MAYBE IT’S THE .270 you hunted the lease with before buying a magnum. Or the 20-gauge that hasn’t seen a dove field in years.
Either way, that’s money sitting in your safe, and it’s doing about as much good as a tackle box in the attic. Consignment is one way to turn it into cash, but you don’t know how it works.
It’s simpler than it sounds, and it can bring in more than a quick sale. Pick the wrong service or gun, however, and it can cost you.
What Is Gun Consignment?
Consigning a gun means handing it to someone who does the work of selling it on your behalf. In return, they keep a percentage of the price.
You still own the gun until it sells. You’re paid once it does, minus the consignment service’s cut. With an outright sale, by contrast, you’re paid when the buyer takes the gun.
What Happens When You Consign a Gun?
Typically, you hand over or ship the gun, and then sign an agreement. It sets the fee and says how long they’ll try to sell it. From there, they list the gun and find the buyer.
Gun consignment fees commonly fall between 10% and 30% of the sale price. Some services cut their percentage as the sale price rises, like FirearmLand’s gun consignment service.
You never have to meet or vet the buyer in a consignment. The sale runs through a licensed dealer, who screens them for you like any of their usual customers.
Where you consign decides who gets to see the gun. At a local shop, it’s a lot like sitting in a deer stand. The right buyer might walk past tomorrow, or not all season.
By comparison, an online auction puts the gun in front of buyers across the country. Bidders compete, so the price is set by whoever wants it most.
Online buyers can’t inspect the gun on a shelf in person, so photos and descriptions do the selling. That’s why it’s a good idea to look at a consignment service’s current listings before you hand yours over. If the photos are blurry and the descriptions run two lines, keep looking. It means they’re not putting in much effort to market guns consigned to them.
Note that some consignment auctions start at a penny with no reserve, meaning no minimum price. Others set a reserve, a hidden floor the gun won’t sell below. Going without a floor sounds risky, but it can draw more bidders. Ask which kind you’re signing up for and why.
If the service is out of state, that’s fine. Federal law lets you ship a firearm to a licensed dealer (also called an FFL, or federal firearms licensee) in any state. Ask the service how it wants the gun sent.
How Long Does Gun Consignment Take?
Consignment agreements commonly run 30 to 90 days. That’s how long the service gets to try selling your gun. Some charge a fee if you take it back before then.
As for the actual time a gun consignment takes to sell, it varies. Online auctions often finish within a few weeks. Local sales depend on who walks in, so they’re harder to predict.
Once a consignment sells, payment usually follows within days. Some services wait out a short buyer inspection period first.
And if the gun doesn’t sell, you usually have three choices. You can agree to lower the price, relist it, or take it back. Note that some shops charge to relist a gun.
What Are the Downsides of Consignment?
The fee is the obvious cost, and what it covers varies. Some services include auction fees, shipping, and card fees. Others take their cut and add those on top.
That makes the percentage alone a poor guide. Let’s illustrate with an example: say your rifle sells for $1,000.
A 25% fee that covers everything leaves you $750 from that. A 15% fee plus $90 in auction fees and shipping leaves about $760 instead.
So the trick is to compare what you’d keep, not the headline number.
There’s also no guaranteed sale. A gun priced too high can sit for months. Some shops set the price themselves, or nudge you lower so it sells faster.
The best defense is knowing what your gun is actually worth. Look up what the same model has recently sold for. Asking prices show what sellers hope for, while sold prices show what buyers paid.
Before you sign, get a few answers in writing too. What does the fee cover? What does pulling out early cost? Who’s responsible if the gun is lost or damaged?
Is It Better to Consign or Sell?
It depends on the gun and on how soon you need the money. Consignment pays off when the extra money beats the fee and the wait.
Run the numbers before you decide. Say a shop offers you $700 cash for a $1,000 shotgun. Consign it instead, and a 20% all-in fee leaves you $800. That’s $100 more for just a few weeks of waiting.
Selling outright makes more sense when the gap is small, or whenever you’d rather have the money now. It’s also simpler for common guns that sell easily anywhere.
And you may not have to guess. Some services both buy and consign guns, so ask for a cash offer and a consignment estimate. Compare the two, then pick the one that fits.
So, think about that .270 again. If it’s worth real money and you can wait, consignment is worth a look.