May 21st, 2012

How to Sell Guns and Gear Online

Cash MoneyThe summer shooting season is nearly here. That means many of you need to raise cash or move older items to finance your new toys. What’s the best way to sell gun gear and accessories quickly? In today’s world, the Internet provides the easiest, most economical means to sell precision firearms, high-end optics, and specialized reloading tools. On our AccurateShooter Forum, we have a very active Marketplace with FREE Classifieds for registered Forum members. If an item is priced attractively, even a big-ticket item, there’s a good chance it may sell within 48 hours or even sooner. One Forum member told us: “Stuff sells fast on your Forum. I had a take-off barrel on the Savage Forum for a couple weeks with no takers. I put it up on the AccurateShooter Forum and it sold the same day.”

Free Classifieds

The Benchrest Classifieds operated by Benchrest Central is also a good place to sell benchrest guns (both centerfire and rimfire), actions, scopes, rests, and reloading tools. Benchrest Classifieds listings aren’t free, but the $3.00 basic fee is nominal.

Gun Auction Sites

Gunbroker and Auction Arms
The mainstream gun auction sites such as Gunbroker.com and Auction Arms have large audiences. These sites are good choices for selling factory rifles, shotguns, or pistols. Gunbroker.com is a bigger site than Auction Arms, with much more traffic. That means more potential buyers, but it also means you’ll be competing with many more sellers. Both sites allow you to set reserve prices, and offer “Buy It Now” (fixed price) options.

How Much Will It Cost?
Listing fees and policies for the important gun classifieds and online auctions are listed below. Check the pricing structure carefully. Gunbroker.com and Auction Arms have sliding-scale fees based on a complicated formula. But basically, the higher the auction price, the more you pay. For a rifle with a $1000.00 high bid, the fee is roughly $26.00 at close of auction. For a $2000.00 sale, the fee would be about $41.00. For a gun sold at auction for $3500.00, the fee would be $63.50. GunsAmerica has tiered fees due on sale–$10 minimum plus another $10 each time you pass a $1K mark. For example, the fee for a $1001-$2000 sale is $20, while the fee for a $2001-$3000 sale is $30.00. That makes a FREE listing on AccurateShooter.com or a $3.00/mo listing on Benchrest Classifieds look very attractive.

Classified Advert vs. Auction
For a precision benchrest, F-Class, Tactical or High Power rifle, you may get the best results posting a For Sale ad on a Forum that caters to the right discipline. You want your ad to reach the right “niche” audience. On the other hand, a GunBroker.com auction will have tens of thousands of potential buyers. For our Shooters’ Forum Classifieds, we’ve found that, if you price your rig attractively (and you provide good photos), your gun should sell quickly. Plus with conventional Classifieds, you can sell immediately–you don’t have to wait for an auction to end. For scopes and reloading equipment (but not firearms, actions, barrels etc.), also consider eBay. Many gun-related items are still allowed on eBay and it does have a huge audience.

Online Sales Options — Classifieds & Auction Sites
Website AccurateShooter Benchrest.com Gunbroker.com AuctionArms GunsAmerica
Service Sale, WTB, or Trade Sale, WTB, or Trade Auction +
Buy It Now		 Auction +
Buy It Now		 Sale or Auction
COST FREE Listing
No Fee on Sale.		 Insert Fees:
$3.00/30 days
$5.50/60 days
$7.00/90 days
No Fee on Sale.

Free for items under $25 price.

 Free Insert.
On Sale: $1.25 plus 2.5% of $25-$1000 plus 1.5% of $1000+		 $4 signup. Free Insert.
On Sale: $1.25 plus 2.5% over $25 to $1000. Over $1000 is $26 + 1.5% of price over $1000.		 Guns:
$10 up to $1K
$20 up to $2K
$30 up to $3K
$10 minimum
Non-Guns:
2% of price,
$2 minimum
Photos Free Unlimited
Free Hosting		 Up to 3 photos, 300 pixels max
Free Hosting		 10 per item
Free Hosting		 10 per item
Free Hosting		 One Image Free. $2 for
2-5 more images.
Text Limit No limit 1000 words No limit No limit n/a
Time Limit No Limit 30-day terms 30-day Auction 30-day Auction 7 days or 60 days
Comment Good deals sell fast! Very easy to use. But, old ads don’t self-delete. Good deals sell fast. Logical categories. Small photos. Listing process somewhat difficult. Too many commercial sellers. Bad customer service. Must have Credit Card on File. Not many precision rifle buyers. Server can be slow. Small photos, hard to navigate, many outdated ads. Complex upgrade options.
Customer
Service		 Active Moderator. E-mails answered promptly. Webmaster answers E-Mail promptly. Hopeless.
No Phone #. Confusing FAQs. Emails not answered.		 Support person responds to phone and email. No phone #. Extensive FAQs. E-mail sometimes answered after 2-3 days.
Top Level
Showcase 		Yes. 15 newest ads appear at top level. None Yes. $5 extra fee for Showcase. Yes. Java feed of closing auctions Yes. New and Featured Listings (extra fee).
Traffic 8,500+
visits/day		 n/a #1 Online Auction* 55,000+
visits/day*		 70,000+
visits/day*
* While these major auction sites have lots of traffic, their traffic is distributed over many thousands of auctions. It’s easy to get lost on the big sites. AccurateShooter.com and Benchrest.com offer a much higher ratio of visits per listing.

To learn more about selling guns and gun accessories online, read our full feature story on Online Gun Selling and Auctions. This story includes Sure-fire Tips for Selling online, plus advice on how to take and upload the right kind of photos. Products with photos sell much faster.

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