Sees the "good ol days" of haggling the price on a new gun are mostly gone.
The decline of the small local gunstore is one reason. Big retailers operating on a slimmer margin have made it tough on the small guy. Even my favorite large independent shop has a "the price is the price" policy in place. Seems to work well for them, the prices always seem fair.
Used guns is where price haggling lives now. Every used gun is to some degree unique, there is no stack of identical guns someplace. Pretty much no direct competition.
With a used gun, the profit is most often made when the gun is acquired by the dealer, either by trade or outright sale.
Its not too difficult to make a pretty good guess about what kind of mark-up a dealer is making on a new gun.
Not so with used. No telling what kind of coin the store has in a gun.
Always good to make them a respectable offer if you are serious. Ya never know......

I call it jewin em down

LGS has to be competitive if they want to stay open.

Folks go into buy a gun local knowing what Buds / grab-a-gun / etc is charging.

I’m the type, mark it the best you can do....

Not $50 over priced, then knock off $25 and act like it’s my lucky day.

I am very fortunate to have an awesome gun shop where haggling isn't even an issue. I have a price in mind and I ask whats the best they can do and 9 out of 10 times they are right where they need to be with me.


I was given a gift certificate of 200 bucks to another gun shop. Couldn't find anything I wanted, they had one of those new plain jane plastic stocked 10/22 that came out about a year ago, heck bps was selling them for 179 and my lgs too. Anyway, it was marked 239, crazy, but being I had a gc it wasn't a big deal...so I asked what they could do, 10 bucks off would have been fine with me, the guy grabbed it from me, put it back on rack, and walked away. Needless to say I'll never step foot in or promote that store in the future. I also asked about the ruger lcp 22, he said rugers sucked and he'll never stock any of their stuff. In reality, he probably just can't get good deals when ordering to be competitive.

I tell me LGS, “make the price fair for both of us.”

You can haggle on gun prices all day, every day in the classifieds section.........

I don't know if they still are since the original owner/manager Darryl Whittaker died but Whittaker's Guns was "no-haggle" pricing on both new and used guns for as far back as I can remember but they were always fairly and more often than not better than fairly priced anyway.

And thats how it should be done.

I hate hagglers.

25 years ago I worked at an ultrasound start up and went out buying guns at lunch at least once a week.

There were pawn shops that would take 10% off anything not on consignment, but not a penny more.

There were pawn shops that would take 20% off any gun without asking the boss. Offer 25% less, they would ask the boss, but the boss always said "no".

If you think about it, you can understand how they got such rigid rules. What if you owned a pawn shop. What would you tell employees to say if given an offer?

Offering someone a fair price on an item when they say what'll you give? is fine.

Haggling for a lower price knowing you've already been offered a fair deal, is a joo tightwad POS.

Any cock-sucker stealing guns for pennies on the dollar from a Widow should be shot on sight, pissed on, then fed to the hogs!

The extent of my haggling is, "Is that the best you can do?", if that.

We recently did an intervention on such a guy.

Good, hope you all gave the sidewalk a good coating from his head innards walking back to your vehicles.

Most of my area LGSs are well inflated on price. No haggling on new firearms a little wiggle on used. I identify what I want. Find a reasonable price online. Do the math for shipping and transfer fees at the LGS. Example: $1000 rifle+ $30 shipping+$25 transfer fee = $1055 out the door. After finding the total number, I will approach the LGS and give them the option to price match it. If they are willing to try to get close, even if it is a little more, then they get the sale. If not they only get the transfer... They still get my business; they have the opportunity to choose how much profit they earn. Sometimes they get close and sometimes they don’t.

Most recently was a Ruger Hawkeye RSI online for $899 plus $65 in shipping and transfer fees. The best the LGS would do was $1099 plus tax from their original $1199 price. They only got the transfer.

The big retailers often sell firearms for less than small dealers can buy them at wholesale.

My local WM just sold Savage Axis rifle for $125, almost half off their usual price of $242.

The small dealer wholesale price for the same rifle is $280.

Add 15% to cover overhead expenses bumps the minimum reasonable LGS price to $322.

Just like the "Dollar" stores are putting small independent grocery stores out of business, big retailers can easily undercut LGS prices and still make a profit.

Back in the late 1980's when I frequented Bill Gilderdale's LGS in very small, very rural, Stockbridge, VT, ol' Bill complained bitterly about how he couldn't afford to stock a full line of factory ammo because WM sold the common/popular ammo like 243, 270, 30-30, 308, and 30-06 for less than he could buy it. That was before the internet was the marketplace that it is today, so things are even more difficult for the small dealer.

Again, Whittaker's Guns not only managed to survive but grow bigger and continues to grow in spite of competition from big box gun retailers and did it starting off in a garage in a rural, 'off-the-beaten-path', low traffic location, too.

