Ramblings on Gun Deals

We had a young- 30 something - gal around here a few years ago who would travel all over the region looking for a cheap or free horse supposedly for her 6 year old daughter who she always had with her.

She collected several dozen this way before the word got out she was actually shipping all the horses she collected for dog food. The $600- $700 she got per head was a tidy profit made on animals she usually got for free by appealing to other folks good nature.

wow... that is brutal. imagine giving away a horse that you were fond of because of her sob story and then finding out she had had it ground down for dogfood. what a POS, amazes me what people will do for a few bucks.
 
Had an effed up one a year or so back related to here. Listed a nice older and fairly rare 44 mag lever rifle. I let it run for a few days on a more local site before putting it here as I do somethimes. I'm carefull to use the E word but i said I can not see a mark on it. A fellow who's been around here a fair bit offered me 50 bucks less than asking. I went for it and thought it was kind of ironic as I bought the rifle from a friend of his.

Deal goes through then I get a pm on the other site (he has 0 posts there) saying the stock is cracked at the tang and "what am I going to do about it" WTF I'm thinking, am I loosing it? Damage during ship? Anyways I ask what he wants to do. He says send him 50 bucks he'll have the stock fixed and he'll be happy. He says he only noticed it when he took the stock off. I do so and ask for some pictures to see the damage mainly to see how the hell I could miss such a thing. I wait, wait, then get a pm that he tryed to take pics of the crack but it "was too dark in there" and pics won't show the damage but thanks for the 50 bucks.

I told him life's too short to worry about $50, but if he ever sees a rifle I've posted for sale, move along cause I won't sell it to him. To put it politely.


I only had one bad deal...I bought a rifle with a cracked stock, seller said he did not notice it..maybe he has bad eyes "who knows"... it was the first thing I noticed when I looked at the gun. In the sellers defense he did offer to take it back, but I kept it as we settled on a $50 reduction in price. In hindsight I should have sent it back to the seller as there were other issues, like the piece of credit card used to tighten the forarm and the loose mag tube. In the end I had the stock repaired for $75 and I fixed the rest myself. I guess every bodies version of excellent is different.....lesson learned I now know who not to deal with....

is this the same deal?
 
you should never settle for covering shipping back if it was was the dealer/seller's fault. there is no way i am paying even a penny for someone else's mistake or misrepresented item. Canada post shipping costs are ridiculous.

I wish everyone felt that way I purchased a Savage model 99 takedown and when I got it the barrel was loose. I notified the seller and he was real good about it and told me to see if I could get it fixed and he would pay the bill. I tried to find someone in my area that could do the work but without success. In the end I returned the rifle but got stuck for the return shipping.

I haven't made a lot of deals on here but just about everyone that I have has been a very positive experience. Most of the guys on here are here because they enjoy the gun hobby and will bend over backwards to encourage others to share in the fun.
 
Good deals are always in the eye of the beholder. I have paid big dollars for Browning BLR's because I collect them and I could not have gotten them anywhere else. I have bought and sold a tonne of stuff here and I always take customer satisfaction over making money. If a customer is not happy I refund their money. I have been burned a few times but honestly people were getting burned long before CGN ever came around. As one of the original CGN members I have been doing this for a long time and this board is what it is because of the guys like Doug, Dizzy Dan 1, Mad dog, Supercub, and the hundreds of others I have met and made friendship with over the years. I learned a few years ago from my good buddy Doug, buy a gun, have some fun with it, pass it on. Its a great philosiphy!
 
I find a lot of guys now don't bother to respond to PMs when it is appropriate to do so.

Just last week I PMed a fellow in response to his WTB ad on the EE. I offered to him free what he was looking for, but wanted him to cover shipping. It was a good deal to which he didn't even take the time to reply to. When that happens, they go on the ignore list for future reminder of who NOT to deal with.

.
 
I have had mostly really good luck dealing on CGN and have met some really great folks along the way(some I now consider good friends). Lots of dealings long before the trader rating ever came into effect and if IRC, all of those positive as well. Two dealings come to mind that were not very good but worked out in the end, but I do know two guys that I will never deal with again and warn others about them as well.

I have always tried to help out members if and when I can as well. Given away many items and shipped at no charge when I can and only remember a few who never appreciated it. Kept those in the back of my mind for future reference as well ;)

I would like to echo what Joe said. The EE is not what it used to be so be careful! With the amount of members we have now at CGN it is hard to catch all the dirt bags before they **** someone, but we try our best.
 
My only questionable deal was a scope I purchased from a long time member and active EE seller/buyer. Turns out the magnification ring was crooked and when I asked him about this, his response was he always left it turned to the highest power and "didn't notice it." Since it only cost me 10 bucks to ship back to Bushnell for warranty it was no big deal.

Buyer beware.
 
