How best to liquidate family member’s gun collection?

[Cassidy]

I may be asked to help liquidate a family member's rifles and pistols within the coming few years. There are maybe 30-40 firearms in the inventory. This family member is located in a state distant from me. This will not happen soon (weeks/months), but eventually this will need to be done. How best should I accomplish this regretful task to preserve as much proceeds as feasible for the immediate family survivors? All thoughts and comments are welcome.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Call a packer/crater and have packed and crated and have them shipped to your FFL.

 

[Monte F]

Does he or she have any wishes on who should receive part or all of the collection as family heirlooms?

 

[MikeT124]

If it is pure liquidation you are interested in search out a near by auction house that does firearms. Have a conference with them and if you are happy with the service they offer, have the entire (or partial) inventory sent to them. My wife and I have done a fair amount of business with our local auctioneer have have had good results both buying and selling. Unfortunately I'm pretty competitive, so I've sometimes overpaid slightly for some things.

Mike

 

[PigButtons]

Go to proxibid.com and look at the firearms auctions. Call several of the auction houses and find the one that provides the services you need. Some will send a team to pick them up within a reasonable distance.

 

[Cassidy]

Urbanrifleman - to answer your question, he will be selecting a few he wishes to give to family members, but the vast majority are anticipated to be liquidated.

Thank you all for your helpful replies!

 

[Kittitas George]

I helped a small amount to sell my shooting partners guns and loading equipment. It was a pain in the neck. Everything was top quality and very good condition, but finding takers was difficult. Quite a bit of it went to the rifle range to be sold with the money going to the kids programs. I wouldn't wish the experience on anyone, I think it is my responsibility to take care of this myself. I know where most of it will go, I'll put a piece of masking tape with a name on each gun with instructions for the ammo and loading equipment. Most of it will go the sons and grand kids of friends, I'm the oldest of my shooting friends and they don't need it. I feel relief in that I've got this thought through. Now what do I do with all the tools, wood working and mechanics that I've accumulated. At 80 it's almost worthless treasure, but I've got "bragging rites".

 

[Walt Krafft]

Get a good auction house. They may charge 20-30% but there is a LOT of work in properly photographing, describing, advertising, then packing and shipping firearms. I end up spending 4 hours or more per gun that I sell on Gunbroker.

 

[spudgun]

I work at Cabela's and we just bought a collection of guns from a widow.

We gave her a very good price ($3K over what a gun shop offered he).

Would not hurt to contact them and let them come out and make a offer.

 

[sparky123321]

I also agree about Cabela's. They usually have a nice gun library in their stores and handle plenty of high-end firearms.

A couple other options:

Throw them on GB with no reserve and a $0.01 starting price. It will be a real PITA to photograph and list them, but you'll probably get at least 50% or more for them than you would from your local gun shop.

Sell them on consignment thru a local gun shop in the state they are located or in your state if it's not too difficult to get them home. Most decent larger gun shops will do this for you for a fee.

 

[Mark M.]

I may be asked to help liquidate a family member's rifles and pistols within the coming few years. There are maybe 30-40 firearms in the inventory. This family member is located in a state distant from me. This will not happen soon (weeks/months), but eventually this will need to be done. How best should I accomplish this regretful task to preserve as much proceeds as feasible for the immediate family survivors? All thoughts and comments are welcome.

"To preserve as much proceeds as feasible"
It all comes down to how much work are you willing to do.
1st, were you sell these guns, weather it is at Cabelas the local auction house ect. Should be determined by what it is exactly your selling and how much time you half, for example, if this collection consist of mostly "common" guns, 2-500 $ range, the above places are fine, but if you have a more collectible collection, Gunbroker, Guns International, GunsAmerica and others that our on a national level is were you want to be, then have a local dealer to ship them out for your, or you can even do that yourself, all this will maximize your proceeds.
If you have any questions PM me

 

[nakneker]

If you want top dollar use an auction or gunbroker. If the guns are stock guns your gonna get top dollar typically. Customs or high dollar collector items are different, you rarely get your money back out of a custom and collector items need to appraised by someone who knows what they are doing, doesn’t mean you’ll get the appraised price but it will help avoid letting something special go on the cheap.

Personally I like seeing firearms that have been in a family for generations stay in the family but with today’s disinterest by many of younger generations that doesn’t always work. Hopefully your family member is making his intentions clear, makes things easier.

I was working in a gun shop during my college days and had a young guy walk in the store, he wanted to get rid of grandpa‘s guns that he had just inherited. In the trunk of grandpa’s old cherry LTD were several Drilling’s, pre 64s and such. All of the guns had been stacked on each other, no cases. We bought the lot of them for pennies on the dollar, it was pretty sad, it’s always stuck with me. I'm sure his grandpa didn’t see that coming.

 

[jepp2]

I work at Cabela's and we just bought a collection of guns from a widow.

We gave her a very good price ($3K over what a gun shop offered he).

Not trying to be critical to your post. I shopped around in case I were to drop dead, so my wife would have some idea of how she might dispose of the firearms I own. When I called Cabelas in Denver and asked them for a $1 value of firearms they purchase (they no longer do consignment) what did they pay. The answer I was given was $0.60. I felt the 40% penalty was pretty steep. Others will perform this function for 10-20%.