When I worked in a retail shop, we were firm on new gun prices but would haggle on trade value. The owner of that store loved trade-ins and didn't mind the haggling which went with it. I enjoyed the process as long as there was reason on both sides. As a gunsmith, I didn't haggle though and an attempt to get me to work more cheaply was likely to result in getting to try and have the work done elsewhere; forever.
Sometimes, trading got complicated and there were scopes, mounts, loading dies, slings, and all sorts of ammo and components in play. It was in one of these multiple trades that I sold a guy his own scope mounts; for half price, mind you! It was a couple of days later that he came back in and said, "You prick! You sold me my own scope mounts!" I said, "Yes, I did but, if you recall, I gave you a smokin' deal on them."
The owner of this particular shop was merciless when it came to buying guns or anything else. He once bought quite a bunch of a young man who didn't seem quite right, to me. Sure enough, later that day, the guy's father called. The kid was a schizophrenic and had taken a bunch of his dad's stuff and run off. I told him we would hold the stuff and he said he would cover costs. The store owner said he saw no reason we shouldn't be compensated for our trouble and we should double the amount we paid. I explained that that wasn't something a place I worked for would do and he finally agreed to eschew any profits on the deal. This tendency to want to rip anyone off if the opportunity arose finally resulted in us parting ways.
Today, I don't like to haggle at all. If something seems priced high, I don't buy it. If someone offers me a lower price for something, I don't sell it. The only exception to this is real estate. GD

I used to like LGS until they sent all of their unemployed retarded family members to go stand in line at walmart and academy to buy up all of the 3 box limit rimfire ammo.

fat bitches with a list

Different people, different places, different outcomes.

Local pawn shop generally has guns marked to book price, but he never gives more than $100 on pawn. The sole exception, he said, was a pre 64 M70 fwt- he gave the guy $200, and when it wasn't redeemed, he kept it himself.

The most successful LGS I have ever visited has grow continually since it started ten years ago. His entire stock on day 1 was five Glocks.
His basic premise was to make $50 on each sale, with exceptions of course. A gudeline if you will.
He also went all out to treat folks fairly on trades, out right sales or whatever. Today his store is one of the biggest shops around, employs a good number of people and shooters drive considerable distances to spend their money there.

I don't haggle much on guns. Haven't bought near as many in the past few years as I did previously.

But I do buy a fair amount of stuff from private individuals. Everything from $50 items to tens of thousands of dollar items.

Generally, if the verbiage of the ad says price is firm. Or doesn't mention offers etc., I take them at their word. Might ask, is that THE price?

If a guy says obo or "asking", I will usually gauge his/her hunger to sell along with the fairness of the asking price. That combined with how badly I want or need the item combined with how well it fits the need/want determines what I do.

Generally ask what is your best price? To sell today. If it works, I buy. If not, thanks.

Had a trailer I was selling. Asking around $6k. Had calls out the wazoo. Had a guy call and after talking, asked if I would take $4500 or $4800. I told him no way and thanks. He said, well think what you would sell it for and let me know. Multiple calls about the trailer. Very hot item. Ended up with a guy offering right at full asking price. I told him sold.

I call the other guy back and tell him the item was sold. He was pissed. I said sorry, but not sorry. He was I believe about 20% off asking price vs. a guy that knocked a hundred or 2 off the price.

Way I see it, you want to low-ball, you may get lucky and occasionally get something bought. But if you are truly interested, offer a fair price and go from there. Which is what I do. If I low-ball, that's a one-shot deal for me generally. Unless the guy counters and it's close.

My haggling with the LGS I frequent is 'Out the door price, right', more a statement than a question.

I haggle with myself when I set a price. Once I set what I think is fair I seldom come off that. I usually get what I ask.

I don't think you understand capitalism or the market concept.

Haggling in no way shape or form is beneath me. I don't waste my time or the other persons, with dragging it out or unrealistic numbers, but I damn sure practice it when I believe it's practical. The wealthy, very busy or foolish can pay sticker if they like, but I've extended my buying power considerably by doing a little horse trading here & there.

Putting a price on any item is just a slow auction.

I always ask the seller to give me your best price. If I don't like it I just say no thanks and walk. If they stop me from walking, I usually pull cash out and make an offer in my favor. One thing about the Internet the buyer should have a good idea of what they think something is worth. We have the cheapest Glock dealer in Georgia, and service is pretty good also.

I don’t think you read the second line above.

I reread to be sure, but no I got it right. A market price is the lowest possible price the seller will sell. You don't know that until you haggle to the point of the seller saying no. Full stop.

Exactly. People getting butt hurt over haggling makes no sense. Say no if the price is too low. No harm. No foul.

