Is Gunbroker the best way to determine firearm values?

I have recently decided to pare down a collection to only the guns I use, as a philanthropist of course, hopefully helping others to recognize their own ownership goals.

How do you guys decide price?

Thanks in advance.

GunBroker sucks since everything there is over priced. I have used GunsAmerica and punched in what I am looking to price and I do that at least twice a week for 3 or 4 weeks to get a good average idea. Got to use the law of averages because sometimes things sell real cheap and sometimes they sell way too high and the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I like what I just saw on Gunbroker: I've got two Yugo 48 Mausers and somebody has one with the starting bid at $1,099.00 !!!!

I use Guns International. And, prior to the current panic, subtract 20 to 25% for a real world price.

Thanks guys!
Just wanting to move some iron without getting ripped off.

Gunbroker is a good resource if you look at the actual selling prices of completed auctions instead of the asking prices, and you still need to dig a bit in the results to see which variations/calibers etc are bringing the higher prices. Go to Advanced Search and click the tab for completed items.

Also, selling an item through an auction instead of a fixed price classified ad truly lets the market determine the value.

Gunbroker completed sales is the way to go. Click on "advanced" that's just to the right of "Search", then completed items. Fill in the info.

This helps eliminate dreamers just asking,, not getting some of their prices.

Best way is to get a Gunbroker account. That will allow you to see closed auctions and know what like items actually did sell for. Look at current items with bids and follow them to see where they close. Much of the bidding takes place at the very end of the auction. Listings that are NOT selling also tell you something. Of course the venue in which you sell will also determine what you will actually get for your own items. A dealer will gladly buy your quality items but only at a price that allows him a margin for resale. Best of luck.

/Edited: Sorry to be redundant. The previous posters nailed it for you.

Gunbroker, Blue Book of Values, Gun IntrL, and a few web searches.

Between GB and GI - you'll get an idea of what is selling, what is sitting, and what is dreaming.

The Blue Book is good if the firearm is obscure - or niche, or so far out of production there is no record of it.

I've found the BB to be a good resource for the "rare" "mint" "one of one" claims as well - there is a decent amount of knowledge on what is actual data.

Gunbroker always did everything I wanted and expected. Other than those that have unrealistic starting bids it’s an AUCTION site and the buyers/market have the final say as to what something is “worth” at that moment in time.

For anyone to claim that they’re “overpriced” ignores the fact that the buyer determines the price NOT THE seller (in most cases). Gunbroker is the most familiar and most popular of the gun auction sites and as such it enjoys a huge audience.

As to determining price..... it was my practice to start the bidding at the absolute lowest amount that I’m willing to sell the item for and let the buyers determine from there what it’s “worth”.

I’ve had great luck with GB and for the most part I found most buyers to be straight shooters (pun intended).

Good luck. 👍

Hell no...
25% off the top at least from those C19/Riot prices.
Marking your stuff with a buy now price of 10% to 15 % lower than the D bags listings who dont option the buy it now price will draw buyers turned off by minimum bids or ones who are giving up on an auction cause it is being run up or lost the auction


And neither is the 2009 or 2016 Blue book of gun values price at mee maw and paw paws LGS or the old pricks at the gunshow.

Good advice. Nobody is twisting anybody’s arm to purchase firearms or ammo. It’s a free country as of now, bid or not bid. Hasbeen

Backroads: There is a LOT of skullduggery that goes on at gunbreaker.
False bidders, run-ups etc.
Use them at your own risk for determining prices.
I sell VERY few guns but buy a LOT of guns - never once felt the need to do so via gunbreaker!
I have bought NUMEROUS guns off of this site though - from long standing members only.
You don't mention what type or brand of guns you are interested in evaluating for sale but I would suggest you seek out a competent and trusted collector of such guns and make it worth his while to give you fair evaluations for the guns you wish to sell.
If just a few guns then picture them and ask for guidance from the members here.
Good luck.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

This... What ya got?

Get a price you are happy with from GB, then list 'em right here in our classifieds.

I am confident pricing the guns that I know and have bought, not so much with the ones inherited that I did not purchase myself.

The thought of taking all the pics and placing descriptive adds seems exhausting currently, might just take them 20 at a time to the LGS on consignment. Or wait til retirement to do it properly.

Thanks again!

Just one more thought. I have seen Gunbroker sellers who will sell your guns on consignment for what seem like reasonable commissions. This might give you access to a very broad market without all the hassle of listing and selling yourself.

Not trying to bust your chops.
But why would anyone do this.
Basically the guy makes you an ad from pics you send him.
He gets a slice of the pie for something you can do yourself.
And you are doing the packaging, shipping ect ect ect all the normal stuff to get a gun on its way. And at most he provides you with the receiving FFL info and how to pay him his fee. And is the guy doing the ad paying the Gunbroker sale fee built into his margin.


