Anyone aware of good agents or businesses to sell guns. Not strapped for cash, so consignment would seem to be best. Would be interested in hearing how members here on Sig Forum successfully sold firearms. Only interested in methods and recommended businesses. Thanks!

I ended up on the email list of this one:

https://lsbauctions.com/

I have NO idea about them, nor is it an endorsement. Just a start for 'ya.

I think consignments are up to taking about 25%+ of the sales price, yes, that would be easy. If you have the time & inclination, you could factor in the cost & advertise yourself?

You can put some hurdles in to weed out the trash, involve an FFL for the transfer.

You're posting that you have or will have soon, guns for sale. Is that correct?

I've sold mostly revolvers, and have used David Carroll to both advertise and handle the paperwork. All has worked better than I expected. He's an honest gun dealer that handles all the "crap" that our fine government requires. Often, I get a check in the mail before I expected.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You're posting that you have or will have soon, guns for sale. Is that correct?

Short answer is no. I state in my comment that I am only interested in methods or recommended businesses. However, the title was not thought out well enough.

Recently a friend suffered a stroke. Early on, he indicated desire to sell all of his guns. A month later, his progress with the Physical Therapists has been excellent and he is able to walk with aid of a Rollator/Walker. My part has been to clean his guns to prepare for his future use or disposition if necessary. I really don’t know the best way to handle the sale of firearms in these circumstances. The best thing I have come up with to advise my friend of a very reliable dealer who will charge 15% to sell the guns. All this makes me wonder about my guns and other property and when I need to take action to have an orderly estate.

I apologize if this has caused any heartburn. You run an excellent forum that is easy and pleasant to use without all of the pop ups and banners. You have been very successful attracting some very knowledgeable and experienced members. My thought was to learn from that experience base. Already a few good leads have surfaced.

15% is low,

as an FFL/SOT, I buy a lot of estates,
as in, I go to your house, or your friends, do an appraisal on site (or if large, I'll make a list and come back with an offer) and prefer to buy,

how I differ from some is I buy it all, guns, reloading, ammo, accessories etc etc, I'll sift thru it all and make a fair offer,


If I consign, it will be 20%, for firearms,
we negotiate for the other stuff, since I sell a ton of stuff online, the fees are a bit much for the 'stuff' and I have maybe 5-8% gross in that stuff, and it takes a lot of labor,


my overhead is extremely low, so I will pay 25% to get it and go,

but that is me,


no idea who you have for a trusted dealer or estate person in your area, or even what type of firearms you and your friend have,

if milsurp, I would suggest reaching out to Dennis Kroh, at Empire Arms

he is in Florida, and very very well respected in the milsurp dealers world,


if not, and you don't want to do it yourself, then reach out to a handful of dealers and see what they offer for services , and what they are willing to buy ,

don't be afraid to take a firearm or 2 to them to see how they react and what their offer is,

I've had that happen to me a few times,
customer show up, I buy the firearm(s) and they call back in a week or so and offer me to look at the rest



most LGS in this area offer 50%, some 65%,. and rarely will you find one that wants anything more than the firearm, and maybe ammo,


there are a few online auction sights, or dealers, that either use Gunbroker or another site (gunauction?? IIRC) that have good reps,
the downside would be having to ship to them if they are not local,

anything minty or super rare/collectible could go to RIA/Morphy's etc, but if so, be double damn sure to negotiate what percentage they get, and which auction it will go in,


I picked up an estate a few years go where the gentleman, in his 80's, had a very nice collection, mostly from his dad, that was some very rare late 1800's military arms,

when I did the appraisal, I suggested to him that certain pieces go to an auction house, (Suggested a few to him)
I bought the rest,
he was still sharp, and a very good businessman, (retired exec from somewhere) and negotiated a good rate and IIRC went with Morphys,
got a very good return


another option would be to scout out a local (or semi local) house that will auction them off for you and one that advertises, (and uses Proxibid or similar to go nationwide)

again, be sure to negotiate fees,



sorry if this went too long, and hope I'm not out of place ,

contact me if you have any questions

I've sold dead husband's guns for 2 different widows, and I did it 2 different ways.

First time, I did an inventory then checked with gunbroker and a few other sites to see what the going price was. I then made a list of the prices and tallied it up. Found out about a local gun store that might buy the whole thing at one time if they were the right type of guns. Called the owner of the gun store and he made an appointment to come over to her house and make an offer. I stayed there with the widow and after a couple of hours, the guy tendered an offer that was around $2K more than I thought I could get selling them based on prices I'd seen on gunbroker. So, the widow made the deal and it was done. I arranged the sale of his reloading components and supplies to people I knew for decent prices, not ripping off the widow.

