Posted: 2/21/2010 6:27:29 AM EDT
|
Hello all:
I just moved from IL to NOVA, Springfield to be exact. I may need to put a few handguns and a few mil surp rifles on consignment somewhere. Any suggestions? I'd like to find a shop with decent traffic and a reasonable consignment fee. TIA |
|
+1 on VA Arms. http://www.virginiaarms.com/
NoVa Armament in Herndon just opened up: $25.00 flat consignment Sharpshooters is right near you in Lorton as well: |
|
+1 on local listing, if you do, please put VA in the title, it will show up under the VA search at the top of this forum. Its also courtesy to put which part of VA in the body and FTF only or if you'll ship it.
In VA it doesn't have to go thru a FFL for private transfers. Quoted:
You can always list them here under EE. What do you have? |
|
In addition to the other fine establishments listed above, I would like to humbly offer the consignment services of Guns and Ammo Warehouse in Manassas, we also take a 15% commission with a high turnover rate.
http://guns-ammo.us |
|
Quoted:
+1 on VA Arms. http://www.virginiaarms.com/
NoVa Armament in Herndon just opened up: $25.00 flat consignment Consignments: 55 dollar flat fee per firearm. We figure you want good cash for your firearm. For an additional $10 dollars, we will put your firearm on Gunbroker.com. For that additional 10 dollars, you get the convenience of having someone else take the pictures, provide a detailed description of your firearm, and pack and ship it to the winning bidder. Unfortunately, since Gunbroker.com charges auction fees, we have to pass those along to you. This policy replaces the old 25 dollar flat fee. There, Fixed Sharpshooters is right near you in Lorton as well: |
I was at NOVA Armament for several hours today waiting on my NICS results for a transfer(still waiting  ). I got the impression that they really embrace the idea of flat fee consignments and transfers as part of their business model, which I think is great. Sure beats the guys who charge a percentage of the selling price or treat transfer like they are going out of their way to do you a favor.
VA Arms used to be my go to place for everything. They are still a great shop, but I think NOVA is off to a really good start. Definitely worth checking out for your consignments. |
|
TJ here from NOVA Armament.
That is correct, we charge a flat $55.00 fee for consignments and have had a pretty good success rate with it. We also offer a Gunbroker.com listing service for 10 additional dollars. This is more of a convenience service than anything else. We do the pictures, descriptions, answer questions, and ship the item for you. Once we receive payment, we cut a check to the seller. Please PM me with any questions you have. |
|
Quoted:
TJ here from NOVA Armament. That is correct, we charge a flat $55.00 fee for consignments and have had a pretty good success rate with it. We also offer a Gunbroker.com listing service for 10 additional dollars. This is more of a convenience service than anything else. We do the pictures, descriptions, answer questions, and ship the item for you. Sharing bulldog1967's recollection, a ScoobyDoo style "Hhhrrunnh" crossed my mind as I read this. Thinking this had to be a typo, I checked. No such luck, as revealed from their website text below ... Consignments: 55 dollar flat fee per firearm. We figure you want good cash for your firearm. For an additional $10 dollars, we will put your firearm on Gunbroker.com. For that additional 10 dollars, you get the convenience of having someone else take the pictures, provide a detailed description of your firearm, and pack and ship it to the winning bidder.
Unfortunately, since Gunbroker.com charges auction fees, we have to pass those along to you. This policy replaces the old 25 dollar flat fee. ... For the original text: < - - Click me, I'm a Link - - > Selling a used gun for less than $650 is now cheaper at VA Arms. That spells C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N in my book, but that spelling is not in the 'Good for Business' chapter. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory comes to mind, as I find myself musing that the "pretty good success rate" might just take a nosedive from that heady time when the flat-fee was $25 ... all the more so when an explanation is not even provided for the 220% increase. Your store. Your rules. I presume that the large number of transferred weapons, foot traffic, turnover rate, and market conditions may justify more than doubling the fee, so more power to you. Certainly consignment sales entail more work than transferring a firearm, and $25 seems to be about the going rate for a transfer. That said, a better approach might have been to start high, and then drop the price. At the very least, I'd suggest describing the difference between a transfer (which usually has a $25 fee associated with it) and what is involved in a consignment sale. I wish you and your consignment offerers continued success  , and hope that an impatient search for even more golden eggs didn't kill this goose for y'all.
