Really looking for some advice, perhaps, from others who have done similar!!
Hi judgejohnmd,
Sorry, I know getting older is a bummer!
Without pictures, condition and function descriptions it is hard to give you a value.
I have bought and sold in many ways.
All have their pros and their cons!
1. The EASIEST for the seller is through a bricks and mortar auction house that puts their auctions on Proxibid so that the items have more exposure than just the walkin local clientele. The auction house does all the pictures, copy and usually suggests a high and a low expected bid based on their knowledge (make sure they have regular firearms auctions and don't just throw a couple of guns in with the furniture) of the firearms market. I have used Cowan's Auctions here in Cincinnati exclusively to sell about 30+ guns over the last decade and have been pleased with the results. The DOWNSIDE of this is that, since they do all the work, they expect to get something out of it. When I started using them, the seller's premium was 10% but the last time I got nicked for 18% of the final bid amount. They also charge a buyer's premium which was 20% for the last two handguns I bought on Proxiibid from two other auction houses. The draw back to the latter is that a bidder keeps that in mind when considering the maximum amount they want to bid. If they have $120 to spend, they will only bid $100 knowing the 20% premium will be charged to their card along with the winning bid amount. How much you realize from the sale depends of course on how many folks compete for each item. The Auction House handles all the shipping of your stuff to the winners and writes you a nice big check!!!
2. GunBroker, Auction Arms, Armslist, Guns International and Guns America are online auction houses which will also get your items shown to a wide range of buyers. I have bought from all of these over the years but have only sold on GunBroker. When I sold several Lugers, P-38s and WWII stuff about 12 years ago on GB, I had to teach myself HTML to write the code for the copy and take and upload all my own pictures. GB took 10% if I remember correctly but I did all the work posting each item. I had to arrange with a local gunshop to send the firearms to the buyer's FFL holder as well. You can either do an auction or a fixed price or a combination auction and Buy Now on GB. If you are not sure of the value of your items, you can use GB's "Advanced Search" option. select "Completed Auctions" and put in one of the items as a search term. You will get many hits of listings over the last several months. Note that many of them will be ended without a sale so the person started their initial bid too high. The ones marked "Sold" give you an idea what people will pay for your item. Look at the original listing to see if their item was better or worse than yours and what it included. A trick to get bidders interested is to set a low starting bid but have a reserve price set at what you think you should get. Once bidders start putting in bids, they start considering the item theirs and get annoyed when other bidders try to take it from them. I can't tell you how many times I paid way too much for something at 1am dueling the competition.
3. Find a local gunstore who lists on GB or another online auction and ask them to post your item on consignment for you. They will charge you either a flat rate or a percentage of the final bid for doing all the work. They also may want to buy your item themselves but remember, they will want to make a profit when they sell it (Ever Watch Pawnstars?) so you will still not get top price from them but its quick and easy.
4. Since you have been a member here since 2014, I assume you are allowed to use our "Buy, Sell and Trade" forum:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?forums/buy-sell-and-trade-black-powder-firearms-and-acc.71/ Instructions for posting your sales are at the top, second just below the "Scammer" information. While your audience there is not the whole internet, it is made up of people who are interested in what you are selling. If you take your items to a gun shop and ask them what they will pay you for them, you can probably figure they would ask about 20% more for them when they were sitting in their case and get an idea of their value or you can use GB "Advanced Search" as in #2 above. Depending on your State's and City's laws as well as those in the buyer's location, you may have to ship even C&B revolvers through FFL holders. Shipping the conversion cylinders separately is usually allowed as they are considered parts but check your local rules. Remember to include fees, shipping and handling costs in you post.
Good Luck with your sales!
David
