Retail Margins On New Guns and Used Guns.

[Kruel J]

I sold a used handgun at a 3500% markup this past weekend. Transfers are money makers if you get good at it. I wish the boss would bring in more ammo but for some reason he doesn't want to deal with much ammo or accessories.

That's certainly a one-off and not the norm.

Are you trying to be an FFL?

 

[arakboss]

That's certainly a one-off and not the norm.

Are you trying to be an FFL?

Not the norm for sure.

 

[OldBroad44]

Some FFLs I've talked to have said that their main profit driver is accessories and ammo. The guns bring the customers in. Much like how gas stations really make their money in the convenience store selling chips and rockstars.

Right. Many people choose where to buy gas based at least in part on the price of gas, and the gas price is advertised very publicly on signs outside. So gas stations tend to be as competitive on gas prices as possible. Once people have stopped for gas and are waiting for their tanks to fill they then pick up other stuff--milk, cheese, beer, chips, candybars, a bottle of aspirin, a roll of paper towels--even though the prices are way higher than elsewhere. Impulse buys, junk food, essentials you ran out of but don't want to make a special trip to the regular place for.*

*I'm now reminded of what one of the university profs I knew used to say when one of his grad students ended a sentence with a preposition. "This is an outrage up with which I will not put!"

 

[Jay Walk]

Retail is mostly MSRP, for used add at least a hundred bucks.

 

[aasbra]

I sold a used handgun at a 3500% markup this past weekend. Transfers are money makers if you get good at it. I wish the boss would bring in more ammo but for some reason he doesn't want to deal with much ammo or accessories.

Care to share some numbers here?

3,500% markup would be something on the order of paying $20 for a product that you sold for $720.

I think you've mentioned helping out at a pawn shop before, and pawn shops don't typically pay much for their inventory, but still having a hard time seeing many gun transactions falling into anywhere this scenario unless it was purchased from someone who had no idea the value. I've heard that can happen, though….

 

[arakboss]

Care to share some numbers here?

3,500% markup would be something on the order of paying $20 for a product that you sold for $720.

I think you've mentioned helping out at a pawn shop before, and pawn shops don't typically pay much for their inventory, but still having a hard time seeing many gun transactions falling into anywhere this scenario unless it was purchased from someone who had no idea the value. I've heard that can happen, though….

They got a really really great deal on the buy end of the firearm and I will leave it at that.

 

[Kruel J]

They got a really really great deal on the buy end of the firearm and I will leave it at that.

Why mention it only to be so vague? It was a 1/1,000,000 type of deal and you bragged about it.

What is the point in all these threads? If you want to be an FFL or a gunsmith or a pawn shop go for it. Or just keep standing on the sideline talking about it to everyone. You're doing more damage than good to your "name" with all these "random question" threads (mostly posted in the middle of the night) if that matters at all to you regarding potential future business endeavors.

 

[RVTECH]

What is the point in all these threads? If you want to be an FFL or a gunsmith or a pawn shop go for it. Or just keep standing on the sideline talking about it to everyone. You're doing more damage than good to your "name" with all these "random question" threads

Heck I run into people like this all the time. Everything they say is all a 'secret' - or 'you don't want to know' or some similar infantile 'super secret code word' drivel when it comes to guns. The sad part is they ain't just 'kids', 20 or 30 somethings but 'mature' adults.

Get real people. Quit playing out 'secrets' with your guns or whatever.

This is one of the reasons we, as the 'gun community', are in the state we are in today.

 

[Kruel J]

At the very least if you're going to make a thread about this amazing deal (pretty sure that's what this is) then be willing to disclose the "basics" or just don't brag to begin with.

 

[RVTECH]

At the very least if you're going to make a thread about this amazing deal (pretty sure that's what this is) then be willing to disclose the "basics" or just don't brag to begin with.

Ditto this.

Kind of like certain 'treasure hunting' stories I find 'marginally' interesting (due to one of my hobbies being a metal detectorist/relic hunter)

Nothing worse than a potential 'find' of potential significance and the 'finder' acting like they know nothing about it or being really standoffish or idiotic about it.

A good example is the 'Dent's Run' Civil War gold find in Pennsylvania that has been playing out over the last couple years - and has garnered rather large FBI and US Gov interest (and involvement) as well - which is somewhat 'telling' in itself nonetheless.

My point being while the original 'finders' of it (nothing actually reported) seem to be a bit less than 'believable' about it, originally citing 'clairvoyant' and 'psychic' research led them to the location. It's a long, and boring story actually - but somewhat interesting.