The second time, I did the same, made a list and had prices, but this time I talked to people I knew personally and sold everything to them except for some I bought personally. No reloading supplies this time, but there was a ton of factory ammo.

The important thing is to make sure the widow gets a fair price for each item. Far too many people try to rip off widows, and it's disgusting.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:


The important thing is to make sure the widow gets a fair price for each item. Far too many people try to rip off widows, and it's disgusting.

^^I've seen that happen,

and yes, it sucks that there are people like that out there, and not just dealers,


I've also seen family members not take the time to do the due diligence and sell piles of accessories and reloading gear at yard sales, at pennies on the dollar

I went to an estate sale one time and there was an 03 tagged by the estate handlers @ $25.
They had no clue, it's a great rifle !
1936 Springfield.

So, do you buy it for $25. or did you give them a fair price?

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by rbert0005:
So, do you buy it for $25. or did you give them a fair price?

Bob

You give them a fair price if you have any character, morals or ethics.

Be careful here. Some widows expect you to work for weeks for nothing. Avoid those. Sure, not her fault she wants the most she can get. But not on the back of his former friends. Its OK, even admirable that you will step up to help. But there are limits. You pay for a table at a gun show, do all the manual labor, man the tables all day. Probably not the best way to do it.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
Some widows expect you to work for weeks for nothing.

Have you a story to tell?

I suppose it depends on the friends. I sold a friends guns for his widow and most of his/our friends happily and willingly overpaid for his guns and gear.

Each time is different I suppose.

I've also told the story of the widow selling a few hundred of her husbands guns in random lots of 10 guns for $200 a lot. She didn't care, I guess didn't need the money, just wanted them gone.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
Be careful here. Some widows expect you to work for weeks for nothing. Avoid those. Sure, not her fault she wants the most she can get. But not on the back of his former friends. Its OK, even admirable that you will step up to help. But there are limits. You pay for a table at a gun show, do all the manual labor, man the tables all day. Probably not the best way to do it.

BTDT


good friend, one of the guys that got me into shooting Service Rifle passed,
his widow had me come up and do an appraisal,

he was a C&R for a while, and had a bound book that she sent me a copy of,

so, brother and I head up to Cville one evening, and spent 4 hrs in a cramped dusty room full of guns and reloading gear,

went thru each firearm, checked it off or added it to the list, and marked condition

went into the house next and she had some firearms laid out, and some were stuck everywhere,


left, and got back with her a few days later with a value of each, (and of course a total)
family went thru and got what they wanted, and we made a very fair offer on the rest,

no dice,
she wanted me to consign,

(BTW, found out she had 2 or 3 other shops come by to give her numbers, one guy actually called me to ask what my numbers were and where I was in the appraisal,,, srlsy,,,)


I offered to buy, she wanted consign, and wanted me to drop my fee (I had told her as a favor to the family the appraisal was free, and I would drop my fees to 15 %, or just buy at the same rate)

nope, she wanted 10%,


we thumb wrestled a bit and I ended up buying a few firearms, and left,

a few conversations (she got rather heated that I would not sell her stuff at cost (as in listing fees) etc, didn't seem to get it that I have a business) later and we parted company

she used my appraisal and sold the good stuff in the next month to various members , (I had a few people suggest I should be pissed off about that , but I am glad she maximized her return w/ folks that may have tried to low ball her from the club)


I even sent a few mutual friends up to buy stuff from her,


re the reloading,
I offered to buy that as well, and she said she wanted the guns gone first since that was to be split with the family, and the profits from the reloading stuff was all hers,

I had a couple friends (fellow shooters) lined up to help sort thru the literal pile of boxes (enough brass etc to load up the back of a pickup)

she declined,

broke contact with her after that, a mutual friend was helping her clean up the house and checking in on her until a few years ago, when that relationship apparently soured a bit,

If you're around the Orlando area, Buffalo Bill's Shooting Store does a fairly robust consignment business.

I may have been to the same woman in Charlottesville. Many people are very difficult and expect too much for too little. I have long had a policy not to do consignments and I don't provide estimates for individual guns. I buy all or nothing, including ammo, reloading stuff, parts.

For all those with collections out there, put all your guns in a trust. It makes the transfer much easier. You may scoot by treating the widow as the owner, but he/she is not. There is more paperwork to do and the gun trust solves all that as your widow just sells the trust.

quote:

Buffalo Bill's Shooting Store

Dang been here 25+ years and have gone by that place a thousand times and never noticed it...