Scammer's Ridiculous Offer - Sucker Bait

[Bekeart]

Radio station has a trade show call in.
If you want to buy /sell / trade something call in and speak your ad.

Yesterday an ad was called in for a very common specific brand and model revolver.

The hopeful seller wanted $100 more for his used one than two local dealers ask for their new and in stock ones.

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American people - There's a sucker born every minute ...

Bekeart

 

[Onomea]

Well, I wouldn't call the guy a "scammer." More like an "optimistic seller." ("Delusional seller?")

 

[desi2358]

Sounds like a lot of the guys I see at the gun shows........... They're asking more for their used gun than the same gun sells for new. Hoping for that uninformed buyer to stumble in I guess...........

 

[LVSteve]

Sounds like a lot of the guys I see at the gun shows........... They're asking more for their used gun than the same gun sells for new. Hoping for that uninformed buyer to stumble in I guess...........

Probably trying to claw back the buyers' premium, shipping costs, NICS check, and FFL transfer fee they didn't account for when they got such a "great deal" on an estate auction gun over the Internet.

 

[Engineer1911]

For the Utimate in over-priced good deals, check GunBroker.

 

[Oldsalt66]

The seller might have been trying to reel in a buyer who didn't know the value or possibly didn't know the correct price himself.

Either way I wouldn't label him a scammed, just an example of caveat emptor.

 

[ken158]

Probably worked at a pawn shop…

 

[hkcavalier]

I think scammer is a bit strong. Back when private no-FFL sales were legal in WA, you saw it all the time on Armslist and other public selling sources. The seller expected buyers to overpay for the privilege of buying an unpapered gun.

What always gets me in this state is people who put up a WTB for a common gun and want it like new. If you already have to have an FFL involved...just go buy one off the rack!

 

[lihpster]

Way back in the Dark Ages before cell phones and internet marketplaces, we lived in a small town. It was so small, the local AM radio station was only licensed to broadcast from sunup to sundown. One of the things they used to do was "Tradio on the Radio". People would offer things up for sale or trade.
So, one day, my father and I were driving in his old truck headed into town from our place in the sticks, when a lady came on wanting to sell her husbands "old shotguns". She had two of them, they were both double barrels and she wanted $20 a piece for them.
We had passed the gas station/store/post office about 5 miles back and they had a payphone. My dad anchored the brakes on that old Chevy, right in the middle of the road, spun a u-turn and sped for the store. That old truck was a rockin' as we headed back to use the phone.
By the time we got to the store, the guns were sold, of course. Those types of deals never last. I still remember him just a-flogging that old farm truck, trying to get to a phone.

 

[reddog81]

For the Utimate in over-priced good deals, check GunBroker.

On gunbroker, $100 over market rate would be considered a great deal compared to most offerings.

 

[shil]

For the Utimate in over-priced good deals, check GunBroker.

.... or any equivalent site, for that matter. They're "national" sites, ripe for any seller with hopes that SOMEONE in the country will want the gun badly enough to pay the seller's price. For example, would you pay $250,000 for a 1911A1, even if it's a Singer?

 

[45Smashemflat]

"Swap shop, swap shop, do you have something to sell or trade?…." Intro song on the AM from my childhood in NE Ga. I forget the 2nd stanza.

 

[Muley Gil]

Years ago, the city I worked for had a sale of surplus goods-cars, trucks, equipment. For a few years, they also sold off the confiscated and found guns that the police department had.

I saw several folks bid for and buy used, beat-up Raven .25 ACP pistols for more than new ones cost. One year, a Daisy model 94 BB gun came up for auction. The auctioneer announced several times that this was a BB gun, not a firearm. It was sold for $100 and when the bidder found out it wasn't real, he declined to buy it. The BB gun was bid on again and a second buyer bid even more. I left before that bidder went up to claim his "prize".

 

[lihpster]

a Daisy model 94 BB gun

I learned to shoot with mine. Great guns.

 

[jsfricks]

"Swap shop, swap shop, do you have something to sell or trade?…." Intro song on the AM from my childhood in NE Ga. I forget the 2nd stanza.

There's a show on Netflix, I believe, that is about Swap Shop. As most of these shows are, I'm sure most of it is pre-staged.

 

[ACORN]

If the owner advertises it accurately at a certain price and delivers it as advertised, and the buyer agrees to pay the price, I wouldn't consider it a scam.
Uninformed buyer maybe.
How many times do you see things at auction sell for more than a new one?

 

[LittleAugieMo]

In my area local buy&sell radio shows don't allow hand guns think its a liability thing but long guns are GTG.

 

[H Richard]

I have even noticed some "optimistic" pricing on our for sale site. So many don't look at a value guide book and look at anything but the NIB value.

 

[gwpercle]

I didn't realize how many people would over pay for things until I started watching E-Bay ... the high prices asked for items ... easily bought , I could understand ... But ... the people fighting "bidding wars" at times to buy these overpriced items was just Amazing to me !

Me thinks maybe a Sucker is now born ... every 30 seconds !

I'll never understand people ... some are so easily taken advantage of !
Gary

 

[Drm50]

There is no shortage of suckers out there. That's why the prices are so out of whack. If I want something personally I will put it on target list and will hunt for a deal. I may never get one at my price and it doesn't bother me a bit. I always have guys calling me and telling me they are at a gun show and guy there has what I been looking for. When they tell me the price I'm
sure they didn't "find" one because it wasn't "lost".