If you own firearms, you may wonder about selling firearms on consignment. There are many lines of thinking about this, but if you’d like to sell your guns for a fair price, consignment can often help you get the best price for your guns.
Before you get started, there are a few things you should know in order to make sure you enter into the firearms consignment process as informed as possible.
How Does Firearms Consignment Work?
First, it’s important to understand how consignment works in general. A consignment sale is one where the owner of the item (you) remains the owner until the piece is sold to a third party. What that means is that you take your firearm to a consignment store and make an agreement that they will sell it on your behalf since they have access to more people interested in purchasing firearms than you do. You go home but retain ownership of the gun. When the shop sells the gun to a third party, you receive relinquish ownership and receive payment.
3 Things to Know about Gun Consignment
- Consignment Fees Since the gun consignment shop is doing work to bring your gun to a new owner, they receive a portion of the sale price. This consignment fee is not paid until the firearm is sold. There should be no upfront costs to firearm consignment. However, consignment fees can range from 15-25%. Make sure you know what the consignment fee is and why. A lower fee is not always better – it may mean you get a lower price for your firearm or it takes longer to sell since the shop does not intend to work hard to sell it. Alternately, a high fee is not always better. It may simply mean the shop wants more money. Make sure you know whether the fee is fair for the work that’s being done.
- Firearm Promotion In order to sell well, it’s important to understand how your firearms will be promoted. Some shops take high quality photos and get a full, detailed description of the firearm to provide to potential buyers. This can increase the likelihood that buyers will come in to see your item. Some shops have a special rack designed for guns that are on consignment. Regardless of what their practice is, it is important that you understand how your item will be promoted and how likely it is to sell.
- Licensed Dealers There are plenty of people who are willing to take a cut of your profit in exchange for selling your firearm. However, if these shops are not properly licensed on a local, state and federal level, this can spell trouble for your consignment deal. Make sure you’re working with a professional firearms consignment shop that is properly licensed at all required levels.
Firearms consignment can be an excellent way to get the best value for your firearms. However, it is not something you should jump into uninformed. If you still have questions about firearms consignment, we’re happy to help. Feel free to contact us to learn more about firearms consignment in your area.