This is an interesting thread...but what about those of us that love hagglin'?

It does lend itself to hagglin' for me. It often takes a dozen or so emails and pm's to get a deal done. The person I deal with the most in my area, means pack a bunch of guns, drive 25 miles, spend an enjoyable hour or two, pack em all up and drive home. I'm only home a day or two a week. (long distance truck driver) I don't have the luxury of that much time to spare. I have my internet in the truck, so I can deal from anywhere, do transfers from anywhere, (even the U.S.) and ship when I get home. I've never had it so good.
 
There has only been one person that I had issues dealing with on this forum.He kept calling and calling and offering a little more each time,but still well below what I was asking.He fed me every line in the book,including not being able to afford his kids education if he paid me what I was asking.I then realized that he was buying and selling the guns for profit,so I refused to sell to him,and later sold the gun to someone else for more money.

I had something simular happen,I had a rifle for sale on the EE and i got a ridiculous low offer so imoved a little bit on price.I got a message back with a still low offer and the person explained that her and her husband bought rifles off the EE for as good of a price they could get so they could resell to local people for a profit. needless to say she did not get the rifle.
 
Thus far, all the transactions I've done through EE have gone very well. If I think the price is around fair market value, I'll just pay it straight out, because I hate dickering. If it is over priced, however, then I will give a fair offer along with an explanation as to why I think it is in the right ball park. If I know the fellow to have a good reputation and I'm the seller, I'll ship the gun out before the payment arrives. Sometimes, I'll ask the buyer to withhold payment until he sees the gun, but this is only for people I've gotten to know well enough to trust.
 
I've had many excellent dealings here as well. There are literally dozens and dozens of guys that I have never met that I would send a gun to on their word to pay later and have done so many times. And have had more than a few of them send guns my way before any payment was made.

A couple of things I would like to see more buyers come to realize is:

FIRM means FIRM. (It's surprising how many seasoned veterans on the EE don't get this.)

NO TRADES means NO TRADES. (I'm not interested in your grand pappy's super special customized Lee Enfield in exchange)
 
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I've had many excellent dealings here as well. There are literally dozens and dozens of guys that I have never met that I would send a gun to on their word to pay later and have done so many times. And have had more than a few of them send guns my way before any payment was made

made more than a few friends on here thru gun deals...some I've even met in person:D......

as BTK says above......I will put a gun in the mail tomorrow for some guys , even if he just wants to try it out, or see if one of his friends wants it....one of my rifles spent a month or two in Northern BC a while back..one that I barreled went to the Yukon to a gunnut for some "load work":)..not everyone wants to sit at the bench yanking the trigger on a 375 Weatherby....I don't..:D
 
I have had alot of good dealings on here. For the most part everybody is great. I have had a time where my price was insane until I caved and sold cheap and the next week it was back up at my original price......

The only real peave I have is guys that send pm's questioning condition and lean toward the conclusion that I have to be full of it, who then are angry and berating when they don't get a response.

The good far outnumber the bad on this site tho. I just don't the time to shoot my guns much right now, nevermind surf alot.

JT.
 
My last deal went real bad, lost $200. I went to buy a Millet DMS from a guy, sent the EMT and since he's been banned.
The Old "if it looks to good to be true don't buy" didnt apply as the guy had a trader rating and I paid fair market value.
Word of caution is get all the buyers info first. If he's a newb with a trader rating under 10, make him ship it first before you pay or send it COD. If he's got no trader rating and no posts proceed with extreme caution.
All in all my dealings have been great and Ive saved thousands vs. buying new at the store.

Cheers!!
 
99% of the deals I've been involved in and the people I've delt with have been AAA+. There's only been one:( that went a little south in that some of the smaller items/pieces that were part of the deal failed to 'materialise'. My attempts to get this corrected proved futile so I wrote the deal and individual off as a bad experience. There wasn't any big dollar value so I thought I'd just refrain from any future deals with him and leave it at that.
 
All my deals here have gone smooth! When I was still in university, I was a little bit of a haggler and bargin hunter, but everything always went well! I appreciate the guys who helped me out with some deals during that time!

Thanks to all I have bought from or traded with!

That being said I have not bought or sold anything since the trader rating has been in place... I hope this does not hinder any future deals!
 
So would you seasoned traders do a deal with someone who has no trader rating and only 1 or 2 posts? There's a deal on the EE that has me tempted, but I'm nervous about it, since the guy is an unknown. I'd do the deal in person, but I'm in Calgary, and he's in Vancouver.
 
So would you seasoned traders do a deal with someone who has no trader rating and only 1 or 2 posts? There's a deal on the EE that has me tempted, but I'm nervous about it, since the guy is an unknown. I'd do the deal in person, but I'm in Calgary, and he's in Vancouver.

i would if i was the seller. he has to get the money to you first, so in theory, you should be safe.
 
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