Suggestion for buy/sell forums

bclark1 · January 23, 2007, 04:15 PM

I've got to be honest - as rude as it is when people make a post explaining why a particular item for sale is a bad deal, I'm tempted to more often than I should be, and I think it's in turn rude when people are taken aback when I have PM'd them what I feel is a fair offer lower than what they wanted. While a fan of free markets, I think in a community like this, it would be nice to help both the people who wish to sell their items faster at a reasonable price by helping them discern what price it would sell at, and the folks who pay more for a used gun than a new one would've cost them. I think a lot of this stems from the discrepancies in markup from state to state, but I don't think that just because someone got a bad deal the first time around they ought pass that bad deal forward to the next owner. Being from Illinois, it's particularly frustrating, as guns seem to be considerably more expensive there, and I do feel it's a shame when I see people pay $450 for a used gun that goes for $350 new over at CDNN, or scoff at an offer on a used gun that is a mere $50 less than what you could come by a new one for in one of the group buys. Has there ever been any thought given to trying to level the playing field by posting some sort of gun valuation tutorial in the respective forums where the wheeling and dealing goes on? I know this is contrary to the seller's interests, but I think (with all due respect) that we've got a lot of people around who aren't terribly internet savvy and stand to get burned because they don't know how to do the "smart shopper" thing.

**Mal H** · January 23, 2007, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Has there ever been any thought given to trying to level the playing field by posting some sort of gun valuation tutorial in the respective forums where the wheeling and dealing goes on?

Not that I know of, and I seriously doubt that there will be.

I understand your concern for the buyers of goods on the various B/S/T forums here, but you must also understand that those forums are not the raison d'être for TFL. We have always gone by the "caveat emptor" principle in moderating the B/S/T forums. Therefore, there is actually relatively little moderating we do in them.

Quote:

... we've got a lot of people around who aren't terribly internet savvy and stand to get burned because they don't know how to do the "smart shopper" thing.

Quite honestly, those people shouldn't be buying anything on the internet, much less a firearm. It might sound callous, but if someone doesn't want to do about 10 minutes worth of research before buying an item for several hundreds of dollars, then don't they get what they have bargained for?

bclark1 · January 23, 2007, 06:49 PM

Agreed, and that was sort of what I had anticipated as a response. I was just curious if it might strike a chord. Granted it is unlikely there's more than a handful of people like this but I can't help but picture older relatives stumbling around the internet and overpaying dramatically for something because the local shop didn't carry it or something. Unlikely scenario, I know. I also figure that by keeping prices reasonable more people might be able to get into the shooting sports, but that's a much broader initiative than just message boards.

Points well taken, though.

January 23, 2007, 04:15 PM	#1
bclark1 Senior Member Join Date: January 5, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,531	Suggestion for buy/sell forums I've got to be honest - as rude as it is when people make a post explaining why a particular item for sale is a bad deal, I'm tempted to more often than I should be, and I think it's in turn rude when people are taken aback when I have PM'd them what I feel is a fair offer lower than what they wanted. While a fan of free markets, I think in a community like this, it would be nice to help both the people who wish to sell their items faster at a reasonable price by helping them discern what price it would sell at, and the folks who pay more for a used gun than a new one would've cost them. I think a lot of this stems from the discrepancies in markup from state to state, but I don't think that just because someone got a bad deal the first time around they ought pass that bad deal forward to the next owner. Being from Illinois, it's particularly frustrating, as guns seem to be considerably more expensive there, and I do feel it's a shame when I see people pay $450 for a used gun that goes for $350 new over at CDNN, or scoff at an offer on a used gun that is a mere $50 less than what you could come by a new one for in one of the group buys. Has there ever been any thought given to trying to level the playing field by posting some sort of gun valuation tutorial in the respective forums where the wheeling and dealing goes on? I know this is contrary to the seller's interests, but I think (with all due respect) that we've got a lot of people around who aren't terribly internet savvy and stand to get burned because they don't know how to do the "smart shopper" thing.

January 23, 2007, 06:49 PM	#3
bclark1 Senior Member Join Date: January 5, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,531	Agreed, and that was sort of what I had anticipated as a response. I was just curious if it might strike a chord. Granted it is unlikely there's more than a handful of people like this but I can't help but picture older relatives stumbling around the internet and overpaying dramatically for something because the local shop didn't carry it or something. Unlikely scenario, I know. I also figure that by keeping prices reasonable more people might be able to get into the shooting sports, but that's a much broader initiative than just message boards. Points well taken, though.