I see this brought up from time to time. I'll give a story about a recent interaction at a local LGS.
After purchasing my Wife matching S&W .32 H&R Mags, I didn't realize how much she would want to shoot them. She ran through 200 round in 2 weeks, so I needed to do something more cost effective. So, we ran back to the LGS and ordered her a matching S&W in .22LR. When we were going to pick it up, I remembered that had a really nice .357 Performance Shop revolver. I have a Les Baer Super Varmint I've shot a grand total of 20x's. I grabbed it and took it along to see about trading it. They were really interested in it and I explained what I wanted to trade it towards/for. They took it in the back, came back after awhile, and seriously offered me $250 for it. I just spent $2400 there in the last 3 weeks, they offered me $250 for it. THAT'S why people don't deal with LGS's. I understand their need to make money, I own a Tavern and my Wife operates a Kennel. But that just ridiculous. Brian.
When I sold guns for a living I hated working with trades, for this reason right here.
I would have to guess one of a few things happened as to why they offered you a low dollar amount:
1) Did they know exactly what they had? I was one of the main guys that appraised used guns and more often than not I’d have a part time salesman appraise a gun terrible wrong, way over and way under. It seemed to happen quite often that they simply had no clue how to go about appraising a gun or even what they were worth. Or they thought that every Model 94 was the third one ever produced, we over paid a lot for 94s.
2) End of the year. Trading guns in the last few weeks of December was tough for me because pressure from above wanted to keep inventory low and cash high. Neither of that happens when you take a trade that will probably be there come January 1st. Go back after the new year and see if they’ll do better.
3) They didn’t want it. As much as you love that gun, it might not be overly desirable for a local store to have and resell. So they figured if they could get it cheap their risk is as low as can be and more likely than that, they knew you wouldn’t take the offer and they wouldn’t be stuck with the gun. I did this on occasion rather than just flat out telling a guy I didn’t want to take the trade.
4) They’re worried about selling it and making money on it. I’m not sure you’re aware but margin in guns sucks balls. Used guns is the only guns a store will probably make a few dollars on after paying bills. The store I worked for wanted to make 30 points on a used gun. Meaning if I had a trade gun in my hands that i was fairly sure I could sell for $1000 the MAX I’m offering you is $700 for it. And when I come out and give my first offer, I’d most likely tell you $550. If the gun doesn’t sell in 30-40 days I have to mark it down, making less money on it, and repeat that until it sells. Then if that happens again with a different customer with the model same gun, I can’t even start at the same level, I have to base it on my sales history and offer you less. Risk on some used guns, especially niche type guns, is very high for the dealer. This is all happening after you bought the gun new from me for $1399 two years ago. Believe me it’s uncomfortable to even come out and do that, but that’s the reality. The shop has to make money. On a side note people who think rifles or guns in general are an investment have rude awakenings when they want to trade or sell. In this day and age they are not. If you bought a Remington 700 for $125 in 1965 then you’re going to make money on it. Not so much anymore.
5) They’re crooked and lowballed the hell out of you on purpose. In which case I’d stay away from them.
More often than not, I had trades that went well and both parties were happy but I dealt with many many people over the years who didn’t understand how it worked. A lot of guys thought that if I was selling a rifle for $500 they should get $475 for it on trade.
If you’ve seen them selling online for what you’d expect them to, take a crack at selling it yourself and see how it goes, you might luck out and get exactly what you want for it or…….not. But you won’t know unless you try.
