Guys: A really interesting string. Full disclosure -- I've never bought anything from Bass Pro, but I've bought and sold many guns with Cabelas. I have also bought and sold guns with many other dealers, but have never done much with gun shows and garage sales. I've lost money on some guns (quite a bit on a few, when I was a rookie), I've made money on most, and a killing on a few. Overall, I've probably made a little bit of profit, but would have made three times as much in the stock market, which I would have done instead if making a profit was my only concern.
I like Cabelas, but not as much as I once did, mostly because they aren't the company they once were. As they've expanded, they've gotten real thin on experience, losing some of their most knowledgable Gun Library guys just as they're needed more than ever to train a bunch of newbies. That loss of experience means less knowledge and fewer good decisions. Ignorance is what leads to underpriced guns, while ignorance plus greed leads to overpriced guns. This can be very frustrating for guys like you and me, who always know exactly what a gun is truly worth.
Me, I buy the underpriced ones and leave the overpriced ones on the rack. Isn't that the way the gun world works? In fact, isn't that the way the whole world works? Clearly these big boxes aren't for everyone, but I don't understand the argument that somehow they should be able to instantly put a universally agreed-upon and dirt-cheap price tag on every gun that comes into every shop. Collectible guns aren't commodities ... each one is unique, which makes its value a matter of opinion, and that is the dynamic that drives all markets. Moreover, although I might buy shells that way, I don't just swing by Cabelas to pick up an A Grade Fox on my way to a pheasant hunt. Who does? So I just don't get the "I'm not here to chit-chat, dammit, I'm here to buy a Purdey ... now where are they and what do they cost?" argument. It just doesn't work that way.
The Gun Library guys who know what they're doing want to buy a gun at half of retail and sell it at retail one week later. For good customers, they've got some wiggle room and will reduce that margin. A smart buyer and a smart seller who trust one another can make a deal where everybody is happy. That's how people who buy and sell guns for a living should make a living, right? Those who are ignorant and overprice their guns see them sit on their shelves for months or years. If they do it too often they go out of business. If Cabelas can't make money the way they're doing it now, they'll start doing it differently ... I can guarantee you that, although I can't tell you what "different" means. Maybe it will mean smarter gun guys and lower prices overall (a good thing), or maybe it will mean no collectible guns at all (a bad thing, in my opinion), or maybe it will mean something else.
For most of us here, buying and selling guns is a hobby -- a game. For a few here it's a living, and I suspect they're the ones most troubled by the Cabelas phenomenon. In their shoes, I would be too. But for most of us, buying cool guns is supposed to be fun (and like any hunt, you don't know what the day will bring) ... we take it seriously, because this isn't beer money we're talking about, but it's still a game, and finding the right one and negotiating the right price is how you win. Happy hunting! TT
