Dealers or collectors?

[WILBA]

When I first came on the BBS many moons ago, I didn't have a great deal of money, so I'd buy a cheap rifle either off of here or locally and refinish the stock and tinker with the insides and may be sell it at a bit of a profit and put that against another rifle, also back then the rifles which are either now hard to find or are stupid money (Pro Elites, Longbows etc) where readily available, so I managed to try out a lot of the rifles I always wanted, almost most of them where sold on to fund the next rifle, often at a loss, over the years I've kept the rifles I've liked or have bought back ones I regret selling and I'm now a collector of the ones I like most.

Pete

Same here. I have losr more than i have gained thats for sure. Some guns do go up in value but then people wont pay the price. A few i have had for many years i tried sell this year but nothing is shifting. And others make silly offers so i may as well keep them.

[look no hands]

Same here. I have losr more than i have gained thats for sure. Some guns do go up in value but then people wont pay the price. A few i have had for many years i tried sell this year but nothing is shifting. And others make silly offers so i may as well keep them.

I put a few rifles up a few months ago, I sold my Airsporter RB2 carbine at as bit of a loss, I bought it from a shop and had to have it sent to an RFD at extra cost and then I tuned it but sold it for the same money I paid for the rifle, I did have someone want one of my other rifles but I was a bit weary because it was his first post on the forum and didn't fancy selling to someone unknown.

Pete

[WILBA]

I put a few rifles up a few months ago, I sold my Airsporter RB2 carbine at as bit of a loss, I bought it from a shop and had to have it sent to an RFD at extra cost and then I tuned it but sold it for the same money I paid for the rifle, I did have someone want one of my other rifles but I was a bit weary because it was his first post on the forum and didn't fancy selling to someone unknown.

Pete

Les bought my mk1 bsa superstar recently. Wish i had sold the rb2 airsporter now and kept that. But some have to go as their room is taken up by stuff i have bought this year. Still got my mk2 superstar which i do prefer to my mk1 if i am honest. But the mk1 had such a lovely stock. I know les was happy with it. I lost £30 overall on that gun.

[zooma]

I have been collecting airguns since the '50s and have had more than a few pass through my hands over the years - but being "an obsessive Virgo" (but unable to always buy "perfect examples") I find that I always want to "make them right" and shoot properly too, and this invariably means finding and buying new or better replacement parts until I am satisfied that the air pistol (or rifle) is as good as I can make it.

After the work is done and the money has been spent it becomes part of my collection - until I find a better example - or another to rescue - or something else "catches my eye", and then of course when this happens, funds (and wife!) often demand that I sell it on to fund or make space (back to the wife again!) for the new arrival.

A good example is that I had a grey moulded Model 5 and (at the time) I really fancied a Grey moulded Model 6 to go alongside it, but the one that I eventually found and bought was broken, needed re-building, and some replacement parts.

I was fortunate to buy some obsolete Model 6 parts on here - but there were some differences in the gear wheels that run along the tram rails on the earlier models - and the used ones I bought on here did not fit (without being slightly modified) and I still needed to source some new end caps to make the pistol look nice - and then new seals ..and the three new main springs, so the total cost of buying the Model 6, the obsolete parts and the new parts and "making good" my grey Model 6 far exceeded the price that I am asking for it now as I "move it on" to part fund (or make space for) my next project.

So I will loose some money (again), but the pleasure I have had in hunting down the obscure parts I needed, learning about the subtle differences of the Giss system refinements that have been made over the years, and returning a pistol to excellent working condition was well worth doing, and another classic pistol has been returned to full working condition and maybe even saved it from being scrapped - and that to me is a good result!

It is possible to buy an airgun and keep it for many years and find that its value has risen so you sell it for a "profit" - but when you compare the cost of a pint (our universal guide to real life living) have you really made a profit? If you have - well done - it will help to offset all the others that you lost money on over the years, but if you are like me this does not happen enough to make my hobby anything like self-funded - at best it will slightly reduce the cost of having such an enjoyable (albeit expensive) hobby!

As for the so called "dealers" amongst us - I for one am really pleased they exist as a valuable source of supply for desirable airguns and parts that may not exist if they were not "rescued" by these entrepreneurs who take the risk and hope to make a few quid now and again. If you think their asking price is too high, you can always try to haggle or walk away and find something less expensive another day.

[evert]

The only "dealer" I know keeps loosing money on his deals...

Myself, I'm more of a hoarder

[johnbaz]

I've been going to have a vast reduction of my guns for years now as I don't want the wife and offspring to be burdened with them if I suddenly keel over (Men have a habit of not reaching 55 years old in my family, I'm 61!!) trouble is that when I start to sort out what's going, All the darned lot end up back in the gunroom

It's not going well as i've bought several more pistols whan I was supposed to be getting shut, May be fetching a modified Crosman 2240 tomorrow too!

Also, I've had loads of stuff given to me gratis and can't bring myself to sell these items but if I give stuff away (I do occasionally!!) then those items become theirs to do with as they wish, If they want to sell them then that's fine with me because they're not mine any more

A while ago I sold some Chinese guns but then bought some German guns to replace them


John

[angrybear]

Well with cars you're allowed to buy/sell 6 in a year, any more than that you're a dealer.
HMRC rules state that a "hobby" which involves buying & selling can recoup costs to break even, if it makes a profit then it ceases to be a "hobby" & becomes a business.
So it seems quite simple, if you make a profit you're a dealer.