Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Enablers...

Sometimes not taking enough cash to gun show fails to keep a Savage from following one home. Had planned on looking for parts I need to fix couple of single shots and maybe some ammo. Found 99 EG in 30-30 from 1937. Uncheckered and 22" barrel and all numbers match. Tang crack - not bad. And first time found something in gun's stock, 4 matches wrapped in cloth ( char?) and previous owners initials under butt plate.
I was $200 short of cash and finally talked seller to take check for $200 plus cash I had if guy (good friend) running show would vouch for me. So Ray announces over loud speaker to all at the gun show that my check was good! The seller was at the farthest corner of building and Ray is using power wheel chair to get around, so worked for him. And a lot of folks had a good laugh... And I got the Savage.

All's well that ends well.

That being said, you don't ever, ever want to get caught with your pants down at a gun show or auction.

Better to take the wad home with you than to be without it.

You just never know...

I NEVER carry cash. Never had an issue till this year. The first buyer has sold me several guns and I paid with a check. This time was a no go. I ended up buying the gun later through the mail with a check. The time about a week before was another seller that didn't know me and he wanted cash. It wasn't a problem then either. I just had THAT feeling the gun wasn't going anywhere. It was only a short ride home and the next day I was back and I bought the gun for less than the asking price. If there is a gun I HAVE to have I don't go to auctions or gun shows to find them. Lately though they seem to be coming out of the wood work. I am just not comfortable with large amounts of cash in my pocket. Someone is trying to change that !!

Cash is King.

I understand that. HOWEVER, I am the kind of guy that just pisses it away on a whim. I am who I am. Never in my life have I had a check bounce that I have written. I normally pay the asking price. If I don't like it, I walk away.

I wonder if the stock market slows down, and the election nears if vintage firearms will start to regain value.

If the nuts win they will go up-up an sway out the window to a hot steel shop to make junk cars

what Doug said. We're screwed if the left wing facists win.

Digital/electronic cash is the wave of the future, and works today too.

I purposely didn't take much cash with me to a show two years ago, and sure enough up jumped a swell bargain. A guy had a nice M2 Springfield .22 on his table for $800, and as I was looking at it he piped up and knocked $100 off without me asking him to. At that point it went from being a really good deal to a super good deal (typically they fetch well over $1000). I knew I only had a couple hundred in my pocket, and I couldn't have told you then, or now even, exactly where my checkbook was- I'm a devotee of plastic and PayPal and can't say for sure when I wrote my last check. There was one of those lurkers hovering behind my shoulder whom I could tell was itching to snatch up the gun if I laid it back down. What to do?

A light bulb lit up in my head and I asked the dealer if he had a PayPal account. He allowed as how he did. So right there on the spot in front of him I made a $700 transfer to his account using my smartphone, and as soon as his phone announced that he received my payment we did the paperwork and away I went with the gun. Took maybe fifteen minutes to transact, including filling out the form and running the NICS check. A first for him and me both, and he said it was so painless he was going to work that payment option into his future "gun show marketing protocols". I hope he did, and I wish everybody offered that- it would make bulging pockets full of cash obsolete, and banish the checkbook to a museum.

Cash is still king though. A lot of mossybacks can't or won't take the digital plunge so a wise man fills his holster with Benjamins if serious gun buying is afoot.

If one is haggling on a price, a fistful of 💯’s definitely has more cachet than a credit card or checkbook.

Gary, couple of issues there. Paypal is anti gun and would suspend your account for using them to buy a gun. The transaction is subject to the paypal fee since it is a purchase. You didn't mention if you did a gift of the $700.

The best, fast payment method I've run onto is Zelle. If you have a checking account it will most likely give you access to Zelle. Quick and safe with no threats from the antigun world.

Good for you, those EGs in 30-30 and 303 are hard to find.

And I have been to the bank already this morning. Yesterday I actually forgot to stop at bank as I went thru town to gun show. I like LBK if have too much cash will find something to spend it on at a gun show. Just have to look at my ammo stash or all my Savage 22s. And because I actually host a gun show for our sportsclub, most vendors know me and checks not a problem usually. Never met this dealer before and I wasn't really expecting to buy a gun, but...

That is good information about PayPal. I had no idea it was a violation of their terms. I just looked and it certainly is. Good to know. Thanks for sharing.

I should have mentioned that the paypal restriction just applies to actual firearms - or at least it used too. Parts and accessories are OK. I guess that's in keeping with the ebay policy.

I've used PP to purchase a metric sh*t ton of gun stuff on the internet over the years, including a couple guns. If retailers offer PP as an option for paying for their reloading components, scopes, gun parts, etc., and eBay encourages the use of PP, and works hand in hand with PP (wasn't PP actually a spinoff from eBay itself?), when buying all manner of gun stuff there then why hasn't all of that trade been shut down long ago? I have never heard of a gun person getting hog tied by PP- lots of rumors, cautions, innuendos, but no hard evidence. I think they realize they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they put the halt to all gun-related commerce transacted by using their service- money talks and we're talking serious money here. I submit that the only way PP would know if I used them to pay for a private gun purchase is if I stupidly filled in the space where they ask what it's for- otherwise how could they possibly know?

Whenever I buy stuff privately long distance and use PP, I always do the friends and family bit. I buy enough stuff from online retailers and eBay such that PP gets a fair amount of service fee money from me anyway (easily a lot more such transactions than the F&F ones I do), hence they've never said beans about why so many of my transactions are to friends.

Anyway, I for one have no intention of stop using PP. It's universal, safe, and saves me from enduring the local post office waiting lines and/or waiting for a check to clear before shipment of my order takes place. As for them being anti-gun, well, if I started avoiding every business in this man's world that's anti-gun I would be left with few choices. If any of PP competitors such as Zelle were as universal as PP I would switch, but I wonder how omnipresent they really are if I've never even heard of them.

Hah! I got interrupted while typing my diatribe and didn't see your reply, Mike, until after I hit "send".

But actually, upon viewing their policy they do lump gun parts, accessories, ammo, etc. in with their firearms ban. So again, why do companies who sell that stuff blithely accept PP as a payment option, and why then does't PP put the kibosh to it? I still think it's all lip service to be honest.

But if it's to a friend it ain't buying huh?

Internet transactions aside, I've never had anybody refuse cash.

In fact, in most cases it greatly improves your position in the bargaining process.

Once Paypal has your CC # and bank information they own you. You are working for them.

Hard for big brother to know what you are up to when you deal in cash and money orders.

Just sayin...