 

[Jay Walk]

What do you guys think the average retail margins are, on new and used guns?

15%

 

[OldBroad44]

Hello @arakboss . I usually don't start threads, but enjoy participating. So I need guys like you who start lots of threads, and I have enjoyed many of yours. So much so that I usually check out any thread I see under your name, even if it seems a bit weird. I enjoy the weird and humorous at nwfa as much as the serious stuff. Probably more so.

I think the criticism of your one post on the three thousand fold profit was justified though. No fair waving a huge number like that in front of us and refusing to tell the story. Its sort of like reading what was presented as a novel, and it ends in a cliffhanger and a note that says to be continued in the sequel. This p!sses the he!! outta people. A novel is supposed to go to completion, to have and ending.

As for the virtues of the thread itself, its obvious from the title that this is going to be stories about one-shot-deals. So I wasn't expecting to learn anything profound about guns, just to read some interesting stories, some true, some fiction. Tall tales are a great American tradition. Mark Twain was famous for them. Frontier Alaska and California tall tales were each a whole genre. Many are written into American music. ("We fired our cannons till the barrels melted down. Then we grabbed an alligator and we fired another round. We filled his mouth with cannon balls and powdered his behind, and when we touched the powder off the gator lost his mind.")(Battle of New Orleans). In frontier days skill at telling tall tales could earn you hospitality at most remote cabins and other people's wilderness fires.

So feel free to start as many threads as you want. People who don't like any particular thread don't have to read it.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Oh great, we don't have to read it but we have to wade through the clutter.

 

[OldBroad44]

Oh great, we don't have to read it but we have to wade through the clutter.

Yup. Just like the rest of life. Out of all thousands of things we could participate in every day we pick just a tiny few.

 

[arakboss]

The thread was started to get an idea of what margins people think gun shops are generally making on gun sales. I have always heard that the margins are very tight. After helping out at a LGS, I have learned that the margins are in fact very generous especially on used guns. It could be exclusive to the shop I have been helping out at but I suspect many other LGSs share similar margins.

 

[Kruel J]

So you already knew the answer to your thread title and just wanted to see if the rest of us know anything?

 

[CLT65]

Any business buying second-hand goods will want to pay the least they can bargain for, and sell for the most they can get; that's just business, so I assume that the typical markup varies widely depending on what they had to pay. On the other hand, if I screwed a customer out of a $700 gun for $20, I'd have a hard time sleeping at night.

 

[Kruel J]

Any business buying second-hand goods will want to pay the least they can bargain for, and sell for the most they can get; that's just business, so I assume that the typical markup varies widely depending on what they had to pay. On the other hand, if I screwed a customer out of a $700 gun for $20, I'd have a hard time sleeping at night.

3500% seems unethical without further details we aren't privy to.

 

[Stomper]

Hello @arakboss . I usually don't start threads, but enjoy participating. So I need guys like you who start lots of threads, and I have enjoyed many of yours. So much so that I usually check out any thread I see under your name, even if it seems a bit weird. I enjoy the weird and humorous at nwfa as much as the serious stuff. Probably more so.

I think the criticism of your one post on the three thousand fold profit was justified though. No fair waving a huge number like that in front of us and refusing to tell the story. Its sort of like reading what was presented as a novel, and it ends in a cliffhanger and a note that says to be continued in the sequel. This p!sses the he!! outta people. A novel is supposed to go to completion, to have and ending.

As for the virtues of the thread itself, its obvious from the title that this is going to be stories about one-shot-deals. So I wasn't expecting to learn anything profound about guns, just to read some interesting stories, some true, some fiction. Tall tales are a great American tradition. Mark Twain was famous for them. Frontier Alaska and California tall tales were each a whole genre. Many are written into American music. ("We fired our cannons till the barrels melted down. Then we grabbed an alligator and we fired another round. We filled his mouth with cannon balls and powdered his behind, and when we touched the powder off the gator lost his mind.")(Battle of New Orleans). In frontier days skill at telling tall tales could earn you hospitality at most remote cabins and other people's wilderness fires.

So feel free to start as many threads as you want. People who don't like any particular thread don't have to read it.

This one time, I made an ABSOLUTE KILLING selling a used bridge……. at LEAST a 50K% profit!

 

[arakboss]

This one time, I made an ABSOLUTE KILLING selling a used bridge……. at LEAST a 50K% profit!

It's best if most feel that way, otherwise I get to hear rants of charging too much or paying too little. It seems free market principles have limits after all.