I worked for a time at a Local Gun Shop (LGS) part time, and spent a bit of time explaining some of these things to gun owners who “rotate” their guns frequently. I took some of this knowledge with me in regards to using different forum classifieds, Armslist-type sites, FB sales, etc. I'm not picking on anyone, I'm not endorsing/advocating for any specific products, although I used some for examples. Hopefully this serves to explain a few things, or help to avoid some pitfalls and frustrations.
YOUR “NEW” GUN (AND IT'S VALUE)
You walk into your LGS and purchase a NIB Glock for $599. That same gun cost the LGS $440 brand new wholesale, and that’s what they’ll pay to replace the one you just bought. Once you take possession ofthe gun, it’s no longer “new”. It could be sold as unfired, but not new. So you wanted to trade in your $599 Glock for your new gun. Figure that the gun may lose easily $100 of value at being “used” (then start taking more off for signs of wear). So, to a dealer, your gun may hold a value of $340. Then take into account that your used gun will take up space in their showcase where they could be selling new products (and keeping up with their account minimum sales from Glock) so he’s going to want to make a little better profit margin to make up for the increased risk/hassle of having the used gun take up space. That takes your gun’s value down to $300.
Now is usually where you get pissed off that your LGS is trying to screw you over by giving half of what you paid for your gun. First, just because you paid top dollar (overpaid) for your gun, doesn’t mean that the dealer will eat your mistake. Second, getting mad doesn’t help matters. Your LGS has to keep their doors open. I’ve yet to find a non-profit gun shop (although there’s a few that don’t charge much over wholesale). You’ll almost always do better to sell the gun yourself used. Understand that 90% of buyers have access to the internet, and know pretty well what stuff is worth, so you may have to humble yourself to what your item(s) will sell for. Sometimes it’s worth it to trade/consign your gun to the LGS. The dealer is willing to sit on your used gun for however long it takes to sell, and have countless customers look/handle/not buy your gun. That’s their full time job, and how they make money.
“BUT MINE’S CUSTOMIZED”
I love Warren Tactical sights. They may run $125 new. So I can increase the value of my gun by at least $100, right? Maybe. If you find another acolyte who loves Warren Tactical. To the shooter who loves XS Big Dots, your sights are almost a drawback, they’re going to pull them off and replace them (so they’re having to budget for a new set of sights). Also, a lot of buyers just read “Tritium Night Sights” and figure all sights are about $40-50. They may not know/care about who designed them or how well they work. This goes even bigger with stippled guns. I lot of people love them, but each gun owner may like something a little bit different with each stipple job (areas/coursness of texture/etc). So what you’ve paid extra for/put time into, I may find ugly, and reduces how much I want to pay. Camo paint jobs are in the same category.
“I’VE GOT ALL THESE ACCESSORIES”
You’ve increased the price $50 because you’re including 5 AR mags? I’ve already got 40, and they’re my favorite brand/color already. You have a $400 Brand X rail? I want Keymod…. You have Keymod? I’m an M-Loc guy….. Be aware that the configuration that your particular gun is probably works great for you. Plenty of people out there thinks your weapon is perfect (well at least 70-80% perfect). Even your ideal buyer probably has designs to change/tweak at least a few parts. Be willing to take your weapon back close to stock and sell or reuse the parts/accessories that you’re particular to. Otherwise you may total up the used value of your gun and accessories, then subtract another 10% because the potential buy sees something they are planning on changing. If this is your last AR/AK/Glock/etc you may have to be willing to take the hit on the spare mags/holsters/etc. I’m a lefty, you’re holster has no value to me, so don’t be mad if I don’t want to buy it just because you're stuck.
“MY LGS CHARGES TOO MUCH FOR TRANSFER”
With the internet, we all know that there are great deals to be found. A huge internet gun dealer can sell each gun $10 over cost by selling 400,000 guns a year. Your LGS cannot compete with that and keep their doors open. Understand this when you ask to transfer a gun in, they may not be super excited about being a conduit for everyone’s internet gun buying. If you order a gun sent to your LGS, make sure to spend a little in the shop while you’re there. It may make it more worthwhile to take future transfers, and if they go out of business, there will be no shops left to buy guns/ammo/accessories.
