Negotiation has never been my strong suit. And I've heard it said that when it comes to negotiation, the first person who offers a price will be the loser.

Not wanting to high jack another thread, I started this one to gather thoughts on how best to negotiate on a price when buying from dealers at gun shows.

What's your rule of them when buying used guns from dealers at gun shows or at pawn shops?

So a gun is sitting on the table with a listed price, and you don't want to offer a different price because you will lose? Lose what? And the gun guy is just going to offer you a lower price first because you didn't ask? That makes sense. Why should he lower it without you asking first?

The only advice I can offer is to be aware of what the approx value of the gun you are looking for before you leave for the show. If you stumble on to a gun you weren’t thinking about prior to the show - go get a cup of coffee. Sit down and google it before you go talk to the vendor. NEVER - make an offer without knowing what the gun is worth. Then whenever I make my initial offer, it is always less than what it is worth. All they can do is say no. And you can always up it later. There are too many guns offered at gun shows for more than they are worth. If you are close to making a deal shine a borelight down the barrel before exchanging the cash.

Pawn shop minimum they cover tax. Most of the time they want new prices so I rarely get anywhere. Gun shows is just a matter of how bad they want to take it home. If they have a brick and mortar store you most likely won’t get far.

Decide what the gun is worth to you, offer less.
Seller will counteroffer. May go back and forth a couple times.
If you can't get price to at or below what it is worth to you walk away.

When you try to buy matters, at closing Sunday you are likely to get a better deal than opening first day.

M

If you watch Pawn Stars you'll see how the shop employee ALWAYS asks the customer what they want for something. They never make an initial offer.

My observation has always been that shops tend put a price on an item that's twice their bottom line. So if a gun is priced at $250, a $200 offer gives them a $75 profit.

Kind of reminds me of the one and only truck I purchased since 1972 that was not a Toyota. With Toyota's you pretty much pay sticker less maybe on a good day $1000 or so. Most of the time it is less. I got the urge that I needed a full size pickup back in 2004. I ended up with an F150 FX4. If I remember, the sticker on it was something like $36000. I think I finally paid something like $26000. I asked the salesman why they do that on American made trucks and cars. Why not put something realistic on the window and go from there? His response was "you'd be surprised how many customers come in and think that is the price." Gun pricing can even be more confusing at auctions. I don't have a lot of experience here but what I can tell you is based on my own experience. Sometimes you can drive to the auction and if you see tons of cars there, you can just leave. Too many buyers too little price knowledge amongst them. First few items usually go before the feeding frenzy begins. If you know your values, you can kind of feel it when things start getting out of hand. On the other hand, if you sit there long enough, sometimes you can get real bargains. I've seen pickle jars full of reloaded ammunition. God only knows what's in those cartidges. God only knows how many are even in the jars. In my mind, there is no price low enough to take the risk in shooting something like that with your own safety at risk. Get home and try and do a realistic evaluation on how many rounds could have been in those jars and you come up with the fact that you could've bought new for less. Knew what you had. Been safe, etc. I still go to auctions but only if I have a list of items ahead of time and know what I want to bid on and how high I might go on those items.

I always ask "What's the best price out the door" (tax included). When they make their offer, I add that I always pay cash (no CC fee on their end) and then make my offer.

Know what the gun sells for in the outside world. Know what Academy prices are, know what blue book prices are, see what they are selling for on GunBroker and gunauction.(not what their ask but selling priced). An educated buyer gets a good deal or has enough knowledge to walk away.

Older guns require research. Don't be afraid to offer you never know what they will take.

Papalote