Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Gun Auction Thoughts

$47 on a $1000 completed sale. Under 5%.

I believe UK high end and specialist firearms auction houses charge about 25% to buyer and similar to seller. They gouge both ends. The fees are added to the eventual hammer drop auction bid. Similar with auctions for houses but in this case I think / do t know for sure / am guessing - poor memory the charges are lower

The only career I can remember my Dad ever pushing me toward was auctioneer.
Back then, they did very well on 10% and no fees.

"Boy, you hire a few flunkys to organize things and help on Saturday.
You work less hours than I do, and by Saturday afternoon you have 10% of what
some old couple worked a lifetime to get."


Now, they get a lot more than 10%. Many have buyers fees. Some sell numbers.
Many have food trailers.
Many have permanent facilities where they have weekly auctions.

Those guys do extremely well. Not only do they sell, they buy.
Knowing the business, they know prices. Nothing goes away cheap.
They buy it themselves, store it, and once they have enough similar stuff it gets
put on the bill for an upcoming auction. Bringing in a crowd of buyers and
ensuring it brings good money.
For the auctioneer. One hell of a side gig !



Dad was 100% right.
If 20 year old me would have had 50 year old me's knowledge!😉

Thats who I was alluding to , he sells huge gun collections and knows guns.

He gets some great stuff. I’ve bought a number of items from him, including a NIB Low Wall .44. I just sent my son to him and he came back with a NIB Kimber 82. Definitely a great source, and a good guy to deal with.

After they pay the auction. They probably get a better deal from the auction site, but it is far from free.

Listing on more than one site increases costs, too.

https://www.bauerauction.com/

These guys are sort of local to me. They have a gun auction four time a year usually on the same weekends. They are well established and well attended. Never been personally, but a close friend has several times. He usually comes home emptyhanded because collectors outbid him.

If you have something similar closer, that's what I'd recommend for a collection that big. Had a buddy put a small one 25-50 guns on gunbroker. It was a giant PITA for him.

Are we talking museum pieces with provenance or Great Grandad's Waschester?

Jerry

No income taxes involved here.

I know Fargo has a couple of combined "gun auctions" annually. So, instead of the 200 guns you're managing, there might be 500+, as such, I believe they get great traffic and are open to online bidders as well.

I can't remember off the top of my head which auctioneer does it, there's probably several. I'll assume the same things happen in Sioux Falls.

This is no different than any other project. The more hands-off a person wants to be, the more they're going to have to pay someone else to complete the project. It really doesn't matter if we're taking about mowing the lawn or managing an estate.

A while ago, I helped the widow of a very good friend dispose of his collection. His collection wasn't quite as large as what you're dealing with, but still large enough to be more than a little bit of work. His collection was mainly military historical firearms. I figured if I did it all myself, it would take about 2 years to complete disposing of his collection. His widow did not want that, so not knowing if you have any time restraints or not, the time involved may be a factor. I went around to every gunstore there is in a large radius to her location and talked with them about exposure, if any, and commission rates. With the gun stores, it would be sitting in a consignment rack hoping the "right" person would see it. In my search I literally stumbled onto a local auction house and talked with the owner for a while explaining the circumstances. His commission was less than the gun stores and he shipped and took care of everything. His widow liked all of that and went with them. They came out to her house, inventoried everything they took, issued an insurance policy right then and there and left with the collection. He advertises, takes great pictures, a lot of exposure and the day of the auction, it was 3 fold. It was a live auction, internet auction and phone call ins. She did very well and was very happy with the results. All done in a couple months, not a couple years. Are there cheaper ways to do all this? Of course there are! More expensive ways too... But for her circumstances and time factor, this worked out very well for her. Best to you in what you're doing. If I can help out at all with any other info, please just ask.

Dean

Does it matter? Local auction could be one of the worst ideas depending on where one is located. Online auction is the way to go. It is nice to drop off a piece to a guy who charges 12% who does all the work ,shipping included and you get paid within 6 weeks.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. You guys are spectacular. As indicated in the original post, I'm not piecemealing this out, they're leaving here as a batch. My time is worth more than alot of other folks, so I'm not spending more of mine on this, neither am I donating my time. Feels to me like there's alot of love for the local auction houses who put these things online for people to bid. I was concerned that there wasn't so much interest in these smaller auctions but I feel like there's plenty based on this thread. You guys are awesome, and I sure appreciate the help.

Please let us know where it all ends up so we can take a look.

Sure will. I'm struck by the number of 9422's on the list. More than three dozen probably.

Maybe talk to Lock, Stock and Barrel auctioneers in California

https://www.hansenauctiongroup.com/

I've heard good things about these guys too...

Doggone, you mentioned the 9422's on the list and I instantly wished I could see the list of guns so I could get a shot at them before the auction crowd...

I've got a very nice 9422 but would like another one in a different grade and also been looking for a S&W Model 41 for quite a while and these auctions are where I usually shop for them any more. Good luck with your search and I hope it is successful for the estate in the end.

Watch this post then...nobody gets a shot before anyone else, not even me. Especially not me.