Grading firearm condition and wood quality on EE

I discovered the description "locks up tight" can mean "sort of tight when the fore end is attached". Meanwhile the gun is loose and off face and requires $400 repair to do it right by building up the hook.

(edit): Sorry, to be clear that was a deal outside of EE and my EE transactions have been mostly stellar or almost stellar. Face to face or by EMT & shipping I have to say this is a great community of trading partners.
Probably best you can do is face to face but if not then its worth it to ask for more photos or talk by phone if any doubts of condition.
 
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One of my pet peeves. There is a well recognised rating system by the NRA, complete with high quality pictures of examples of different categories of firearms in varying condition. This system is used in the USA and Canada by most reputable retailers and private sellers alike. While it can't replace a detailed in hands inspection it can come remarkably close and is light years ahead of different people's subjective opinions. Expressions such as 'near new', 'exceptional condition', 'beautiful', 'great condition', 'sweet' mean completely different things to different people and are worthless. And don't get me started about 'excellent condition with (add your own defect) some blueing loss in wear areas, worn rifling, pitted bore, "minor" dents and scratches, metal pitting, polished out engraving and markings, broken or missing parts, etc'. If it is classified Excellent it does not have ANY of these defects, period. Excellent, great, marvellous outstanding condition for it's age only means that it is old, worn and is better than at least one other that this person has seen, at least in pictures. It is in no way descriptive of the actual condition of the firearm.
Most CGN vendors are capable of properly asessing the guns they have for sale if asked the correct questions and aren't trying to deliberately mislead a prospective buyer but sometimes their enthusiasm for a particular gun clouds their ability to be objective in assessing condition.
For any purchase not in person ask lots of questions, get lots of detailed pictures and ask more questions about things that show up in these pictures that weren't initially mentioned. If the answers don't add up, only poor quality pictures are provided or not the ones you ask for, just move on. Businesses and private, there are a few vendors who will misrepresent a product, life is too short to waste time on them.
 
My favourite is when a defect is minimalized. Ie: "crack at wrist, tight not going anywhere" or "cracked stock like all these models have" or the best "missing part, can get it anywhere for 5.00" I even hear this stuff in gun shops.

Darryl
 
Anyone with a half decent trader rating is going to be fairly reputable to deal with. I always err on the side of caution; if I say "NIB" it is literally still in the box. "Mint" is basically taken out of the box and moved 6 feet into the safe. "Excellent" means I've taken it out to the range a few times... then back to the safe. You're all right in that condition can be very subjective. What is "mint" to someone else might be "good" or "ok" to someone else's standards.
 
What is your fascination with starting a new thread every time you see something on the EE you have an issue with? Who cares...just move on if you dont like what you see...
 
Maybe we could encourage the NRA standards in the feedback section.
For example, instead of: great nutter, fast shipping,great comms etc. we could enter: received as accurate NRA standard.
I don't know, might too much to ask.
 
So, I know the NRA grading system is gold standard (other than direct inspection) for you guys who buy, sell a trade a lot - but just from a different perspective, "NRA Very Good" sounds pretty impressive but means nothing to me. If someone advertises a gun I'm interested in - or wants to get me interested in - just give me make and model - stage of life - anything glaringly bad (or really cool) - and offer more pictures for those interested.

From my point of view I'm happy if the seller tries honestly to convey what he's got - and then answers questions honestly.

Pictures! EE ads without pictures stand about as much chance as dating service ads without pictures.

So there's a different buyer profile that you might want to include in your ads - along with the NRA grading. :cool:

Rob!
 
Just take some time reading the guy's feedback. If he's got 20+ 100% feedback I would trust he's descriptions as long as it's not a milsurp item.

My buddy got screwed over by dude(who claimed himself a doctor) with 100+ feedback, but I've been lucky so far.

Surplus is a different story, plenty of "good condition for the age" and stuff LOL, better deal locally IMO.
 
Grading firearms I find the book values low to begin with. Grade your firearm at the percentage of condition then add 100 dollars to sell them seems to be about the going rate IMHO. As for condition of people judging their own firearms, most people have some personal attachments and think they are better than they are. What is a gun worth with no clip? What is a rifle with scope with no caps worth? Pitted barrel is it 60%, 70% 80% or is it 40%? Does a rusted, pitted barrel make a 22 worthless or is it worth 100 dollars? Good metal and stock has the finish coming off so what do you rated that? There is mechanically good and not eye pleasing and vice versa. Beauty is in thee eye of the beer holder. CHEERS!
 
Here it is all about the pics and their quality for me especially on the vintage firearms
Condition terms vary on the EE IMO based on individual interputation today and their collection, exposure etc etc. It is the same on vintage cars
What maybe rare and mint to some is not to a guy that bought them new and has 1/2 a dozen salted away and truly mint
I don't know how struff 55 can sell guns here with no pics but hey if it works to each their own
Cheers
 
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