(Edited to add the following text about Transfers, also from the NoVa Armament Policies page, which I read in its entirety just now.) The only restriction we are placing on this for the moment is for the customer to come in and fill out a form so that we know whom the firearm will be for when it arrives.
Unbidden ... that ScoobyDoo voice popped back into my head again, saying "Hhhrrrruuunhhh?!?!!? And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a SamKinison voice chimed in, with ever increasing timbre. You want me to drive all the way out to Herndon to tell you about the inbound firearm ... and do some shopping ... and then drive back again in several days to pick up the gun ... and do some shopping? With gas around $3.00 per gallon? With traffic between Arlington and Herndon so 'wonderful' during your business hours? Got'cha! I'm on my there now ... to do some shopping. |
|
"Selling a used gun for less than $650 is now cheaper at VA Arms. That spells C-O-M-P-E-T-I-T-I-O-N in my book, but that spelling is not in the 'Good for Business' chapter. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory comes to mind, as I find myself musing that the "pretty good success rate" might just take a nosedive from that heady time when the flat-fee was $25 ... all the more so when an explanation is not even provided for the 220% increase."
I knew I was missing something in the last message.  With the $25 fee, we simply got buried with the amount of firearms coming into the shop and we were starting to run out of space in the showroom to put many of the rifles we were receiving on display. We didn't think that would be fair for someone putting something on consignment to not have it on display so we increased the fee to slow things down a bit. We're re-racking and stacking the showroom so we can display more and it's quite possible the fee will decrease once this effort is completed.
"Your store. Your rules. I presume that the large number of transferred weapons, foot traffic, turnover rate, and market conditions may justify more than doubling the fee, so more power to you. Certainly consignment sales entail more work than transferring a firearm, and $25 seems to be about the going rate for a transfer. That said, a better approach might have been to start high, and then drop the price. At the very least, I'd suggest describing the difference between a transfer (which usually has a $25 fee associated with it) and what is involved in a consignment sale." Good suggestions on the consignment policy, we should have started higher.... but we're having a good turnover rate. We will soon be announcing something that will bring a bit more value to the fee that might change your mind a bit. As for the transfer fee, it isn't going to change a bit. Don't forget we also have a Frequent FFL Transfer Card, after 5 your 6th is on us. "I wish you and your consignment offerers continued success , and hope that an impatient search for even more golden eggs didn't kill this goose for y'all."
Much appreciated, we're going to have some more announcements coming soon that will bring some more value to the consignment fee pretty soon. Please stay tuned. 
"Unbidden ... that ScoobyDoo voice popped back into my head again, saying "Hhhrrrruuunhhh?!?!!? And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a SamKinison voice chimed in, with ever increasing timbre. You want me to drive all the way out to Herndon to tell you about the inbound firearm ... and do some shopping ... and then drive back again in several days to pick up the gun ... and do some shopping? With gas around $3.00 per gallon? With traffic between Arlington and Herndon so 'wonderful' during your business hours? " That will change on our website. Phone calls and E-mails work just as well for taking down information for transfers, and we will have a copy of our form put on the website so you can fill it out and E-mail it to us. You still have to drive here to pick up the firearm though. 
Thank you for the feedback, it's appreciated. Please feel free to call the shop if you have any questions: 703-435-4222 and ask for TJ or Wei. TJ |
|
TJ,
I have to say that I respect the heck out of any business that airs not only the end result of decisions, but the reasons behind them. I suspected that the $25 consignment would fill you up pretty quickly, and I am glad that it has been a good opening for you guys. Still haven't been inside yet, but I plan to soon, shooter |
