Selling on armslist.com (long post)

[JimmieG]

I don't have any armslist stories, as I ahve never sold anything on there, and I have never successfully purchased anything either, but I just want you to know that I found this story very entertaining!

I'm glad you enjoyed it

Wait, you weren't one of those guys who emailed me were you???

Just kidding.

 

[Expat]

I have bought and sold a few times on Armslist and never had too much problem. A few flakes would respond sometimes but who cares. Actually if you pay attention, you will see the same post on Armslist and INGO and some of the FB gun groups every now and then.

 

[223 Gunner]

I have bought and sold a few times on Armslist and never had too much problem. A few flakes would respond sometimes but who cares. Actually if you pay attention, you will see the same post on Armslist and INGO and some of the FB gun groups every now and then.

Yep. I have noticed some of the same ads on both INGO and Armslist, I am guilty of that as well.
I think Armslist must hit a larger audience than INGO, plus for whatever reason, some members think it is just "too much" or "not fair" to make 50 quality posts or become a site supporter, to participate in the classifieds on here.
It's not hard at all to get 50 quality posts in.

 

[JimmieG]

Yep. I have noticed some of the same ads on both INGO and Armslist, I am guilty of that as well.
I think Armslist must hit a larger audience than INGO, plus for whatever reason, some members think it is just "too much" or "not fair" to make 50 quality posts or become a site supporter, to participate in the classifieds on here.
It's not hard at all to get 50 quality posts in.

I can attest to that, I was surprised at how quickly I reached 50.

 

[Ggreen]

I have done my share of armslist transactions and have only had 3 that were questionable.
I had a Glock 31 chambered in .357sig, sold it to a guy for $500 (Factory Glock branded night sights), the very next day it was for sale at $700.
I felt lucky to $500 for it at the time. Anyway within a week or so, I put some of my .357sig ammo up for sale.
Met a guy (different guy), sold him the ammo for what I felt was a fair deal for both of us. The next day, not only was it up for sale or trade, he actually used my pics as well. That one really irked me.

I had those two experiences back to back, so I laid off of Armslist for awhile. The 3rd deal was the typical quit communicating as the time got close for the deal to go down, then after an hour past our meet time, I got a text from him wanting me to drive the item to him and take even less for it after he already beat me down. This was a tactical pistol light, not worth the effort I had already put forth.
I did reply with "No Thanks".

But I have had several good experiences. The key is to put a lot of info in the ad, without making it to lengthy and answer all possible questions to cut down on BS emails.

For instance if I were going to list an AR.
My ad would look something like this:

Colt 6920, 16in. CL barrel, 1/7 twist
Comes with box and all original accessories
Never steel cased ammo, and no mag dumps, rifle is in excellent condition with very little use.
I will only meet in day light hours in a public place, must be 18 with a valid IN DL, prefer a LTCH but not a deal breaker.
If the ad is up, then yes I still have it, no need to email and ask.

And take some good pics.
About pics on armslist, because I do occasionally see someone place an ad that says: Armslist won't post my pics.
The trick here guys, is set your camera to the smallest setting, the one that says for email.
Then you can upload 3 pics.

You can post full size pictures if you upload one at a time. after that go back to edit post and upload another full sized. It is a pain but it does allow you to put up 3 detailed photos.

===========

I often cross post between our classifieds and armslist, but usually I am cheaper on ingo. I refuse to travel out of my way for armslist deals anymore. I've been stood up over an hour away from my house after a few days of over the phone planning. I make sure to save their numbers as "Bad Deal 1,2,3..." It is amazing how many times I will hear from the no shows on other listings.

It is common to get lowball offers followed by hurt feelings, but you will usually get a lot more offers faster on armslist than on ingo. I've only had a few back out of deals on here and all with good reason and an appropriate amount of heads up. Armslist is a bit of a chore but there are some really good deals to be had when the stars align.

 

[bocefus78]

Yep. That's pretty much how it goes with armslist. No matter how well you write an ad, no matter how much under market you list it for, there's always some jackass who just had to email you and let you know your colt anaconda is only worth $250 because it's been shot, and there's always ridiculous trades offered. I've been offered a pitbull before. Seriously.

So now it's ingo only for me. Price it cheap, and it'll go fast with zero hassle.

 

[Winamac]

I have never listed on Armslist. Just GB with great results and here on INGO. I have been reading through these threads. Some of these trade offers you folks mention receiving are entertaining and HILARIOUS !! welding equipment, fishing poles, pit-bull dogs all as trade fodder? I could not keep a straight face reading some of these. Not to minimize your misfortune, but "Thank you" for the laughs. Can't wrap my head around it. LOL!!

 

[airrifle82]

Armslist for the most part is ok, as long as you're careful. Right now though with all the rebates and sales, lot's of times you can find a better deal on new.

 

[JimmieG]

There was one guy I felt a little sorry for, he obviously only had $50 less than I was asking so he enthusiastically asked me if I'd take $50 less. I politely replied that the price was firm and I got back the reply "ok thanks", but it seemed like it was a little mopey after his first email, like he was really sad.

