Valuation Threads --- A mixed blessing?

[Lakey]

so why ask the question
unless they have had it in the loft for twenty years surely they remember what they paid for it
i have seen these type of threads posted by someone who only bought the thing a month ago / on here so are they asking if its value has gone up or down

Maybe thy are just seeking reassurance that the 'good deal' they thought they had was really a good deal?

My question still stands - Does replying to valuation threads help to fuel ever escalating prices, by educating sellers, or would it be beter not to reply to them and therefore leave sellers 'in the dark' thereby hoping for a bargain?

Mally,from what you have said, you perhaps favour the latter course of action?

I agree that it is the seller responsibility to arrive at his own price, however that is why these valuation threads arise. to help them establish that price.

[mallyally]

Mally,from what you have said, you perhaps favour the latter couse of action?

what on earth makes you think that
if you read my posts again you will see that i have given my reasons for not attempting to give any valuations
some of the best deals i have had have been from gun shops secondhand racks anyway
the few things i HAVE bought off here weren't particularly cheap anyway but i wanted them so paid the asking price

[DCL_dave]

Thank you Dave. That is very kind of you to say that.

( Chq's in the post )

All the best

Lakey

Not at all, credit where it is due

[Lakey]

what on earth makes you think that
if you read my posts again you will see that i have given my reasons for not attempting to give any valuations
some of the best deals i have had have been from gun shops secondhand racks anyway
the few things i HAVE bought off here weren't particularly cheap anyway but i wanted them so paid the asking price

Maybe I mis-read your post I too have had some good deals in the past from my local gun shops
All the best

Lakey

[Troubledshooter]

If all sellers were to leave their prices on items sold, this would enable some of those seeking a valuation to possibly find what they are looking for by doing a search.
I know some items don't sell for the initial asking price, but if this price has been reduced, it often shows on the sales thread.
I'm not in the market place much nowadays, therefore not au fait with many of the current values, so I rarely respond to valuation threads.

[jonyb]

thanks to the internet almost everybody,with a little investigation,is able to find out how much something is worth.
be it airguns, records etc. so i would not worry about posting valuations on here. after all we are all interested in the same subject,and we should all help each other out,if we are genuine enthusiasts ??
even your local second hand shop is now clued up as to the value of stuff.
a bargain is a very hard thing to find these days,but it does not stop us from looking.
i have learnt a lot from members on this forum and have become a collector myself thanks to bbs and i hope the threads/posts continue.

[I. J.]

Great thread !

I have been known to reply to valuation threads when I have some experience of selling the particular rifle in question, whether this is harmful to collecting I dont know. I do get tired of seeing 'Valuation?' type threads on here - it appears almost every other post these days. I rarely, if ever, ask for a valuation on anything I sell and would rather do my homework with a 'Search' or refer to The Blue Book Of Airguns to get an approx. valuation and work from there.
Yet only recently I got it wrong when I advertised something rare which was seriously undervalued only to have a very kind mod contact me with their experiences of selling such an item. (Thank you. ) THATS the beauty of this BBS.
I'm not saying I always get it right otherwise. Im presently selling something that I know I could get more for if I stripped it and sold the parts - but that goes against my principals.
If I get pulled up or correct for giving valuations I just state that I was only giving my personal impression of what I would accept for said goods if I was selling it, rightly or wrongly.
Just my opinion for what its worth.

ATB
Ian

[Airsporter1st]

Nothing wrong in giving valuations at all.

If the item is overvalued then it may not sell when the vendor puts it up. If it does happen to sell at the higher price then clearly the 'overvaluation' was correct after all!

If someone undervalues an item in response to a request its unlikely to do any harm (to the vendor) because there is practically always more than one response anyway and a vendor would be a bit foolish to base his price on the opinion of just one person.

My main concern about valuation threads is that despite the mods' vigilance I suspect it likely that at least some requests for valuation are simply attempts to auction the item. How many times do you see a request for valuation, but the gun never goes up for sale? Chances are that's because someone has pm'd or emailed the seller and bought the item that way. Nothing wrong in that (apart from breaching a BBS rule in a way that makes it impossible to enforce) but to my mind it is against the spirit of the BBS.
By giving realistic valuations we may help to stop that happening to some degree but there will always be someone willing to pay over the odds for something - e.g. for sentimental reasons.

[Muskett]

Valuations on here help to get the market for second hand rifles moving. If anything they stop over pricing. Taking a full sized sporting spring rifle: a poor rifles go for a lot less than £100, good under £150, very good might reach £200 and mint above. PCP's add £100. Nothing here that is going to break the bank and prices need to be spot on for a rifle to shift.

The bargains are from contacts and shops that just don't really need them (another second hand Mercury or HW77) taking up the space.

Frankly, a whole lot of perfectly OK rifles would go into the bin if places like this didn't show some value. Often it is just not worth the effort to sell a second hand airgun; well £50 isn't worth the several hours to get it sold to someone who you don't know and might use it inappropriately.

Without a market with some established prices there just wouldn't be any value to out collections.

