Selling on Gunbroker?

[golfnfish]

I am thinking of listing a few of my long guns for sale on Gunbroker.  For those that have sold or are currently selling on Gunbroker are there any common pitfalls or hazards to avoid.  I'll be requiring payment by USPS MO or Certified Check and know I will have to ship to the buyers FFL.  I plan to ship USPS Priority fully insured probably Registered.

I have experience occasionally selling high end fly fishing rods and reels on Ebay and private forums but I have never sold anything on Gunbroker.

Thanks in advance for any advice.  PM me if you would rather discuss privately.

Edited August 17, 2021 by golfnfish

[Ronald_55]

First, they add tax to the sales price. Second they added some new fees recently ON TOP OF the existing fees. 

I have some acessories on there, but no guns. Right now your best bet might be to list them somewhere on a forum or local tp see what bites you get. 

[golfnfish]

Thanks.  I do have them listed for sale in this forum's classifieds as well as the classifieds of another hunting forum I am a member of.  Both listings say I was giving the members a chance to buy before I go the Gunbroker route.

I would very much prefer a face to face sale to a member as opposed to listing them on Gunbroker but I'm researching the sales process on Gunbroker in the event that they don't sell on the forums.

 

[bobsguns]

GB is geared more in a dealer's favor over an individual, IMO. Already mentioned are the fees & taxes added on. Another negative will be your lack of rating on your first couple of sales. Not many would chance $500-600 on a non-rated seller, IMO. (Reminds me of job hunting. "We can't hire you because of no experience." Me: "How can I get experience if you won't hire me?" LOL!)

I would stick with this site for sales or maybe hit some gun shows & do a walk-around sale? Or perhaps a consignment with a local dealer, if possible? 

Also, what happens when a buyer damages a gun himself & then claims it was shipped that way? That's a HUGE headache for a private seller. I've seen it happen to others. 

My .o2

[golfnfish]

Thanks.  All good points.  I've never really attended gun shows and I don't think I would want to consign what I consider a mint condition long gun to a local dealer's rack where the public can handle and mess with it.

I'd love to find a local dealer that sells on gunbroker to list the guns on a consignment and commission basis but I haven't had any luck in that regard.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

[i1afli]

I consigned a few guns to local dealers (all closed now) and was happy with the process.  My philosophy was that as soon as I handed it over to the dealer I was never going to see it again and did not worry about customers handling it or possibly damaging it. 

[golfnfish]

Thanks.  That's good to hear as I've never consigned a firearm.  I have consigned a few high end bamboo fly rods to out of state dealers before and had good experiences.

[Erich]

Do it!

Folks here are not fans of selling on GB as you are hearing, but from the comments you can probably glean they may not actually sell items on GB or may use rationale more in line with their perspective on why they don't like GB as a buyer. For example, mentioning taxes as a negative to a seller. That is only a buyer issue, sellers collect those taxes plus a new 1% (approx) enhancement fee from the seller and its automatically added to the buyers invoice as part of the sale price by GB. Then they charge it back to you with your final value commission, which is the part you are responsible for. So outside the commission, the tax and 1% enhancement are next zero impact to the seller.

In general the commission run between 3 % to 5 %, variable based on total sale price. No where near eBay gouging and far less than what a gun store will hit you up for.

Typical of forums, bad experiences and horror stories tend to be overstated as the norm. Yes there are some real pieces of work out there, but I can tell you after having sold plenty of guns on GB most things go smoothly and the majority of buyers are no different than us. No doubt you read the Show and Tell posts here, "hey look what I just got on GB".

Also typical of type specific forums, selling in the classified will return the worst possible price unless the item is relatively desirable, hard to get, or rare. for anything else, market value or slight profits wont happen here and are why you use things like GB. Small audience of enthusiasts who are horse traders at heart unless they cant live with out it

The downsides I have dealt with are more a matter of making sure you specify things in your terms and sticking to them, and that your buyer does his part. Typically it may be a minor delay buy not to bad. Such as state specific requirements for serialized items and that the receiving FFL will accept from a private party (some corporate stores won't). This also applies to clearly stating  any inspection periods, payment term expectations in number of days, or around any  specific payment method. Setting your ground rules up will be an up front time draw, but is what avoids most pitfalls and headaches. Good pictures help protect you from claims of specific damage, plus the FFL gets it and will have likely looked it over to know what was there or not before buyer handles it. Never had an issue there.

The biggest concern is someone who does not pay and they do have a slow process for crediting commission and chargeback fees. And negative feedback retaliation if get rude with them.

The only other thing I'd say is a factor comes down to your payment methods as a function of audience and potential sell price. You absolutely get the highest price if you take credit cards. After that, its a question of how desirable or popular the item is. For average items,  MO and Certified check tend to bring the lowest values. Electronic payment alternatives like Zelle, Venmo, and Paypal do much better though not as well as credit card. GB pay will hit you with a commission, just not as bad as Paypal did on eBay. It was 1.5% to 2% if I recall, so I stopped using that one. 

For the record, I am not advocating for the use of the electronic  payers, just stating the reality I have experienced on GB selling. Not to devolve it into the anti PP concerns many have here. Each person has to decide what their comfort level is around any method.

 

[bobsguns]

21 hours ago, golfnfish said:

I'd love to find a local dealer that sells on gunbroker to list the guns on a consignment and commission basis but I haven't had any luck in that regard.

The Gun Crew in Nashville does a boatload of GB sales. I mean insanely crazy level of sales. However, I can't speak for them on if they would sell your gun for you or not, you'd need to speak with them over the details.  In fact, I will be in their shop next Sat picked up two transfers. 

*I* would still try a couple of gun shows first. I know multiple dealers who often buy from walk-arounds. A win-win for both, IMO. 

[golfnfish]

Thanks to all that have commented.  Its been very informative.

[billyblazes]

I have found it impossible to communicate with a live GB representative.  I had a credit card issue regarding duplicate charges from GB.  I emailed but did not receive a reply.  No one you can call.  I eventually had to deal with it through the credit card company.  Don't count on Gun Broker for any kind of help with anything.

[TennesseeCamper]

Same as . You will suffer through tedious automated help responses that solve nothing. You can not speak to a human. Took me months to restore my account after I got locked out. Fees are high. I haven’t bought or sold anything since. And fraudulent buyers are or were a big problem.