I guess the bottom line for buyers is don't go after something you can't already afford. If you have the funds for the full price and you can negotiate it lower, then it's a win win for you. If it's something you really want, and you don't have enough and you get your hopes up that you can negotiate it down to what you actually can afford, then you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

[Expat]

If you posted something for free, there are some guys that wouldn't take it if he couldn't negotiate it down $50

 

[Ggreen]

If you posted something for free, there are some guys that wouldn't take it if he couldn't negotiate it down $50

I've advertised "free fill dirt" on another classifieds site only to have people sending me offers to pay them to come pick it up.

 

[Hopper]

As some others have stated, depending what I'm parting with, I'll sometimes cross-post on Armslist. I just did this recently with a couple items that didn't generate much interest on INGO, and maybe it's the way I carefully worded the ad, but I met two excellent buyers who were eager to show me their LTCH, and seemed very pleased with what they were getting from me. But... I've also gotten some whacko responses to ads in years past. The most interesting was someone in Broad Ripple who wanted to trade me tattoo work for what I was selling. I was as polite as I could be in saying "thanks, but no thanks". Hehh.

I agree with airrifle above ^^^ that factory incentives are hard to compete with right now when trying to sell used. But a nice thing about Armslist is that it does allow you to cast a wider net, which obviously comes at the price of a wider variety of potential buyers. Just be as careful as you can about who you're dealing with. For me, interested buyers who communicate in complete sentences have always been a good sign of character, and I make it a point to always speak to them over the phone ahead of time (IT guys will tell you that good security comes in layers). One guy I sold to last summer was replacing one that was stolen from him through an Armslist deal gone bad. One of the so-called buyer's buddies snuck up around the seller's truck and put a small pipe into his forehead, while the gun he was selling and the one he kept in his console were stolen by the pretend buyer.

 

[Beowulf]

I cross post almost everything I sell. I've gotten great deals on Armslist (both buying and selling) and I've gotten great ones on INGO. While I have gotten a couple of scam responses on Armslist, they are usually easy to figure out.

In fact, recently, it was INGO I had problems with people wasting my time and negotiating prices and then completely flaking and it was on Armslist, I got a trade offer for a one of the guns I've really wanted for a while (a Rhino 60DS .357).

So, I guess no real sales forum is perfect.

 

[JimmieG]

I cross post almost everything I sell. I've gotten great deals on Armslist (both buying and selling) and I've gotten great ones on INGO. While I have gotten a couple of scam responses on Armslist, they are usually easy to figure out.

In fact, recently, it was INGO I had problems with people wasting my time and negotiating prices and then completely flaking and it was on Armslist, I got a trade offer for a one of the guns I've really wanted for a while (a Rhino 60DS .357).

So, I guess no real sales forum is perfect.

Good point Beowulf, there's good and bad everywhere I suppose. Now that I think about it, maybe it was good that my first go-around with an online site turned out to go the way it did because I'm a little wiser now about selling guns online.

 

[seedubs1]

Yeah.....on Armslist, I completely ignore anything once it gets weird or something doesn't feel right. Too many spammers, scammers, and hackers. I could care less if someone else gets the last word and insults me.

Lots of weeding through crap to find a reasonable buyer on that site. But once I do, I've never had a bad experience other than one person that was a no show and never picked up the phone when I called or called me to inform me he wasn't showing up. Waste of an hour there.....

 

[LarryC]

Other than purchasing from C&R firearms from Dealer sites I have only made 2 purchases from Gunbroker. Both went pretty smooth although one confused me. I purchased a K31 Swiss rifle from another C&R individual. I paid his asking price and received the rifle in less than a week. When I opened the package I found a copy of an FFL-03 license, but expired and with a different name than the individual I had dealt with. I emailed him as I am required to enter the information in my "black book" for all C&R firearms. He responded that he had included a copy of his license. Turns out he had reused a package and left a C&R license in the old packaging ~ I searched the packing again and found his C&R. The last purchase I made on Gunbroker was for a new Armalite 50A1B (BMG 50 Cal). When I searched the web and dealers I found most were out of stock and the one I bought was $200 to $300 less than any listed. It was through an FFL dealer and went smooth as glass, It even included a heavy duty Bipod that was not listed valued at $200+!

 

[russc2542]

Yep. I have noticed some of the same ads on both INGO and Armslist, I am guilty of that as well.
I think Armslist must hit a larger audience than INGO, plus for whatever reason, some members think it is just "too much" or "not fair" to make 50 quality posts or become a site supporter, to participate in the classifieds on here.
It's not hard at all to get 50 quality posts in.

well, 50 good-enough posts anyway.

I haven't sold much so I don't have too many stories because I seem to have a decent eye for BS offers and just delete and forget about those emails before replying. Sure plenty of offers for "just tell me where you live and my agent will come pick the car up" (yea right, along with the rest of the contents of my garage that night) and "would you take half your asking price?"

Obligatory offer of a hi-point, hoping I've never heard of it and think it's worth more than $12 in trade.
Had a guy want to trade an AMT backup and some .32 revolver he seemed to think was worth north of $500 even though he couldn't tell me the name, model, or anything about it and the pics looked like it was a pile of rust.

