Massachusetts Firearm Consignments – The Anti How To Guide

Are you looking to sell your guns on consignment? You might be surprised to learn that we very rarely offer to consign someone’s firearms. You might be even more surprised to learn that the reason is that it’s usually not a very good option for the person looking to sell their firearms.

Not enough time to read this now, jump to the end to see our top three things to consider about firearm consignments.

Why consigning firearms is not the best option for most people

Tombstone Trading Company is the premier gun shop for used firearms in Massachusetts and many people are surprised to find, shocked even, that we rarely consign firearms. Our reasoning is simple on why firearm consignments are usually not the best option for the seller.

When choosing to sell a firearm on consignment, the seller typically must wait to get paid. Sometimes that wait can be months or even years before they get paid for their firearm. If the firearm is unique and maybe has limited possibilities to be sold, the gun may never sell. This often leads to frustration on the part of the seller.

Another point to keep in mind is that while your firearm sits in a gun shop, waiting to sell, people are handling the gun. If you choose to take your firearm back, there may be some “handling marks” caused by people checking it out. Maybe they bang it into another gun when putting it back in the rack or something similar. This does not happen often, but it might be a possibility and when you sell your gun on the spot, you do not have to worry about such things.

The consignment process starts with the seller determining how much he or she would like to get for their gun and then the gun shop adds their consignment fee on top of that cost. Often, this prices the firearm above the realistic price for that gun and slows down the sales process. The gun shop often does not care because they want the merchandise displayed in their store. If someone mentions that the gun is way overpriced, the shop can simply say “it’s on consignment, nothing we can really do about it.”

Maybe the gun shop follows up a couple months later, asking the seller if they would like to lower their price so that the gun can be sold. The whole cycle repeats until the seller either gets less than they were originally asking, or they eventually take the firearm back, disappointed that it did not sell.

Most people are also surprised to find that if their firearm does not sell, that they must go through a background check just as if they were buying a firearm. Gun shops cannot simply just hand back a firearm to someone that chooses to end the consignment.

Buying guns from a shop with a lot of consignments may not be the best option for you

It may seem counter-intuitive to think that buying guns from a gun shop that deals with a lot of consignments is bad.

Part of the culture of gun shops is “making a deal” when you buy a gun. People often ask “is that the best price?” when buying a gun. Sometimes a gun store can work with you on the price, sometimes not. It all depends on multiple factors, like how much did the gun cost the shop to purchase, what is the current market demand, is the gun rare or extremely collectible? Many factors come in to play.

When dealing with consignment firearms, the gun shop must always keep in mind the price the seller wants to get paid. The gun shop then still needs to add their consignment fee on top of that price. Negotiating a deal on a consignment firearm often requires the shop owner or manager to call the person selling the gun to see if they will lower their price on the gun. Many times, that person is not available at the time the transaction is occurring. This leads to frustration for the potential buyer as they may not be able to get an answer at the time they want to buy the gun, requiring at least one more drive back to the store. Additionally, this can also can be a bad option for the seller as the potential buyer may find that gun at another gun shop and purchase it there and they lose out on finally selling their gun. Lots of opportunity for disappointment.

Also keep in mind that if your gun is on consignment in a shop, which guns do you think they will try to sell first? The ones they own, or your gun that did not cost anything to put in the case or hang on the wall?

Tombstone Trading Company owns their inventory

At Tombstone Trading Company, we own our inventory. This makes the entire purchase process much simpler for the buyer. If we can offer a discount on a firearm, we do not have to try and get someone on the phone and see if they are willing to lower their price. Does that mean we can discount every firearm in the store? Of course not, for many of the reasons stated above, but we certainly do not have to check with anyone.

When you sell your firearms to Tombstone Trading Company, we write you a check on the spot. No waiting to get paid. If you don’t have a checking account to deposit our check, our bank is just a couple miles and a few minutes down the road and you can drive right over and cash it.

Should you sell your firearm on consignment?

Ultimately, the choice is up to you. Do you want to get paid on the spot or do you not care if it takes possibly months or longer to get paid? Do you want to get phone-call after phone-call to see if you are willing to lower your price or do you want to just be done the first time?

For over 20 years, Tombstone Trading Company has been working with people looking to sell their guns and have earned the reputation of making fair offers on used guns. We always try to do the best we can and be reasonable with people when they are looking to sell their guns. We have bought collections as small as one gun to well over 100 firearms.

We welcome you to come in with your used guns and we will do our very best to work with you on a fair offer and get you paid without having to wait.