Oh I know they gotta make money no hard feelings there. I'm talking about shops that only give $200 for a used glock. We know they're out there and that's ****ing your customer.The shop I worked at, people used to claim we "lowballed" them, until they went to another shop. Shops are in a unique position: They have the gun you want, you bring in yours to trade, they can usually command a lower trade in value as they offer the convenience of the on-the-spot trade. If you sold to a person, the time to list the ad, to chase after tirekickers, to get it sold, meet up (and the inherent risk anymore due to thugs and hoods), sell and then go back to the store, if you calculated it in terms of hours, even at $10 an hour, you are still losing out. They have overhead they have to maintain, etc... I always hated when someone came in and it goes like this:
Hey, I want to trade in my Glock 26 for that new Judge Taurus came out with.
Okay, I can give you $300 in trade value for the G26.
I paid $500 for the gun new! I won't take a penny less than that.
(after some calming thoughts) So if I give you $500 in trade value on your G26, I will make no money on the transaction. What price would I put the G26 up for in my case? $505? The time speaking with you, the lights on right now, etc... all cost money. Combine with the fact that giving you $500 in trade on the Taurus, I am now out any potential capital to keep running the store, in addition to losing the money we paid for the Judge.
(Some deliberation) Okay, if you do $480, that should cover your power bill for the day, right?
It's not a scam, it's business.
On the other hand, the smaller stores I've given up on. The worst gun store rhetoric and lies I've ever heard were from smaller stores. Often staffed with overenthusiastic and undereducated employees. "Oh, yeah, the military is thinking of going to the Sterling AR-180 that you are fondling, it has 1:7 twist and is MOA accurate" (they are none of these things) That one was my favorite. They rarely will order anything for you, often claiming "we can't get that" (true or not), wanting to sell one of the 2 Glocks or 1 Mossberg they have on the shelf when I'm looking for an AR lower or something. ALOT of these folks popped up during the last few panics and honestly, if they do not offer some value added service other than "Hey, buy guns from us, we're new!", they will not last the harsh Indiana winters.