I have a friend that over the years has accumulated a number of rifles and shotguns. He mentioned the other day that at his age he is never going to shoot some of these. Some are new, some like new. He mentioned he might want to sell about 35 of them.

What is your advice for him to liquidate these. I suggested to him we make a list of these guns and send the list to a couple of gun shops to see if they would be interested.

He knows he could probably get more money for them by advertising and selling privately but then he has no FFL nor does he want anyone to know he has this many guns in his house.

I would buy some but I am of the same age and it is time to be liquidating assets not acquiring them.

What are your suggestions?

Have a gun auction.

Put them on an auction, pretty simple and if you got nice stuff they will sell

In our Town the firemen sponsor a flea market every Wednesday. Cost is $ 5. I had some surplus guns and sold them from my tailgate in about an hour. I had checked with our police chief to see if there would be any problems since the sale is in a park. He said no problem and he stopped by early and bought 2 guns himself. I love living in a small town.

just to glob on here...

is there a website for gun values, like there is for automobiles? like a firearms version of Kelly Blue Book?

I have a few I might part with, but not near enough for an auction.

Online auction, He will get top price there. Wisconsin HiBid. They get stupid high prices lately.

Would an auction bring in enough extra money to pay for the commission he would have to give the auctioneer?

Yes.

How does he ship them without FFL? Or are you saying “local pickup only”?

For auctions he can set a reserve - so if they don't reach the reserve - the gun doesn't sell.

gun broker but you need to go thru FFL which is ahassle

you can ship long guns to thier FFL

you call verify all info then insure the package for every dime you have in the sale price, packaging , shipping cost so that if the package is lost you get paid you refund them their money and you aren't out anything but time.

you can send long guns USPS , you can not tell them it is a gun , say it is sporting goods or machine parts.
no ammo , just long guns and you can only sent them to FFL

if you sell handguns then you have your ffl send to the pickup ffl and you get prices on what that will cost up front

I have sold a few , they weren't auctions just people interested in them in forums like this , but not this one.

get a table at a gun show....

Find a Iowa hibid auction house and ask what the commission is? And ask how do they ship them.

just read this....I have shipped handguns UPS. Pretty simple process.

May a nonlicensee ship a firearm through the U.S. Postal Service?
A nonlicensee may not transfer a firearm to a non-licensed resident of another state. A nonlicensee may mail a shotgun or rifle to a resident of their own state or to a licensee in any state.

The U.S. Postal Service recommends that long guns be sent by registered mail and that no marking of any kind which would indicate the nature of the contents be placed on the outside of any parcel containing firearms.

Handguns are not mailable. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun.

[18 U.S.C. 1715, 922(a)(5) and 922 (a)(2)(A); 27 CFR 478.31]

too many rules....more to come and the shooting will still go on/increase because the nation is sick.

Auction is by far the best and easiest way.

I agree with the auction idea. Within 20 miles of me are three auction houses that hold monthly gun auctions. They take care of the FFL paperwork. The prices they get make up for the commission

Auction for sure. Just sold 6 at an auction. They brought way more than I thought they would.

I don't know where you're at in IA but Kramer Auction in Prairie du Chien WI has a few large gun auctions every year.

I think an auction would be the way to go also. I have been to quite a few auctions that had a decent number of guns for sale. All the guns sold and for a good price. With the state of the country when it comes to guns, I doubt he would have any problem getting rid of all he puts up for auction.

Most auctioneers charge a buyer's premium so the commission they take for selling is sometimes lower. Your friend should check with several auctioneers to get the best deal. Assuming he wants to sell as many guns as you say, most auctioneers should be anxious to get his business.

Thanks for all the ideas. I will tell him what I found out. It looks as though he should find an auction that has a sporting goods background and consign them to it.

One more question. Do you think 35 long guns would be enough guns for an auction on their own?

Yes.

The down side to the auction is you will be paid by check and may need to account for the "income". That is why I prefer a cash sale.

Dont go making lists and aending them off if you're trying not to show how many guns he has. Maybe send different lists of 5 to different people.

Im sure you have local guy that trades guns around all the time that would probably be a good source.

lot of the real estate agents in my area have online auctions for guns. Just contact them . They do all the work. .No reserve is a better deal. The way you insure that they bring what you want is YOU BID ON IT. Bidders aren't listed so no one knows if you bid . If it is below the reserve price just bid what you have to have for it....
Plus just list that buyer pays all commissions. That's how they do land auctions now...

The only downside for you bidding is you will have to pay the auctioneer's selling fee if your bid is the high bid. If there is any buyer's premium, you'd be stuck for that too. Around here most buyer's premiums are 10%.
I think right now is a good time to sell a firearm.

YES, ive seen people buy used guns for more than they would spend to get a new one.

thanks, BigBob!

Be sure to use the "advanced" search function to see what stuff ACTUALLY sold for, not asking prices.

My brother in law used to buy gun collections from private individuals for Scheels stores. Mostly antique guns, I think, but it may be worth calling them.

He doesn’t have any kids to leave them to or give them away?

Got a Cabelas near you?

PM me I can give you the number of a guy who would be very helpful finding a good auction.

I have a friend that buys collections. Pm me a list and I will pass it along.

Me?





You will be shocked at how little they will offer you most of the time.

Correct

The down side to the auction is you will be paid by check and may need to account for the "income". That is why I prefer a cash sale.

Yes but if he kept records of what he paid for them and put them on a 4797 form he would only need to claim the gain as income. He could also deduct that portion of the cost of selling to each firearm as well.

Bryce

Does anyone actually keep records of what they paid for guns? To each their own but I prefer the cash transactions.

Insurance purposes perhaps. Not that they'll give you anything close to what you paid if it gets stolen or a fire destroys it.

You don't have to file on a 4797 with the cost and selling price plus cost of sale, but you could list the income as capital gain income on schedule D and it would be subject to a considerably lower tax rate if the person is in the 25% bracket or more. Yes cash works but if a broker or dealer lists sales or costs as part of their business expense and you don't report they could find that you have defaulted on reporting your taxable income.

Bryce

The most effortless way would be to simply move to Canada and let them take them from you

If I kept records and my wife saw them I would be a dead man.

Yes cash would be the easist way but if you don't plan to report income and revenues from the sale of those assets then one may want to research closely how the cost of the assets are recorded or kept. You don't want income traced if you don't plan to report it.

Bryce

Going by people I know that sold guns to Cabelas that would be my last option. They don't give you crap but they sure mark them up when they hit the used gun rack.
I wouldn't trust any big box store to give a fair price.

Might call Brownells, They have some Used Racks in the store in Grinnell,

I have no idea how they are to sell to.

There was an on-line gun auction here that just ended a couple days ago. Remington 870 Wingmaster brought around $68. It will cost the buyer less than $100 after buyers premium, tax and transfer fees. The seller will likely get around $50 after commission. Auctions are always a gamble.

Sweeney auction in Waukon iowa does too.

That’s us when you bid on it yourself !
No way that gun goes for that price if the auction brokers know what they are doing that won’t happen

I've bought a few through HiBid and other web auction sights. One thing I do on current production firearms is find what the going price is new, knock 25% off of that and then figure in fees and taxes and place a max bid. Older guns entail more figuring, such as is it one of those I got to have it or low production caliber. I have bought a few Ruger No 1 at $400 and SKB shotguns for similar prices, but they are few and far between.

In the last collection I bought that had Ruger No. 1's I paid $1,000 to the owner.