My pet peeve on gun shows are the sellers who buy new or used guns at retail and mark them up $50 at gunshows and telling newbies that their prices are a great deal. One guy was selling an old used blued Ruger P95 (9MM) for $400 -- a new one costs around $310 - $319 just about anywhere!
Fun post. And one of the posts before it talks about the inflation of the 70s and 80s. Makes me think back and realize the practice you say is your pet peeve must be a new thing. I remember the 70s. I was young, married and soon to have a baby. And I liked guns. The cop across the hall in our apartment was as crazy as I was (but didn't have the wife and kid.) He wanted a short M66 (Treasury special) in the worst way. His off duty gun was the impossible to obtain M60.
One night there came a pounding on my front door. It was Mike the cop. He had the regulation wake the dead knock, and he needed me awake in the worst way. I got up while my wife tended the baby. His was a legitimate emergency. He'd got a line on his dream gun but needed cash fast. So I became the proud owner of his loved M60, and I went with him the next morning, first to my bank and then to the scoundrel that demanded over list price for that gun. He'd have paid more, too. Probably 1972.
Then an even worse incident took place. We'd gone to see Dirty Harry. And of course both of us needed a M29 in the worst way. So we went to the biggest gun show around. And found a guy with a M29 I just had to have. And all I had was trade bait. So I gave him my HiPower and a beautiful nickel Python in trade. Clearly the thief I was dealing with wanted about $100 of list price. But he took my trade. Probably worth more than that $100, but it didn't bother me. I owned the gun of every young man's dreams. It was mine and I loved it.
You think today's traders are any different. If you're buying new production plastic guns that are in abundant supply, maybe the guys really are crooks. But if the seller has a gun that you can't find anywhere, except him, he's got you over a barrel. And I willingly made my trade. No one questioned my intelligence (except maybe my wife). But everyone was in awe of my then growing "collection" of a few S&Ws. If anything, they admired the gun, and that somehow I'd managed to score it when none were being found by anyone else.
I'm going to guess that in the 1870s, we had horse traders also coming around with the then new 1873 Colts. And they weren't selling at the list price, they were demanding their premium.
Back in 1974 I paid full list price for a Browning Double. It cost me a bunch, but I wanted it. Fast forward to last months gun show. I saw a spitting image of the gun I still had at home. And the scoundrel selling it had the nerve to ask $2000 for it! The outrage!
And I remember when I won the office pool on the World Series! I won $90. I wanted to give the winnings to my wife to buy some trivial houseware she needed. But her father intervened (something he swore he'd never do). He told me not to be a fool and spend the $78 the local discount store was asking for a brand new 17-3. And would you believe it, the same guns at the show last month was selling - not just asking price - for $700! They should hang the profiteers.
If a man has a gun, he has the right to ask whatever he wants for it. There are no free trade laws (government sanctioned price fixing) in the used gun market. Much more severe laws apply, the natural law of supply and demand. If someone wants too much, he won't sell it. If you refuse to pay the going rate, you won't buy the gun. Remember, you can get 1% on your savings at the bank. I don't hold it against a seller for trying to get more. It doesn't take long hauling your guns to show after show and not selling anything to wake you up.
The reverse are people going to gunshow after gunshow, or only going once every 10 years and expecting 10 year old prices. They're the ones who go home and complain they didn't buy a gun from the thieves. You can't get a good idea of current prices (has nothing to do with fair prices) unless you actually spend a fair amount of time watching transactions. Not asking prices, but prices guns sell for. And that's a moving target. Just because you knew the market 5 years ago doesn't mean you can buy gasoline for that price, or guns. Or houses! Prices do change.
I haven't attended a gun show for at least 15 years... one can only eat so much jerky.