 

[Ron IA]

I have done one it's a lot of work I would recommend setting up with a good auction service check them all out and pick out the one that looks best fits your needs take the time to do a complete inventory, so things don't get lost in all the shuffle

 

[Daddymac]

You did not give any details as to the reason for your relatives demise, but if they are of sound mind and have a few years, I would encourage them to sell the guns now. Selling or gifting them to friends and family helps insure the guns legacy, it will have more meaning and not just be a deal at an auction to someone that has no connection to it.

 

[hogpatrol]

Selling someone else's firearms is a GIANT can of worms and maximum return is going to take a LOT of work and can come with headaches. Say you sell on gunbroker or one of the other sites, the buyer borescopes it and now has a problem, then you have a problem. UGH. Depending on the type of firearm, hunting, self defense or match, gunshops that take consignments is an option. The easiest way is auction or a buyer who will take the entire collection. Stay away from those that will cherry pick the good stuff and leave you with the losers.
Edit: On auction houses, ones that deal mostly in firearms are better than ones that sell furniture, home goods and farm equipment. I've been to those and what guns sold for there was a crying shame.

 

[Gary in MD]

This site has free classified section, why not make a list and post here?
Many guys here are always on the lookout and are willing to pay fair price.

 

[Cassidy]

Daddymac - to answer your question, my relative is of sound mind now but due to medical circumstances his priorities are presently elsewhere given the many matters he is now having to deal with; he is pretty much overwhelmed at this time, so I am trying to help. He definitely wishes to give selected firearms (I think a few) to those of his loved ones that are interested and wishes to maximize return on the remainder which I think represents the vast majority of his inventory. These are mainly a variety of standard pistol and rifle firearms; no known (to me) collectors items, legacy items or custom rifles. He knows he has some time to deal with this, but I agree with you that now is the time to sell to get this matter out of the way and not leave this for his wife (I for sure would help). Part of the problem may be the denial process which tends put off such decisions. I'll have to wait until he's ready but for now I'm trying to identify a reasonable liquidation process to discuss with him that he will be happy with that can be used when he decides to proceed, recognizing such a time may never come; ultimately I may have to do this.

Gary in MD - I've been thinking about proposing sale of each of the firearms individually on this website if he agrees; will need to see if he wishes this approach. If so, I will need to get an idea of the value of each individual firearm prior to posting (and figure out each firearm's condition which will impact value).

Hogpatrol - I agree, I certainly don't want buyers to cherry pick.

Thank you all for your very helpful information!

 

[338 Mollett]

This site has free classified section, why not make a list and post here?
Many guys here are always on the lookout and are willing to pay fair price.

That is what I did with my friends collection. It served two causes one I could get the guys on here a good deal and help the members,two it moved the stuff fast to reduce stress on the family.

 

[Dave Berg]

I may be asked to help liquidate a family member's rifles and pistols within the coming few years. There are maybe 30-40 firearms in the inventory. This family member is located in a state distant from me. This will not happen soon (weeks/months), but eventually this will need to be done. How best should I accomplish this regretful task to preserve as much proceeds as feasible for the immediate family survivors? All thoughts and comments are welcome.

Just wondering if anyone has asked the future decedent how he would like his guns disposed of and who he would like to handle the disposition. I realized a number of years ago that I wasn't going to live forever and didn't want to put my youngest daughter, who is also my executor, through any more hassle than necessary. As a result of this minor epiphany I sold off about 140 firearms and the associated loading dies, brass, etc. It was a most interesting experience with only some minor irritating situations. I'm down to about 25 right now. They're all inventoried in an up to date attachment to my will along with my suggestions to her on how to dispose of them.

Run of the mill guns sell very well and quite easily on Gunbroker at prices that pleasantly surprised me. The fees on that site are quite reasonable considering the size of the market you reach. I never had a buyer back out and only a couple complaints from guys who were drunk bidding at 2AM. Selling on Gunbroker and getting a high bid is a nack that I learned through trial and error. For example auction end time can significantly change the final price. Never have an auction scheduled to end during Monday Night Football. You'll get BIG bids but Tuesday morning you've got an unhappy winner. "I can't believe I bid that F'ing much" or "I forgot that I'm left handed". High end shotguns are much easier to sell than rifles and "penny auctions" really do attract a lot of attention. It was a bit nerve wracking to start an auction for a Ruger Woodside Serial No XX at $0.01 with no reserve.

Collectables, for example Winchester, I found the best prices and easiest sale were from someone who specializes in that manufacturer. Realizing that he's just going to turn around and sell it for more is something that's a bit hard to accept at first but these are established dealers with a large customer base. For example I used Dave Riffle for the upper end Winchester Model 12's I had accumulated. The man did actually write the book about that gun.

Custom competition rifles I sold mostly to guys I shot with and against. There apparently is something about buying a rifle that you've been beaten by. I you have any of these be prepared to take a significant loss compared to the amount you invested. In retrospect it may be better to part it out and sell the stock and action as one piece and the barrels, etc. separately.

There is a company called Shooting Investments that specializes in estates but handles consignments also. I spoke with them as I was beginning the above process. Their fees seemed quite reasonable and for the size of my collection they were willing to come pick it up. I chose not to use them mostly because of the chaos that would have ensued trying to get all those guns ready to go at once. It was easier for me (I think) to just do them about four or five at a time every week.

However, someone really needs have a talk or two with the owner. The older guys I know who have a lot of money tied up in firearms at least have a plan. Some plans I don't agree with but at least it's something they're willing to talk about.