YOUR “NEW” GUN (AND IT'S VALUE)
You walk into your LGS and purchase a NIB Glock for $599. That same gun cost the LGS $440 brand new wholesale, and that’s what they’ll pay to replace the one you just bought. Once you take possession ofthe gun, it’s no longer “new”. It could be sold as unfired, but not new. So you wanted to trade in your $599 Glock for your new gun. Figure that the gun may lose easily $100 of value at being “used” (then start taking more off for signs of wear). So, to a dealer, your gun may hold a value of $340. Then take into account that your used gun will take up space in their showcase where they could be selling new products (and keeping up with their account minimum sales from Glock) so he’s going to want to make a little better profit margin to make up for the increased risk/hassle of having the used gun take up space. That takes your gun’s value down to $300.
Now is usually where you get pissed off that your LGS is trying to screw you over by giving half of what you paid for your gun. First, just because you paid top dollar (overpaid) for your gun, doesn’t mean that the dealer will eat your mistake. Second, getting mad doesn’t help matters. Your LGS has to keep their doors open. I’ve yet to find a non-profit gun shop (although there’s a few that don’t charge much over wholesale). You’ll almost always do better to sell the gun yourself used. Understand that 90% of buyers have access to the internet, and know pretty well what stuff is worth, so you may have to humble yourself to what your item(s) will sell for. Sometimes it’s worth it to trade/consign your gun to the LGS. The dealer is willing to sit on your used gun for however long it takes to sell, and have countless customers look/handle/not buy your gun. That’s their full time job, and how they make money.
“BUT MINE’S CUSTOMIZED”
I love Warren Tactical sights. They may run $125 new. So I can increase the value of my gun by at least $100, right? Maybe. If you find another acolyte who loves Warren Tactical. To the shooter who loves XS Big Dots, your sights are almost a drawback, they’re going to pull them off and replace them (so they’re having to budget for a new set of sights). Also, a lot of buyers just read “Tritium Night Sights” and figure all sights are about $40-50. They may not know/care about who designed them or how well they work. This goes even bigger with stippled guns. I lot of people love them, but each gun owner may like something a little bit different with each stipple job (areas/coursness of texture/etc). So what you’ve paid extra for/put time into, I may find ugly, and reduces how much I want to pay. Camo paint jobs are in the same category.
“I’VE GOT ALL THESE ACCESSORIES”
You’ve increased the price $50 because you’re including 5 AR mags? I’ve already got 40, and they’re my favorite brand/color already. You have a $400 Brand X rail? I want Keymod…. You have Keymod? I’m an M-Loc guy….. Be aware that the configuration that your particular gun is probably works great for you. Plenty of people out there thinks your weapon is perfect (well at least 70-80% perfect). Even your ideal buyer probably has designs to change/tweak at least a few parts. Be willing to take your weapon back close to stock and sell or reuse the parts/accessories that you’re particular to. Otherwise you may total up the used value of your gun and accessories, then subtract another 10% because the potential buy sees something they are planning on changing. If this is your last AR/AK/Glock/etc you may have to be willing to take the hit on the spare mags/holsters/etc. I’m a lefty, you’re holster has no value to me, so don’t be mad if I don’t want to buy it just because you're stuck.
“MY LGS CHARGES TOO MUCH FOR TRANSFER”
With the internet, we all know that there are great deals to be found. A huge internet gun dealer can sell each gun $10 over cost by selling 400,000 guns a year. Your LGS cannot compete with that and keep their doors open. Understand this when you ask to transfer a gun in, they may not be super excited about being a conduit for everyone’s internet gun buying. If you order a gun sent to your LGS, make sure to spend a little in the shop while you’re there. It may make it more worthwhile to take future transfers, and if they go out of business, there will be no shops left to buy guns/ammo/accessories.
is so spot on.
.
