The time between when we receive your gun or collection to the point it is out for sale will not exceed 30 days, and often will be much quicker. The biggest thing to remember is we are a retail seller; you will receive a full retail price minus commission.
Auction Houses typically take three to four months from the time they receive your gun to when they pay you. You will almost always net more consigning with Collectors Firearms versus going to auction. The big secret that auctions do not want you to know is that most of their items sell at dealer wholesale or low retail. Already at a low selling price, they then have a fee for both the buyer and the seller. Collectors Firearms routinely attends auctions all over the country. When we decide to bid on every lot, we regularly win 10%-25% of every lot available at the auction. This is how we know a good chunk of their inventory sells at dealer wholesale prices or just slightly above.
Example:
In this example there is a gun that Collectors Firearms wants to pay $1000 for at auction.
Most auctions charge a 20% buyer's premium, so taking that into account, Collectors Firearms bids $825 for the gun.
If the auction “gavels” the gun sold to Collectors Firearms for $825, the auction then adds the 20% Buyer's Premium ($190) to the auction sold price of $825 totaling $990 Paid by Collectors Firearms to Auction.
Collectors Firearms would likely sell the gun for $1500 if purchased for the $990.
The seller at auction doesn't even see the $990 paid by Collectors.
They don't even net the $825!
The auction house seller's commission takes 10%-20% before paying you.
The auction sold price of $825 from the example herein above then gets the Seller's Commission of 10% applied ($82.50) and the seller (You) ends up with $742.50 from the sale of your gun.
The seller basically receives less than half the value of the gun selling through an auction!
If you consigned the same item to Collectors Firearms (which plans to sell the same gun at retail for $1,500), you would have received $1200. ($1500 Sales Price - 20% Commission ($300)= $1200 Paid to the Consignor.)
We would love to discuss this more with you. Please feel free to call us, email us [email protected] or use the contact form below.