I May Give Up Vending At Gun Shows

 I may give up vending at gun shows after the one I attended this past weekend. I sold an almost mediocre amount of items on the first day, Saturday, mostly at my usually low prices. (That means probably all at a loss except one item which I sold for more than I bought it.) Note I said almost a mediocre amount of items were sold by me; in reality, and I hate to have to say it, the amount of things I was able to sell was quite low. Then in total on Sunday, I made only two sales, a Gen3 AR15/M4 30 round PMAG for $10.00 and one box of brass cased 7.62x54R rounds, also for $10.00. Both were sales tax included, and yes I pay the sales tax to the state of AR at 10.25% for the area in which I sold the things. 

Most items I sold were sold at cost or somewhat under my cost. I sell stuff not so much to make a profit but to get my money back or at least get close to it by getting rid of things for which I have a surplus. That way, I bring in cash I can use to buy another gun or two without having to take money out of my savings account. Of course, I'd love to make a net profit but that is not my goal. I most definitely am not a dealer making a living off of things that I sell at gun shows. I am merely a firearms self defense enthusiast and a certified firearms instructor trying to get some cash to buy more guns to foster my firearms instructor and self defense skills by getting new to me guns, that allow me to learn more about firearms. This time though, after paying $140.00 for two tables, with the poor sales, it is getting to the point where if I keep this up long enough, I will bankrupt my firearms fund because the amount of items I sold was truly dismal.

Every vendor, to whom I have spoken over the two days of the show, told me they did not do well. I understand that, especially considering  how high are some of their prices but I just do not get my low sales with my low prices. For instance, I have an unfired, as new, in the box with manual, Keystone Arms Mini Mosin Nagant that I priced at $175.00 and I'd have taken $150.00 for it. The lowest price on ammo seek is $240.00 as of this past weekend. I had lots of lookers, but no one offering cash for it. Oh well, life goes on, at least for now

Another for instance, I sold 9mm ammo yesterday at a bit under cost, $10.00 per box, tax included. Tax included makes it around an additional 10.25% under cost for the buyer and that much more of a loss for me after I pay the sales tax; and I do pay the sales tax. One guy bought all 8 boxes of the 9mm which was nice but it was still a loss for me. That loss is okay by me, it was surplus, believe me I have thousands of rounds more of 9mm. The thing is, before that guy jumped on it and bought the eight boxes I had for sale, others wanted me to lower my price. I guarantee it was the lowest price on 9mm at the show by far and a good deal lower than the online price considering if bought online, you would need to pay sales tax and shipping fees and in places like NY you'd also pay an FFL fee to transfer the ammo to you. 

Almost all my other ammo had a really good price on it, especially compared to other show vendors prices for theirs. Someone else yesterday also asked me to do better on 22 LR ammo I was selling. Sadly, I had mistakenly overpriced that and lost a sale. Shit happens. 

As for other dealers at this show (and other shows), wow some of their prices are insane on ammo and guns. I suppose they are in it to earn a living or at least as a sideline in which they try to make a net profit. Then again, $800.00 for a run of the mill SKS (or similar) is crazy. As I said, I sell guns and ammo trying to break even or come close to breaking even, so I can get some cash to buy different guns. It beats me keeping money in the bank, that I ultimately wind up using to pay for other things instead of firearms related purchases, then wind up not having enough money to buy anything firearms related. So, when I have the excess cash, I buy - buy - buy. Then when I need the cash to buy a gun, I sell - sell - sell whatever I previously bought and have in surplus, or am tired of having, to get enough cash without going into my savings. The thing is after table fees that keep rising and after sales tax, and income tax (if there was a rare net profit at a show on an item or two), it is becoming prohibitive for me to keep vending because I rarely make a net profit on most things I sell. I sometimes do okay though and break even which is okay by me and rare times now and then actually have a small net profit after a show and sales taxes, and that is good by me but still have to pay income tax on that.

 

It just gets very frustrating when I pay those table fees and sales taxes and wind up selling at a fairly big loss because the amount of sales I made were so low it just makes it not worth my money, time or effort. This past weekend's show was a perfect example of that. In plain English - it sucked. It almost makes me wish a demoncrat majority was in office and that the were threatening restrictive firearms laws be legislated.  Sales would skyrocket if such as the case. Just look at Obummer and Biden, they did wonders for guns sales. Of course, no matter how poor my sales, I would never wish another democrat majority in political office in the USA, that would be a disaster for our nation. I much prefer to be loyal to the USA and the Right instead of to the leftists, socialists and commies of the democrat party. That stands true even if it means less sales and money being made by me.

 

All the best,

Glenn B 

 

 

Another Firearms Related Purchase...

...is being packed and should be on the way to me soon. As Frank Fritz (RIP) of American pickers was ever so fond of saying, "The time to buy it is when you see it"; so, when I saw them on eBay, I submitted an offer. The them are three magazines for the Beretta 92FS Compact L, Type M, pistol. They are 8 round, single stack, magazines. While not impossible to find, it is not easy to find them very often. To find them at an almost decent price is next to impossible in my experience. I check GunBroker, eBay and some other auction sites now and again but if I do find any, the price is usually prohibitive. The one I found, maybe  a month ago was listed on GunBroker for $125.00. I kept checking to see if the seller would come down in price but he did not. 

 

Yesterday, I checked eBay. I found a seller who was offering six of them, all OEM, and lightly used, or so says the seller. The asking price was $115.00 each. I saw there was a 'make an offer' option and tried that at $75.00 each. I received an email, this evening, saying the offer had been accepted.

 

Under normal circumstances, such a magazine might sell for $35.00 or a bit more. By normal, I mostly mean  them still being produced by Beretta or under license from Beretta. The thing is, they have not been made by Beretta, nor by Mecgar under license from Beretta, for several, if not many, years now. In addition, I do not think the Beretta 92FS Compact L Type M pistol was very popular, thus there were nowhere as many Type M single stack magazines produced as were the regular double stack 15 round mags. Being they are somewhat on the rare side, their price has gone up considerably, and that is true not only for ones in new condition but also for used mags. In fact, ones that are new old stock are quite rare indeed. 

 

 I was pleasantly surprised that the seller accepted my offer without making a higher counter offer. That made me wonder if I should have first offered a lower amount but as far as I am concerned $75.00 apiece is a decent and fair price all things considered. Now, if they actually are in the condition claimed in the item description, I will be ecstatic. Time will tell. 

 

Once I receive them, I will have about three or four OEM mags for each of my two Beretta 92FS Compact L, Type M pistols, for a total of six or eight Type M mags, that is at least if I remember correctly how many I already own. I'd like to have purchased more, maybe all six the seller was offering, but buying more from the same seller right now would be a bit too much of a strain on my finances than I'd like to make right now. So, these will have to do, at least until the next time I see more being offered when I have some cash to burn.

 

All the best,

Glenn B