

[Trey Veston]

I’d swap you a 300blk AR15 for the 450.

300blk is even less useful for me up here, and I learned my lesson trying to get set up for reloading a new cartridge these days. Just trying to thin out the herd and make it easier to move everything when I go either to Idaho or Arizona. Just remembered I have a Ruger M77 boat paddle rifle I need to get listed as well.

 

[JT-AR-MG42]

they charge 6% for the first $250, then 3.5% for the remaining amount

Not that hard to calculate based on your projected (or ideal) selling price.
GB will calculate and charge you the sales tax, however that sales tax is also computed and shown in the
final price the seller needs to send along with your listed shipping charge.

I have sold a few of my own and listed quite a few for a dealer friend without any feedback volume.
My listings start at what I'll accept as bottom dollar. All have sold for more than asked with only one or two
selling at my start price. I've never had to do a repeat listing.
Nice condition quality guns always sell first cycle if your start price is at all reasonable.

Most GB users are still grudgingly tolerant of the snail mail money order/cashier's check which is all I accept.
No experience with any of the various pay systems, and with my low volume of transactions I would
be paying those services top dollar for their use. Guess I'm just leary of giving account info to third parties.

Same for shipping, volume sellers get volume rates.
For me, shipping a long gun 2/3s across Country was 47 bucks or so with 800 insurance.
I would use UPS or Fed/ex. Too many folks at the P.O. that do not seem to know the regs,
and shipping U.S. mail seemed to be higher anyway.
Make sure to take a spare copy of the receiving FFL for the shipper to keep if they choose to do so.

With good clear photos (and plenty of them), I really think GB is the way to sell the long guns.
One last, if you do not have volume feedback as a seller, I would recommend stating that if a potential bidder wants
to contact you to discuss the gun, they can contact you for a phone number. It does give the buyer peace of mind that they are
dealing with a legitimate and knowledgeable seller.

JT

 

[CapnMac]

You have to remember they're doing all the selling and transferring work for you. All you have to do is turn over the gun, sign a form, and wait for your check. 20% is a pretty reasonable cut for what they do

And, the shop has to deal with everyone wanting to haggle the price on a consigned arm.
Which is complicated for the shop owner, as he may have only a few dollars (as few as ten) leeway based on what minimum the consignee put on the thing. Which can sore peeve the customer and leave that customer a lasting impression that the shop is a pack of [insert imprecation] and tell everyone they know.
It's a complicated dance.

The best yield on price always comes from doing all the work yourself. But, if you value your labor hours highly, that can be a losing proposition, too. Which is why we pay people to do the hard work for us. Cars, houses, antiques, and firearms, are all the same in this.

 

[Mosin77]

Looking to sell three firearms; an AR-15 in .450 Bushmaster, S&W M&P40c, and Marlin 1894 in .45 Colt.

All are fairly odd firearms that aren't really popular around my area. But I've been hearing how the gun market is crazy. I looked on Gunbroker, and the prices on those weapons are not that impressive. I'll likely make my money back from buying them new a few years ago.

Gun broker fees are a little odd, as they charge 6% for the first $250, then 3.5% for the remaining amount.

I have sold a firearm on there before, and it was not bad. The seller paid me via PayPal, but this was ten years ago. Not sure how private sellers get paid these days that is quick and easy for both buyer and seller.

Plus, I have to do all of the packaging and run to town to mail it off, then have to fight with the post office or UPS to figure out how to mail a firearm to an FFL in who knows where.

So, I heard the only gun shop for 45 miles or so offers consignment selling.

I called them up and asked for their terms.

15% of selling price, plus a $10 shelving fee, and they take care of everything. That seems a bit ridiculous. I would likely lose money on some very nice and like-new firearms in the middle of a supposed "seller's market".

Plus, I have to set the price and guess what the value is in my local market. In Texas, an AR-15 in .450 Bushmaster might be worth $1000, but in my area, where there are no hogs, and almost no one sells ammo for it, would be worth considerably less.

My biggest concerns are the shipping and the payment. What is the best way to handle that if I go with Gunbroker?

If you go consignment, consider the labor the shop will have to invest in A) paperwork and B ) showing and talking about your guns. They need to make a buck (or $50) at the end of the day too, to keep the lights on. You don’t have to lift a finger and you collect most of the sales amount. Seems fair, but yeah, you do give some up.

If you sell it yourself on gunbroker, it’s easy and as long as you make a decent effort at describing and photographing you will get fair market value every time. Fees aren’t terrible. Charge enough for shipping and that should be covered. But as a private individual you’ll need to double check what shipping methods are or are not permitted by the law or by the carriers for your guns and charge accordingly, and also be aware that when you ship guns to the new buyer’s dealer, some dealers don’t accept shipments from non-dealers -meaning you might be obliged to take your guns to your own dealer and have them inventory and ship them -costing you probably at least $40-50 per gun. Also if you do ship yourself just be aware shipping long guns is a PITA to package them well. And bubble wrap isn’t cheap either. Choice is yours.

 

[wiscoaster]

Ditto above re description & photos. I make it a point to skip auctions that are short on detail or photos, or the photos are poor quality. Nothing substitutes for what you can see with your own eyes, and not being there to actually handle and inspect the firearm myself, photos have to be the closest and best substitute.

 

[dahermit]

Sell the gun locally for what you can get for it. Figure out your bottom dollar price before you advertise it. If you don't get your minimum, don't sell it.

Another option is to find out if an an FFL will charge you to ship it to another FFL. You provide the packing materials. (Figure that into the price of your gun.) Sell it online, but do some research on listing fees at gunbroker + your other costs. All of that has to go into your minimum sell price.

Next option is to pay the local FLL's $10 fee and put it on consignment. Figure out your bottom line and add the 15% + $10. That's the minimum price the FFL may sell your gun for. Be prepared for your gun to sit on a shelf for a while if it's overpriced.

You've got some leg work to do if you want to make sure you get what you want. You may find that you can't get what you want. I think a lot of people, myself included, tend to overvalue their stuff. (In the same manner that buyers undervalue items listed for sale.)

It sounds good to sell the gun locally. However, in my area, there are no longer any weekly ad papers in ciruclation and the two online (Facebook Market Place and Kraigs List) do not allow the advertising of guns or ammo. So that begs the question: where can a person advertise a gun for sale.