That's the way I sell stuff, if you ask me what's the best I can do on something and then try to haggle after I give you a price, you get asked to leave. A guy tried to low ball me on some bred heifers after I gave him my best price, I told him to leave without even cussing. Then he said he'd take them for what I told him in the first place, I walked to the Kubota to get my stick and my wife told him he'd better leave.

Roman soldiers use to action off spoils of war. They would spread out the wares, and jamb their spear in the ground to advertise the auction. Interested people would gather around, and bid.

That sounds irrational. The more reasonable thing would to simply sell them for the price you just told him you wanted. What do you think his attempt to find a true bottom is somehow an attack on you.

Ah, the old story.
These Japanese buyers looked over some yearling Angus heifers. They sent the spokesman to inquire about the asking price.

The seller said, (something like), a thousand a head if you pick them, 800 hundred if I pick them."

They all put their heads together, and the spokesman came back. "We'll let you pick them."
Seller, "Good, how many do you want?" "We'll take them all".

I do not haggle period. I ask for the seller's best price and if I'm told make an offer, I walk right away. Most people don't understand that. probably most tie's I might pay more than maybe I should but the selling point to me is do I want it that much or not. I walk away from a haggler every time. Have had people try to haggle with me now and then over the years. I give my best price and if you make a counter offer, discussion is over right there!

It isn't irrational to have no desire to deal with azzholes, or to attempt to school them in respectful interaction if one is presented with the opportunity.

Thank you,
That is exactly how I feel, both parties should be happy with the deal or just walk away. If you need 20 bucks that bad then you can't afford what Im selling, there is nothing worse than a gator armed cheap [bleep] !

You are a cheap azz, and just and just the kind of joe biden lover that would would poke his dead brothers widow.

What an azz!

I don’t have time for the tightwads that want to haggle.
How much time do you spend at the grocery haggling with the checker?

It,s an acquired skill.

Some dont have the balls to do it.....


Its business.....
And one can always go elsewhere to buy, rather than from a stubborn person who has been sitting on a item for months or years.
Even worse when over inflated emotional value is attatched to it.
Are you showing it off and gabbing about it or wanting to sell it.
Emotional $ value means Zilch to me.
I let sellers know that alot when I start hearing the tale.........

And Benjamins and Grants talk when your dealing in Hamilton and Jackson increments.....
00, 20, 40, and 50 are #,s to shoot for in what you can get something
Priced down on those last 2 digits too.
Closer to 00 the fugging better.

Be civil and nice
Always be prepared to walk.
Good naturedly....

But.......
Before you do so during the negotiations
Let the cash be seen.

That is Jedi Mind Fugg # 1.....

Start the "well Im sorry it didnt work out, it is a really nice gun but I cant see it going for the price your asking".
"Im just gonna bide my time and hunt for another".

Thank you .....

Start walking.

You mighta set the treble hook and dude will sell.

Another indicator of negotiations that can happen.

Dude answers the phone.
Says something like your the 1st or 2nd guy that has called and the ad has been up for a week or 2...

Dude is overpriced and wont budge. GLWS zippy......
Dude is not wanting to sell and wants to show it off or talk about it
Dude is ready to let it go at lower price and realize,s it time to get it gone.

I prefer buying and selling at auctions. But you better be there and be prepared to no sale your items or load them up and bring them back home. My son no sold a bred cow at $900 and then she died a few weeks later.

I buy used guns and used optics. Sometimes it's to purchase something that's no longer available. Sometimes it's to save $$ over new. I often ask other's for their "best price". I take it or leave it at that. When selling, I guess I've never been offended by someone offering me less than I'm asking or also asking for my "best price".

When buying or selling used/demo equipment of any kind every transaction is a one-off IMO.

The art of its dead around here.was a local guy 15 years ago,old dusty shop,had a good mix.But he loved to haggle,loved to argue,his favorite phrase? "Honest Wear",i had alot of fun in there.i got a near new remington 742 bdl for $350.00 cash,as he was recording the serial # he noticed it had a nice leupold scope on it,he went batshit,i need a hundred more,i didn t see the scope,we went at it but good,a deals a deal.lol.i miss him,he died in bed banging some bimbo.heart attack.
Kids closed it up,its a chinese nail salon now.what a waste.

Most of us, who have bought and sold firearms and firearms related items over the last 30-40 years, learned long ago how to read the subtle hints involved in a transaction. If a guy places an ad, and ends with "firm"....they usually are, and I don't dicker, I either think it's a fair price and buy, or know it's to high and move along.
If ad states "asking" or "OBO", whatever the stated price is, I take that to mean, it is the most he will take, my job is to attempt to get close to what the least amount he is willing to accept. The key, is never sounding contentious or combative but rather letting the seller know you have been in their shoes and understand the desire to get the most one can.
To me, the term "haggling","dicker", "jooing" etc give what should be a reasoned "negotiation" a bad name?

