Am I wrong?

Yes this is the legal way for a gun shop to do a consignment. By law they need to enter the item into there bound book and note it as a consignment. They will also need to transfer it back to you out of there bound book if you pick it up. Charging you is a real lousy way of doing business. Do not do business with them again
 
Why even bother putting anything on consignment? Sell it here and keep more money in your pocket. I would consider it a lesson learned and probably do business elsewhere in the future.

Sometimes for weird stuff or trash grade guns you don't want to stand behind, it's the only way. I sold most on my own but consignment is valuable in some circumstances.

-Mike
 
There’s no 1099-MISC needed for a consignment sale if this was from his personal collection. If firearms were how he put food on the table, and in the ordinary course of business he used a third-party to sell his wares, then maybe. But I’d argue against that too.

Not arguing.

But consign anything to any shop - not just gun shops - or sell $600 on eBay in a calendar year - a 1099-MISC is headed your way if you live in Mass.

I hope you keep receipts cause Mass DOR assumes you paid nothing.
 
Sometimes for weird stuff or trash grade guns you don't want to stand behind, it's the only way. I sold most on my own but consignment is valuable in some circumstances.

-Mike

AGREED.

The first time some dick complains the gun you sold him privately is scratched (or whatever) that 20% is going to seem awfully cheap.
 
If you're paying 50% commission/fee for someone to sell a gun for you, you are being ass raped.

I never said "GUNS".

50% is prolly crazy for Real Estate or Vehicles too.

But for average shit 50% is great - if you can get it at all.

Your eBay "Assistants" demand 50% and $50 minimums. Even then these people are few and far between.

And that includes anything eBay lets them sell - which ain't firearms anyways.
 
Over the past two months I placed a couple of rifles on consignment at a LGS, they sold them and took 20%, their share for the two $560 - no issue.

I’ve had a pistol on consignment for about 3 months hasn’t sold. So I picked it up today and told them I’m planning on bringing another in.

They transferred the pistol, which was on consignment, back to me and charged me a $25.00 transfer fee. I was a little put off by the fee. Am I wrong here?

THIS shop is your fall guy?

How about the endless supply of shops charging $50 and up for a TRANSFER?
 
My guy charges $30 per transfer, used to be $25. No idea on consignments. Probably $20 just for it to sit in his shop.

RC
 
I've never paid over 15%. Most often I've paid 10%.

Yea, all it costs them to sell a consignment gun is the paperwork and counter space and maybe the labor to lock them up in the safe. I used to pay 10% but that was a long time ago and I was doing a lot of consignments at the time.

It's the law that they have to book it in and then out, but it stinks that after paying 20% for the consignments they hit you with the transfer fee. Time to find another dealer.
 
THIS shop is your fall guy?

How about the endless supply of shops charging $50 and up for a TRANSFER?

They're both acting in a manner that isn't going to drum up new business or produce repeat customers. It doesn't seem like he knew he was going to be charged. Potentially he didn't read the consignment agreement if there was one. The shops that charge crazy $$$ for transfers, are at least usually bold enough to advertise it.
 
Yea, all it costs them to sell a consignment gun is the paperwork and counter space and maybe the labor to lock them up in the safe. I used to pay 10% but that was a long time ago and I was doing a lot of consignments at the time.
Plus the rent or mortgage, labor for showing it to countless tire-kickers, insurance while it's in their
possession. I agree, it only takes a couple minutes to do the paperwork, but the overhead adds up. But still, on a failed consignment, there are risks on both sides. No sales means no commission, transfer back should be free.

They seem to be dumb enough to out themselves by advertising it. There's a shop near me charging $75 for outside purchase transfers. Amazing
Ouch!
 
I think the op is correct for being upset over the $25 fee. Paying the fee and never doing business with them again is the option. Telling them why you'll never do business with them again is also the right thing to do. Calmly and professionally.

Years ago I took my pickup truck in for a 4 wheel brake Job. I had to sit and wait for it because I had no ride to get back. While I was sitting in the waiting room I looked through the window and saw they had all 4 tires off the truck and it dawned on me that I needed a tire rotation. I asked the clerk to also have them rotate the tires (simple front to back). When I checked out they added $30 charge to rotate the tires. I called him out on it and said dang man they had all 4 wheels already off the truck $30 to slide them front to back seems stiff. His response was they have to charge for what they do. I told him I felt adding $30 to an $800 brake job for sliding the tires front to back is crazy.....but I'll pay it.....and I'll never be back and I will tell anyone I know needing a mechanic what to expect here.
 
It also depends on whether there was an agreed upon consignment period, and whether the OP wanted to retrieve it before that period was up. Hasn't happened to me but I've seen where a person puts up a gun for consignment then finds a buyer elsewhere and wants to avoid getting whacked with a % so he gets his gun back and does a FTF. In this specific situation the shop made some good money selling the other guns(more than they would selling NIB guns), I would think to keep a customer happy they would do the xfer for free but I don't know all the details here. For my regular customers I lower the consignment % and/or xfer fees, sometimes doing it for free if the person they bring in leads to another regular customer.
 
Customer acquisition is expensive. Way more than the $25 xfer fee. Reputation, trust and integrity are fragile and critical.

IMHO a very shortsighted policy that not only poisoned one customer, but has the potential to poison anyone who reads this thread.

I would think to keep a customer happy they would do the xfer for free
 
They seem to be dumb enough to out themselves by advertising it. There's a shop near me charging $75 for outside purchase transfers. Amazing

this is a different issue. when online sales got more popular a few guys did this to discourage people from using them for that purpose. most kept face to face transfers for used firearms reasonable
 
Plus the rent or mortgage, labor for showing it to countless tire-kickers, insurance while it's in their
possession. I agree, it only takes a couple minutes to do the paperwork, but the overhead adds up. But still, on a failed consignment, there are risks on both sides. No sales means no commission, transfer back should be free.

Ouch!

There's not much downside- fun example- Four seasons became the biggest in large part because of consignments and that used gun page he has. It's basically free inventory and they make way more at 15 or 20% than they would on a new gun. No up front capital. Granted there's always a few people that bring junk in, but hosting a few clunkers is still way cheaper than putting up capital for new guns.... half a gun store of guns to sell with the price being just space...
 
Sell it here and keep more money in your pocket.
wish it was that easy. some guns languish forever even with significant price drops. you have to have something that's marketable. i don't know the op's situation, maybe it was up here. i'm thinking there was paperwork involved when he brought it in. if not and it was me, i'd ask for some. most of that paperwork explains fees. could be a clause that said if you remove a gun from consignment before a certain amount of time you get charged a transfer fee.
 
20% consignment fee is reasonable. A transfer fee to return a consigned gun to its rightful owner is not.
To the guys poo pooing consigning guns, Dr grant has a point. Also, if you've already sold 4 guns ftf in a year it's one of the only ways to legally sell more. Unless you wanna sell on gunbroker but that can be a pain in the dick.
 
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