[Gambo]

I to have had similar thoughts as to valuations after a scenario at my local gun club. A regular member there buys and sells airguns, usually junk he picks up at car boot sales. One day he says he has a Relum Tornado, so as sad as it may be, as I have a soft spot for these guns of my youth, I say I might be interested.
Now down to the nitty gritty, value!!! He phoned the local gunshop, who, without even seeing the gun, tell him at may be worth up to £80 if it was mint. Now his gun is nowhere near anything like being mint, but in his eyes it is worth £80, coz the gunshop said so!!! NO, the gunshop said it MAY be worth £80 IF it is MINT and BOXED, which it isn`t!. I have shown him a genuinely mint Super Tornado that I own, which I paid £45 for, but no, He is still adamant that his, at best average, tornado is worth £80, coz the gunshop said so!!!
"But Your gun is not worth £80!" I say. His reply, "Oh Yes it is, the gunshop said so!!"
Situation...Stalemate!!!!

[Troubledshooter]

I to have had similar thoughts as to valuations after a scenario at my local gun club. A regular member there buys and sells airguns, usually junk he picks up at car boot sales. One day he says he has a Relum Tornado, so as sad as it may be, as I have a soft spot for these guns of my youth, I say I might be interested.
Now down to the nitty gritty, value!!! He phoned the local gunshop, who, without even seeing the gun, tell him at may be worth up to £80 if it was mint. Now his gun is nowhere near anything like being mint, but in his eyes it is worth £80, coz the gunshop said so!!! NO, the gunshop said it MAY be worth £80 IF it is MINT and BOXED, which it isn`t!. I have shown him a genuinely mint Super Tornado that I own, which I paid £45 for, but no, He is still adamant that his, at best average, tornado is worth £80, coz the gunshop said so!!!
"But Your gun is not worth £80!" I say. His reply, "Oh Yes it is, the gunshop said so!!"
Situation...Stalemate!!!!

I would suggest the local gun shop quite possibly know of this individual, and therefore quote ridiculously high prices when he uses them for a free valuation service, knowing full well he'll latch on to their highest quote, irrespective of the gun's actual condition, therefore probably making the gun difficult to sell, as it's not in their interests to encourage his sales activities.

[Gambo]

I would suggest the local gun shop quite possibly know of this individual, and therefore quote ridiculously high prices when he uses them for a free valuation service, knowing full well he'll latch on to their highest quote, irrespective of the gun's actual condition, therefore probably making the gun difficult to sell, as it's not in their interests to encourage his sales activities.

Yes mate, He does sell quite a few guns through the shop, on a sale or return basis. They take a percentage (20%) of the sale price. So them over valuing something means they make a higher gain the more a gun sells for. But whether he sold the gun through them or not, I can see Your point!! atb, Gareth.

[Airsporter1st]

I to have had similar thoughts as to valuations after a scenario at my local gun club. A regular member there buys and sells airguns, usually junk he picks up at car boot sales. One day he says he has a Relum Tornado, so as sad as it may be, as I have a soft spot for these guns of my youth, I say I might be interested.
Now down to the nitty gritty, value!!! He phoned the local gunshop, who, without even seeing the gun, tell him at may be worth up to £80 if it was mint. Now his gun is nowhere near anything like being mint, but in his eyes it is worth £80, coz the gunshop said so!!! NO, the gunshop said it MAY be worth £80 IF it is MINT and BOXED, which it isn`t!. I have shown him a genuinely mint Super Tornado that I own, which I paid £45 for, but no, He is still adamant that his, at best average, tornado is worth £80, coz the gunshop said so!!!
"But Your gun is not worth £80!" I say. His reply, "Oh Yes it is, the gunshop said so!!"
Situation...Stalemate!!!!

Ask him if he'll let you take it on trial for few days, take it into the gunshop and ask them what its worth.

He may be pissed off but at least you'll have made your point!

[Gambo]

Ask him if he'll let you take it on trial for few days, take it into the gunshop and ask them what its worth.

He may be pissed off but at least you'll have made your point!

He`s a tight old git, who won`t let anything out of his grip unless You have paid for it, so while You have a good suggestion, it would not work.
After seeing my truly mint Super Tornado, he knows only too well that his gun is not mint, or fairly priced. It is now a case of him being bloody minded and stubburn, and not wanting to lose face over the deal!!!

[slug-gun]

A couple of thoughts occur to me here:
Firstly it seems that many of the requests for valuations are regarding fairly moderrn and mundane air guns - ie 1970's BSA Airsporter.
For goodness sake how much does anybody think such a gun is going to be worth, in average condition, it ain't going to be a sum to be able to retire on!

Secondly, as I think another mentioned, in my experience most folk have a pretty damn good idea what their 20 year old Slavia pistol is worth, and really are only looking for confirmation - or dare I mention it looking for a 'dutch' auction to start up? Perhaps I'm being cruel here?

Thirdly, and most importantly, giving a valuation on something that you haven't seen, and based on a woolly description, is a complete waste of everybody's time, and could ultimately just be plain misleading - both to the seller and a potential buyer.
Condition is everything, the same gun could vary by 500% in value if it was mint compared to merely average.
Most people, especially if they are keen to sell a gun, can't offer an accurate description to save their life, so any subsequent valuations start from the wrong premise straightaway.

Lastly a valuation might be the 'right' one in most people's eyes, but then if a guy comes along who just happens to want that particular item, he might pay considerably more than the 'right' price - and be happy for it.
Does that mean the true value is that, or what?

See what I mean, it is a minefield of inexactitude. Let the seller work it out himself, he probably knows anyway, and if it is a rare item then he should take it to a specialist who can actually see the thing, warts and all, and then appraise it!
Anything else is pie in the sky.