Firearms pricing

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  The whole idea behind free market enterprise is to charge what the market will bear.  That is true for almost anything.

Cars, houses, clothes, food, fuel, etc.

EXCEPT when it comes to firearms and ammunition.

The manufactures follow that pricing guide however the secondary market, doesn't.

Secondary market being, private sellers, local dealers, pawn shops and others.

A firearm that I can purchase BRAND NEW from a chain store goes for much less than anywhere else.

Why?  Well first off, the chain store has the opportunity to use volume discount, they are buying "X" number of firearms so they get them at a reduced amount.  Your local dealer can't get that discount, they don't buy enough firearms yearly to make it worthwhile for the manufacturer to give them those discounts.  Your local dealer also doesn't buy a minimum amount on a set time table.

Your local dealer orders a couple of firearms to have at least one or two in inventory at all times if they do that at all.  I know of several dealers where they won't order a gun unless you want it custom ordered or they sell the only one they have in stock.  Other dealers try to be more responsive to the desires of their customers and try to have 2 or 3 in stock at all times.

Two or three in stock versus 15 or 30 in stock.  Guess who get a discount?  Those chain stores might have 20-50 firearms in their stock, however they can sit on their stock if it doesn't sell.  They can take a loss on it's price if they need to move it.  They have other merchandise they can sell to make up for the lack of firearms sales.  Many small dealers only have limited room and much more limited financial resources, so they cannot stock several thousand other items to try to make up for that firearm not selling.

Then there are pawn shops and private sellers.

Most pawn shops will get in a firearm on a loan and when they go to sell it, they will mark it up 150% or more.  They do the same thing when they sell brand new firearms.  Pricing them well over the MSRP of the firearm.

Case in point.  Brand new Glock 17 4th Gen MSRP $549.00, is priced at 4 different pawnshops local to me from $650-$800.  Nevermind that you can go to Academy Sports and get it for $499.00 or order it online for $519 if you don't want to pay sales tax.

Then there are private sellers.

Like the person who bought a Hi Point for $139 a few years back and decided he wanted to trick it out, now he wants to sell it.  So he puts it on Gun Broker or Guns America for $225.  And he TOTALLY thinks he should get $225 if not more for his gun.  Why not?  He DID Bubb.... Home Gunsm.....  Uhh Radically modified it so it's TOTALLY worth it.  It's so mall ninja'd that you and I aren't capable of understanding why his tricked out Hi Point is worth more than the GDP of Somalia and Eritrea COMBINED.

Uhhh No dude, you took a $139 dollar gun and tinkered with it, I don't know if you might have altered or damaged it's safety features or in your efforts to make it "Better" you actually made it unsafe.  If anything, you'd be lucky if I gave you $100 for it.

Then there are the folks who have an old "Vintage" firearm, and just because it's VINTAGE, you need to pay more for it than a Brand new, NIB version of the same firearm.  And I'll get to the people selling the H&R and IJ pocket revolvers for 3 times their bluebook value later.

Just beause something is old doesn't make it "Vintage" no matter how many times you write that word in the description on your auction.  If you want to see "Vintage" firearms, go look at Forgotten Weapons Ian writes and does videos about TRUE Vintage firearms for a living.  A 1970's model of a pistol that is still being manufactured is just a 1970's model of a currently manufactured pistol.  If the firearm in question is no longer being manufactured, and there are few NOS parts available for it, THEN you are reaching "Vintage".  PLUS!!!, just because YOU think your firearm is in EXCELLENT Condition according to the Bluebook, doesn't mean it actually IS.

I used to inspect, grade and appraise firearms, do you have any ideas just how much research is ACTUALLY involved in that?  I didn't just look in a book and look at a firearm and say "Yup, 100% Excellent Condition"  There are several sets of guidelines that have to be adhered to, HAVE TO BE, or else you are just wasting your time and trying to defraud your customer.  And it wasn't just a book on the shelf I could reach for.  Granted there were books, notice the plural, there were also phone numbers, (This being before the days of e-mail for everyone), there was also taking photos, getting them developed, (Yes film photos, we didn't have inexpensive digital cameras) sending copies of photos out with checks attached to various places, lots of request forms also with checks attached, and the minimum time for a full workup took about 3-5 weeks.  One workup I did took almost 8 months as we had to get information from the Imperial War Museum in the UK.

So for you to think you can look up your firearm online or in a book and set a proper price based on that?  You're deluding yourself.

And guess what?  These checks, appraisals and inspections?  They cost MONEY, sometimes LOTS of money.  The one I referenced above, where we had to get info from the Imperial War Museum?  The total fee for that appraisal was just under $390 in 1990's dollars, according to the Inflation Calculator, that's $731.52 in today's currency, not including any other price increases.  IF the information is still even available.  And sometimes the firearm isn't even WORTH that, so you have no way to recoup your investment.

And excuse me, but sentimental value does NOT add true value to a firearm.  UNLESS the person who owned it was famous in someway.  No famous person in it's ownership history? It's sentimental value + actual value is STILL only it's actual value.  Your memories of your grandfather using the firearm to teach you to shoot with it are valuable.  Only to you however, not to the rest of us.


My migraine is coming back, so I'm getting off for a bit.