The old Sioux City stock yards.

The other side of the coin as a seller.
Is to price your item 25 50 bucks above what ya want.
And also allow leeway to 25 buck or so below what you want.
To allow negotiations to happen for a sale.

You get the b type buyer at your above price sometimes
You get the haggler at your acceptable price.
You get the haggler with some " skill" at your lowest price.

Some sellers dont realize this when they set a price and wont budge.

Doing this makes people think they got a deal and go away happy
While you as a seller got your price range also.



JMO.



And we all have seen the old guys at gun shows " selling" nice guns at sky high prices .
Making the local circut time and time again.
Never selling a thing.

They are the 1st ones to whip out the 2009 blue book of gun values to quote you a price on your gun.
But then pull up their book marked page on Gunbroker to show you the current price of what they are " selling"

Gunshows are a social event for em, you get sucked into their vortex of conversation factoid intimate knowledge of whats on their table...
And the cost of the table or tables is part of it too em.

If it's what makes em happy talking about their guns with 0 intent to sell, then so be it.



You learn to just smile and walk on by the display they have out after seeing em at 3 4 5 different shows.


LOL!!!

I'm not a big haggler. But before I buy a gun, especially a used gun, I'll ask, "What's the best you can do on it?"

Just that little bit will often save you a few bucks.

I will haggle, at a flea market guy had a savage 99, wanted $850, 300 Savage, mismatched wood, you could put a quarter each side between the wood and the tang, looked like he drug to the table behind his truck....

I asked '...what do you really want...' at which point he started chewing my azz............ as I walked away!?!?!?!?

I do a lot of trades, after I get tired of something....... I'll trade wholesale to wholesale, retail to retail, knowing you need to make something.............. but a lot want to trade wholesale to retail.............

It seems you have to be informed or trader enough to know the places to haggle or not.

The local grocery? Give me a brake. NO! Duh!
The flea market or a pawn shop?? Hell yes! Duh!

You can't, "Dicker, Haggle, Bargen, Trade, Deal, ect with hirelings, you have to deal with the boss.

I'll respond to polite requests for my best price, clods that tell me "I'll give you X" usually leave emptyhanded, there is a polite way to negotiate after all.

I give a lot of business to local gun shops and I'm happy to pay the extra cash.

But when they see me take my wallet out repeatedly, they need to recognize and offer the Big Ballah discount.

If they don't, they can go under with the rest of them.

Dude had an anvil, forge, tooling, and big piece of steel on marketplace a bit ago.

Went too look, prepared to pay $600 ask.
Also had a $50 and twenties at the ready
if we could lower the number.

While talking, he threw in several pair of tongs, more hardy tools,
hammers he had made, and started, commercial hammers and some knife stock.

I carried that chunk of steel up a hill to the car, stopping a couple times to breath.

He ask, "Do you think you might want this stuff?"

I said, "Carried it up that damn hill"!

He went in his house to get some thing he had made to show me while we were loading
it up, came out and ask again if I wanted to buy it?

Talk about openings to haggle!

Told my wife it would have been wrong to beat him down on this deal,
He got 6 Benjamin's.

Still concerned about why he sold the stuff.
He had a coal forge in the basement, and skill in using those tools.
Obviously, pride in his work.

Anyway, I haggle. Sometimes.
Sometimes, the person is offering a fair deal and needs the $ more than I.

Guns, I miss out on often.
The people I would beat down, don't allow it.
The friends or widows, I advise fair prices and usually don't
want what they have at a fair price.

JMHO

Oh no you di-int!

Some people love to haggle and some don't.

Buy or sell, I try to figure what I think a fair price is and try to buy the item for a price somewhere close to my judgement of "fair". I often buy stuff that I don't need if the price is exceptionally low, like the $125 Savage Axis at WM last week. OTOH, I don't mind paying a little more than "fair" for something that I want or that is unusual or scarce.

Whenever someone doesn't have a set price on an item, I ask for the price and if the seller says "make me an offer", I say that it is their item, so they know what they want for it. If they don't set a price I'll either thank them and walk away or look the item over and make an offer that is a little low in my "fair" range. If they accept the offer, I buy the item. If they decline and offer a price that is still above my "fair" range, I'll offer to split the difference between my original offer and their counter-offer if that would bring the price into my "fair" range. If they say "no" and the counter-offer price is above my "fair" range, I'll probably thank the seller and move on.

The exception is cars. I try to buy cars on the last business day of the month when people are trying to hit their sales goals. If I'm looking to lease vehicles, I'll use the internet.

Not haggling over a price, whenever possible, is simply unnatural.