Makes no sense if Im doing basically everything and all this cat is doing is making a ad and relaying info.


Just saying.....

Why not list em on here???
Ads are not hard to do.
You got an Lgs to ship em from.
Probably less cost paying to use their FFL to ship than what their consignment % is.

Using GunBroker as an aid in determining a firearm's value is hugely different from selling on GunBroker or buying on it. IMO if you're talking about common to fairly common guns, GunBroker can be a huge aid in normal times, especially if one looks at completed auctions, as others have said. GunBroker has more guns for sale than anyplace else. Seeing what they're bringing there cannot be a bad thing. In these troubled and weird times, determining what you can get for a given firearm can be problematic.

I think GB is fine when talking about common everyday guns that are listed starting with a penny bid auction. Gives you a good idea when the auction is over. The collectible stuff seems to be a premium on GB, people pay way up when it isn't exactly something they can commonly find in their lgs.

You can also check with your LGS. Many will sell it for you for a 10-15% commission.

Using the nationwide sites as a gauge is a good helper. Helps to flatten some of the local biases.

Not trying to bust your chops.
But why would anyone do this.
Basically the guy makes you an ad from pics you send him.
He gets a slice of the pie for something you can do yourself.
And you are doing the packaging, shipping ect ect ect all the normal stuff to get a gun on its way. And at most he provides you with the receiving FFL info and how to pay him his fee. And is the guy doing the ad paying the Gunbroker sale fee built into his margin.


Makes no sense if Im doing basically everything and all this cat is doing is making a ad and relaying info.


Just saying.....

[/quote This idea was in comparison to having his local dealer consign them. GB has a customer base of millions compared to walk in traffic locally. I've bought and sold dozens on GB and would not use such a consignment service myself. Some folks might not want to learn the ropes of selling on GB or might not want to deal with the hassles of the process to collect the last 10%. Compared to selling here, nobody will call him out as a "gouger" on GB if he asks a price consistent with today's market. Chances are he could also make more money in an auction format. As an aside, there is no reason to use a LGS for shipping if you sell them yourself. He could ship them himself and save that fee. Not to bust your chops, or anything.

WMR, mine charges 10% commission minus the standard gb fees of course. They do all the pics, the packaging, shipping, etc. For some folks its just not worth the hassle. Drop the gun off, done, collect your check.

I also believe you may get some higher bids due to them being a reputable gb seller of thousands of guns compared the guy at his house who has sold just a couple on gb. Not to mention, most individuals don't take credit cards like the big guys do. I've past on many gb item due to money order only, etc....

They had a guy bring in a zytel 708 ruger in for gb cosignment, it went for over 4k!

All valid points. Already today I've answered an inane question about one I've got running there. It was from a guy I think has a 0 % chance of bidding. Yesterday it was a fellow who made a big offer, in broken English, if I'd click on his link for the particulars. I passed on that one. To be fair, most of the folks I've dealt with have been "straight shooters". I can see benefits of doing it either way.

Edited to add: From time to time I do have my LGS consign one for me. I do this if it's a common gun, and would be just 1 of 6,422 of them on GB. We price them to sell and they do. He gets 10% and I get open space in the safe. If I had someone who would do the whole thing, pictures and all for 10% on GB, I might do more of that.

Gunbroker has a huge following. It's unusual to get a decent bargain from there because so many people view the auctions. It's pretty much turned into a sales page for people who want to get an unreasonably high price for a firearm,....and many times they do.

It's not a good gauge of a firearm's dollar value.

If someone gets their asking price for an item, isn't that the very definition if it's dollar value? At least for that time and in that place. Especially in an auction setting, where another bidder was willing to pay $10 less and did not win. I've bought many there that I considered to be a good bargain for me.

I’ve had firearms that sat on the rack for a year or 2 or 3 before I decided to put them on GB. Once they were put online they sold for more than I had them out for. Sometimes they sold for substantially more and in several cases they sold for double+. If you’re selling standard “current production” hunting rifles and handguns GB might not be worth the time but anything that’s collectible would be better offered on GB because the audience is vast.

Selling them on consignment at a LGS is fine if they’re not collectible but you’re probably still leaving money on the table. Very few times did something sell on GB for the same price I had on the in-shop price tag, 99% of the time they sold for more.

Selling a lot of firearms on GB is time consuming and you’ll be answering email after email but if getting the maximum amount possible from each one is important to you then I don’t see any way around it. It’s very likely that it’s time well spent.

Start it at a penny with no reserve and you’ll know what it’s worth in 7 days.......or search auction results to see.