Hi all.I'm old dog back again.I was member of ASSRA from 1985 till 2022.Have made some posts over the years also sold some thing from time to time,shot some of the postal matches to.I'm sorry to say I have to sell all my guns and shooting things that I used all my life and it's going to be a hard project to get done because I've got a lot of stuff that has to go.Has anyone got some good ideas how to get it all done.

Jack covered it well.  I buy and sell estates as a business, so I'll give you a couple more insights, from my perspective.

First, don't offer anything for sale until you have it all sorted and organized, to the best you can in the space you have.  Here's my rationale; I see this a lot.  People want to clear out stuff, and go pick out a few things and list them.  Interested parties come to buy, and ask if you have anything else.  You show them the stuff, they pick out a few things, make a pile, and make you an offer.  THAT OFFER IS ALWAYS VERY LOW, AND THE STUFF THEY PICK OUT IS THE MOST SALEABLE/VALUABLE.

After two or three people do this, you find the remaining stuff is very hard to sell.  You get discouraged.  You hire an estate seller, and they come and look and you tell them about the stuff you sold.  They tell you that they can sell the rest, but you gave up most of the value for a low price in the stuff the pickers already took.

If you are able, sell it all yourself for the greatest return.  Sell the rifles alone, and the accessories separate.  Buyers want the accessories for free or cheap if you group them.  Sell on ebay and gunbroker for the best prices and least problems.  Don't sell out of your house to people that come over, and unless you really want to help personal friends, don't sell to acquaintances.  Some of them will be scoundrels and rob you blind.

If you want to sell easily and for a fair price, I'd suggest contacting Joe Dobrzynski and see if he would take it on.  He does a great job of selling on both ebay and gunbroker, as well as here on the ASSRA forum.

If you do want to sell as a lot, take a good inventory, and ask buyers to give you a breakdown, at least of the high value items, and of the reloading/ammo/small stuff as groups or lots.  That gives you a way of evaluating the fairness of the bid.  Don't expect to pick and choose what you sell to them based on their breakdown, lot buyers make their money by the law of averages, they win some and lose some, but if you choose which pieces you sell, they will want to give a lower price for the lots you sell to them.  Get two or three bids on the inventory, and compare them before you make a decision.   

Not to be too self serving, but if you want to sell as a lot, I'd give you a bid, if there's enough to make it interesting to drive cross country.  I've done that before.  My wife would like to go to NYC, so that would be an incentive, too!

You might think about getting the guns to Rock Island Auction. Friend of mine thinned his safes down and was very happy.
The rest of it, get a gunshot table and sell it, or post the list at your local club.

With health issues I liquidated my collections.

I sold most items at Gun Shows over a three year period- mostly accessories, ammunition, powder, bullets, cases, primers, lube, loading equipment etc. but had people leave their contact information and bought rifles I had displayed later if not bought on site.
Better yet I won $2,000 on the 50/50 at one of the gun shows.

Most of my rifles I sold over online gun auctions in Canada which are GunNutz and GunPost. Not sure of American's similar websites.
Checking these sites also helps you to evaluate the correct price to sell your equipment for.

This resulted in the greatest value received since I was not paying a precentage to Auction Companies to sell my rifles on consignment or having someone try to buy it as a lot deal so they could resale and make a profit.

Do not list your stuff too low because everyone will want to negotiate a lower price.

Another problem I see with Internet information is most people who want to sell something Google it and see asked prices ( which are often wildly optimistic) or examples of pristine original rifles which is not typical of what most people have and shoot.  Top prices are for the virtually new, untouched, 98-100% original finish at well publicized auctions.  A 90% original finish, unmodified rifle is probably worth 1/2 the best example price.  Then there is all the time and expense involved in advertising and shipping and auction fees.

The point I'm trying to make is for realistic pricing expectations.

We had a shoot yesterday where an older gentleman had a Winchester 52B with "most" of the iron sights.  About 90% bluestock comb, butt plate had both been modified and 2 holes drilled in the bottom of the forend for a rest bar for our style of matches.  He ask me what I thought it was worth.  I told IMHO, as a shooter and as a local sale about $700.  It's a shooter, not a collector rifle.  He thought I was crazy.  He had seen model 52's advertised for sale for $1400-1600.  Google was not his friend.

I knew a guy who went to work for Amoskeag Auction as a kid working as a runner and general in-house butt boy. He stayed with them and after years and long hours became an expert on Winchester bolt rifles and rimfires and S&W. I never heard of any in-house employee bidding or buying lots as this was considered a serious conflict of interest. 

He pointed out to me years ago that most people with small lots and not big valuable collections come to them for convenience and security. Sellers were often ill owners, widows or family. Larger submittals, figuring that after the house takes their bite they will get less than they hoped for. But my friend’s argument was that their appraisal services are best in the country and almost all of the heavy hitter bidders/buyers never deal with Gun Broker or similar services as they don’t trust their listing details or condition evaluation. That given the right guns or collections the seller can actually realize more than anticipated as serious deep pocketed collectors are more concerned with filling in a collection hole than price. That you can save money bringing your guns to them.

My Uncle passed thirty-five plus years ago leaving my Aunt about twelve beautiful Italian and Basque made shotguns, nice Winchesters and two handmade Pachmayr rifles. The auction house came to her house, inspected them and gave her a provisional value. When she agreed they came back, wiped and wrapped the guns, boxed them, gave her a receipt with their value plus 20% and had them shipped with a bonded carrier. When it was over she realized about 10 to 15% more than she and trap shooter friends figured on. Not saying you or anybody should or could expect such results but it’s possible and more so with high quality or rare pieces. So if this interests you I’d make out a full complete inventory with all the numbers and features and make a call or two and see what comes up. Good luck

Rick

bpjack wrote on Mar 17^th, 2025 at 2:05pm:


bpjack just said what we were all thinking; except it's Stevens for me.... best of luck selling your stuff. 

Over a 20 year span I’ve sold 1100 items including 300 new & used firearms, mostly Browning & Winchester 1885 BPCR.  The non-firearms were sold on two sites, eBay & this forum.  The firearms were sold initially sold on GunsAmerica then GunBroker, but I switched to Guns International the last few years.  The most successful site is Gunbroker, but they get around 4% (about $80 on a $2000 firearm.  Guns International only charges $23 for a listing & has been a very successful for me.  When selling non-firearms, I check the current selling price from sellers such as MidwayUSA & other reloading sellers such as RCBS, Redding, Hornady, Lyman etc., then price the item at 50 to 75% of the retail price depending on the condition.  To determine a good sale price for firearms, GunBroker is the best source, but don’t use the current listing prices. Check the sold listings to find out what the firearms actually sold for.  Then I list the firearm on Guns International.  Also, you need to work up a good description & take good photos, which I do for all non-firearm & firearm listings.

Wayne