doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Making offers on guns, trying to understand

BrentD, the sad part is that there is a dealer local to me that brags about screwing people. He will hang out at the local filling station and then tell of some desperate seller(widow, down on their luck, asking for an appraisal) that he will buy from then brag about how he doubled his money. The really sad part is all he is doing is making the people he bought from look like idiots for not knowing better and he makes himself look like the thief he is. There are many good dealers/sellers out there. This guy though just makes everyone suspect.

Of course the dealers are in the buisness to make money. Just as we all are everyday we go to work.

John
From my expierces in buying and selling--
If they do not make an offer or counteroffer they did not have a serious interest in the beginning. Too many "buyers" are actually just lookers.
I had the same experience at Cabelas a couple of weeks ago with a W&C Scott that I had been looking at. The fine gun manager asked if I was interested and I said -yes, which was a realistic answer. He said "make me an offer", which I did and he accepted
(relunctantly). If I had said nothing or delayed it would have been an indication that I did not have the interest or ABILITY
to buy it. I think lack of ability to buy is a key reason so many do not make offers.

Regards,
Leighton

Real simple, IMO. Many people simply have no idea how to buy or sell anything. Rules of engagement are also simple. If you make an offer and it's accepted, get out your money and pay. Don't follow up with "well, would you take $xxx?(less)". If you offer to sell for a certain price and realize your price was a bit low, honor your quote. Our word should be all important.

Same conclusion as above with example, and not to overemphasize the point on "honor," but as a private seller I once recently listed on the Internet at a fixed price an all-original 1911 Colt US Military (dated 1917) w/ original two-tone magazine and holster dated to 1917, that I'd bought fifteen years ago for a song from a little old lady from Pasadena CA (no kidding). I knew I did something wrong when within the first 30 minutes I had over 20 Emails in my Inbox on that gun. I of course sold it to the first taker and still made a profit but never again would I list something without checking its recent market value (I sold it all for $800).

On the flip side, as a buyer, on Thanksgiving early morning two years ago i checked a full-auto Internet sales site and some private seller at 7:30AM listed an HK MP5 sear gun for $12,250. Mind you, these went for no less than around $16,000 at the time and I emailed the seller with a firm "I'll Buy It." Obviously, nobody else was watching the sales site at that hour because he very quickly agreed via return Email to sell to me and asked me to call him. I called and we discussed and we closed the deal, or so i thought. He said he was going to Email me his payment address in a few hours after having to run an errand. I was so excited I awoke my wife and told her that at worst if we wished to sell the darned contraption that we made a couple $$thou that morning ! However, correction; i never got another Email from him. The seller delisted/marked the item sold by the end of the day. I called him that evening and he answered that someone offerred him more for it and so he took the other offer. I gave him a piece of my mind.

Buyers should commit to a purchase when they offer a figure and it's accepted; Sellers should commit to a purchase when someone accepts their price. Anything varying from this is without honor and a deceit.

I think we're making it very hard. Let it fly, life is short. I try to approach these type of things with the knowledge that some deals will go a bit in my favor, some will go a bit in the other guy's favor, but in the end it will work itself out. My dad always taught me to leave some on the table for the next guy. That is a pretty outdated statement so to speak, but it helps in these type of situations.

I agree with David, I think that buyers remorse, or the fear of it is the biggest reason that people will not close the deal.

My take is that I don't need another gun, but I buy good deals. I like looking on the internet because I don't have to put up with a sales pitch or asking to make an "offer". Most of the Doubles I have bought, I bought because they were a good deal, instead of I have been searching for this gun all my life. My Dad used to be an outside salesman and one day he had time to kill between appointments. he stopped into a car dealership. Immediately and high pressure salesman came up to him. He told him he was just killing time, but would be interested in knowing how much this car cost. The salesman said, " have to have you sign this paper before I can get you a price from the head salesman. Dad did and the salesman turned on him and said that he was now obligated to continue in negotiations for the sale because he had signed a "intent to buy". I don't enquire half the time on stuff that interests me because people treat an inquiry on a product too seriously.