I think I made out like a bandit selling my FIL's bike. POS chinese cruiser "hey we got this box of molds and a grainy photo of a crashed 25 year old honda rebel" that left him stranded more than my 4 bikes and all his previous bikes put together. Eventually traded for a DPMS "featureless" AR15, a savage 10 w/ cheap scope, and several hundred rounds between them. Pretty sure that horribly engineered, horribly built semblance of a bike has killed more people than most of our guns together.

It's all part of the fun. You get what you pay for on free advertising sites.

 

[98cirrus]

I listed a handgun on armslist.com. It's not an expensive gun to begin with it, and it had some blemishes on the nickel finish slide, so I priced it accordingly. Keep in mind I've never sold a gun online before, so I was just expection "normal" responses ending in a sale.


I had several of those mostly illiterate "I'm salivating for your gun" comments where you never hear anything else from the person.
I had several of the "your gun is ridiculously overpriced and I won't pay any more than 40% less than what you are asking!"
There were several sincere at negotiating a better price, but initially I had enough interest that I wasn't willing to cut the price just yet.


Always, in my responses, I was polite and thanked everyone for their interest, and in the end I had 3 offers that seemed reasonable and sincere.


The first seemed really solid, the guy definitely wanted to buy the gun, at my asking price. Then in his follow up email he said that he lives in Texas and he is making arrangements with his FFL and that he'd like to get my phone number and address and make arrangements for someone from his ffl to stop by and pick up the pistol.

Ummm, what???

Ok, so the guy is willing to pay for shipping, ffl costs, and to have someone pick it up? I emailed back, again being very polite, with a "no thank you", but I did include a link to where he could buy a new one online since he was willing to pay shipping and ffl fees.
Now, I'm sometimes slow on the uptake, but even I could see something was very wrong here, and a little scary.


So on to the next offer...


This guy is local, and he initially offers me $100 in cash along with a treasure trove of some sort of welding supplies and hand tools.
I never was sure what it was he was offering, but I politely declined but did tell him I'd consider other firearms as a trade.
I get an email back from the guy that said "good luck, you'll never get what your asking for that gun.".
At that point I had what I believed to be a solid offer (see #3) so I emailed back and said "oh ok, I better let the guy know who's buying it at full price." To which he replies "I bet he doesn't have a carry permit.". Huh? You think he can't buy my gun without a permit? lol at this point I'm thinking this is a kid who just can't afford the gun and is ticked because I wouldn't wheel and deal with him. I emailed back and asked he if was even old enought to buy a gun. He responsed back that he was 23 and has been buying guns since he moved to Indiana, and that I should "cut the bs" when doing business with a marine. Okee doke.


Ok, now to #3, the deal is done offer...


So I get an email from another local fellow who is really interested in the gun. A couple emails back and forth and he offers to buy it, at the asking price. I say "great, I'll call you later today to arrange the meet after work". A few pleasant emails back and forth with more details, and talk about how he's out enjoying the great hunting weather. Oh good, he's a hunter, I can put this to bed and use the cash from the sale to stock up on ammo!

Nearing the end of the day so I email him where I'd like to meet. No response. I call the number he left, no answer, voice mail message says "you have reached the voice mail of...(silence, no name provided)". I thought it was odd, but I left a message saying that I'm leaving work and that I can meet him within an hour.


No call back. I call again, this time it goes immediately to voice mail. I emailed again with no answer. The the agreed upon hour came and went I accepted that he had a change of heart, but I was really irritated at this point so I emailed and said "I don't mind that you changed your mind, but couldn't you have just said so instead of wasting my time?", and I took the ad down from armslist.com.


Around 8:30pm I get a text that says "Where are you located? I have the cash." Here go the willies again... I asked where he was and he responded that he was on the south side of South Bend. I responded that I wasn't really interested in going out at that hour to meet a stranger to do a deal concerning a gun. I told him if he was available the next day during the 5 o'clock hour and could be in a specific area, then text me and we can see about making arrangements. I never heard back from him.


So, that was my experiece with armslist.com.


Anyone else have fun stories to tell about it?

I just made a post on Armslist today. Glock 43, minty...ANIB. 550$. Within 10 minutes a guy texted me. We met a couple hours later in Dunlap. He had the cash, IN license to carry, and was over 21? It happened so quick, i thought my price was maybe too low? What do you all think?? Was it beginners luck?

 

[jfed85]

I used to do tons of buying, selling, and trading on armslist. Found lots of good deals and always got asking price for the guns I sold. Never had a problem...until I did. Was supposed to be meeting someone to buy a sig P320 for $500. Well, I got robbed of my $500. It was during the day in a public parking lot which I assume was under surveillance. Called the police and made a report and never heard anything back (didnt figure I would). So, ya...Instantly stopped using armslist and haven't since. It was an expensive lesson, but in the grand scheme of things it didnt put me out of a home and I didnt get hurt, so I guess it could have always been worse.

 

[baranjhn]

I've had similar experiences too and I've stopped using Armslist because of them.