Good news: I found an RFB locally in like new condition with 6 mags for well under $1500.

Bad news: the STG-556 (4th gen black, tulip FH) I planned to trade toward it was only worth $750 to the gun store owner.  The gun has had one mag through it, and is immaculate.  It actually has an unfired barrel on it, a trade up from the original 16" compensated (ban state) barrel.

Needless to say, I still have the STG.  Also needless to say, the RFB came home too.

Anyone else experiencing offers this low for trade / resale on this fine rifle?  And before you ask, no, I'm not interested in selling it for $800....  :D

gbosh

That was a good trade price with the new sale going on. I didn't think I would see
500 for a used or barely used STG at a dealer. Most dealers I see offer half of what they would
sell for. Not trying to be insulting just real. I am an early adopter and spent well over 2000
for mine.  Enjoy your RFB

I'm actually surprised he didn't offer you less.  You can get new ones for $1000.  He probably won't make much off of it if you trade it in.

$750?  That seems low especially w/ that dealer turning it around for *guesstimate* $1200ish.  But that's what they do.  I would never trade in a gun to a dealer b/c you'll never get your money's worth.  Even if you trade it on the EE for a loss, you won't be raped like you would at a shop.

$1k? really? wow, I didn't know that

FWIW, the dealer has a 20" STG in his shop already, -STILL- with a $1599 price tag on it.   Don't know the generation, etc on that one.   When I took my STG in to get a trade in estimate, the staff did some 'research' and I think were a little taken aback by the drop in prices for the STGs.  I'm sure much of his offer was based on the fact that the STGs had not been a hot seller for him in the past.

I understand the process of purchase and reselling an item in a retail store, and the desire/requirement to turn a profit.  I also understand that, generally speaking,  modern weapons have a LOT less margin expected than those considered collectible.

I don't have any hard feelings about it, and I still got the RFB.  For $750, though, my son(s) will enjoy the STG!

gbosh!

Don't worry about the STG. Be happy you got an RFB for under $1,500. That's a damn good price.

$750 is high on trade-in for a used STG556.

I feel that this is true about the vast majority of gun shops everywhere. Their industry used to be built on the fact that they were your only source of firearms. Now they're banking on people being ignorant of online firearms sales/trading.

If all else were equal, 99% of gun shops couldn't stand a chance against the internet with their unreasonably high prices and low trade-in values. Convenience and people's ignorance of the internet is the only thing that keeps them in business.

For me, the only purpose an FFL dealer serves anymore these days is to be recipient on an FFL transfer from an online purchase. I'm never buying an overpriced item from a rude store-owner (or gunshow asshole) ever again.

When I was looking at buying my E4 last year, I checked with my local shop. They had an STG (not sure of the gen) and were asking $1899 for it. LOL-good luck with that one I said. I then went to ratworx... I checked back with them a couple of months later and it was still there collecting dust. Still there now most likely...

Sounds like a gunshop down the road from me. They had the same guns on the shelf for at LEAST 3 years, no shit. I once asjed them if they'd talk market value on a 107CR and they asked what it was, which at the time was $700 under their asking price. The old prick behind the counter just grabbed the rifle from me and put it back on the shelf. That was almost 1.5 year ago, and yep it's still there.

$750 is a good trade in value.  You can get new guns for $1000, and the guy who takes it off your hands has to take the risk that something is wrong with it, and he certainly can't sell it for the price of a new one.  He would probably make $100-$150 tops off of his $750 outlay of cash.

Yup....

A few years ago, I wanted to trade an HK91 to a local gun shop for a Sig 556.  They offered me $400.

I turned around and left.

Yeah I would have to agree. Sounds like a good and fair offer...

Yeah sounds familiar. When I was there looking at that STG I  toyed with the idea of trading in my 9mm Glock at that same place and they weren't even going to barely offer me half of what I paid for it and I bought it from them new originally. Plus I also was interested in another pistol and they wouldn't even work with me on any prices. I told them that I was interested in a new pistol and an STG. You would think that after buying one gun from them previously and then showing interest in buying 2 additional ones they would start to work a little. Nope-the owner claims he sells guns to people who come in and buy a new gun every other week. Yeah sure-whatever. Well I am done with them. All my purchases going forward have been and will continue to be from the internet. Prices are much better and so are the people...

PS-You don't even want to know what they charge to be an FFL... After doing some inquires, I found another gun shop that was reasonable, but still much higher than the rest of the US. Guess that is what I get for living in the most anti-gun state in the nation. And don't even get me started about the gun-hating chronies like Daley and Quinn...God I can't wait to move to Texas!

Sorry about my little rant there.

     That is just @#$%&* criminal.  What shop?  Or if you don't want to say, at least what town?

that is assuming that he will charge online prices in his store, which he most certainly won't. He will probably mark it up to at least twice that before putting up for sale.

I agree though: $750 is a lot to get from a dealer. Hell, in this state you'd be lucky to get $400 for it from a dealer. If you try to trade or sell to a dealer you WILL get the shorter end of the stick. That is a gun store fact.

In their defense, they have all gotten (I am sure) guns that didn't work properly or needed something that wasn't obvious when it was traded in, so there is a tendency to leave yourself a buffer to recoup your money when something goes wrong.

Doc

Never trade in with a dealer, guns or cars.  Always sell them yourself.  Otherwise, you have to pay the store to sell them for you at a profit plus their overhead.  If you are okay with paying another to sell your stuff, then go for it.  But, how quickly do you think you could sell your STG for $825-900?  For a few hours work (listing ad, replying to emails, shipping it, etc.), you can make $75 to 150.  

I do not begrudge a store for making a profit.  It is expensive to run a shop.  A decent retail location will run $2500 up to $10K, depending on the location.  Then there is overhead cost: electricity, salespeople's pay, inventory, insurance, etc.  I work for a landscape company and we operate on a very low overhead as we have no office or storage yard.  It still cost us $1k a day to operate, 5 days a week.  So, not including material (brick pavers, cement, etc.), we have to have $22K a month just to pay overhead.  So while buying a gun at $750 and selling it at $1.1K sounds like alot of profit, I bet it ends up being less than 15% after all the overhead is paid.  There are very low margins in firearms sales.      

So while I do not begrudge a shop for making money, I will not trade in a gun or buy one for full retail.  It is their job to make a profit and stay in business.  But it is my job to keep my money and keep me in business as well.  Same goes with paying taxes.  The Gov't trys to take as much as possible and I try to pay as little as legally possible.

The reason all the shops still have STG's marked at $1,700+ is because DEALER COST was $1,500 on them just a year and a half ago.  Now they are selling for $1,000 everywhere, the dealers got screwed from the distributors and manufacturer because they dropped the price like a rock in a big hurry to move the last of the STG's before the E4 took over production.
So for all those that paid $1,700 and up a couple years ago their values are in the toilet, and they ain't coming back up anytime soon.

I just sold mine, but I paid about $1k for my STG 556 4th gen from Bud's. I paid $1100 for the gun with factory optic.