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SW 686-3 2.5 inch
tone59
Member Posts: 673 ✭✭
Can someone please tell me why BIN and opening bid amounts are so much higher than the $600 Blue Book value of a 2.5inch 686-3 SW?
Have the -3 snubbies jumped in value or are they simply undervalued in the book?
Thank You
Have the -3 snubbies jumped in value or are they simply undervalued in the book?
Thank You
Comments
As the previous poster noted. Check the completed auctions. For realistic fair market values. Ignore the unrealistic pie in the sky fantasies, of some of the sellers. Who seem to have a tenuous grip on reality.
For real world prices the best you can do is search completed auctions on GB (you have to sign in on the auction side) for the item you are looking for. Pay attention to auctions where the item actually sold not the tens or hundreds of relists. In 30 minutes or an hour you can have a very solid price range, in which you can likely find what you seek.
For my money, for gun information the Standard Catalog is more reliable than the BB.
Happy hunting!
My belief is that folks who set pie-in-the-sky asking prices are just using the site as free advertising for their business. Or, they are guys who want to tell their wife, "Honey, I told you I'd sell my guns & take you to the Caribbean, but the market's down & no one wants to buy what I have for what they are worth".
I have never had a gun fail to sell on GB within 7 days. If someone wants to play games, they won't sell their guns very quickly, if at all. I no longer go to gun shows. Many dealers have the same guns at their table that they showed last year, & the year before, for the same ridiculous prices. Ignore them.
Neal
EDIT: When doing an Advanced Search, scroll down to near the bottom. When you see Sort By, click on it to open a drop down box.
Can someone please tell me why BIN and opening bid amounts are so much higher than the $600 Blue Book value of a 2.5inch 686-3 SW?
As mentioned above:
a. "Blue book" is, at best, a rough estimate of true market gun value. In some cases it can be way high or low, and you can't rely on just that.
b. "Buy it now" represents what the seller WANTS for their gun. That's the "ask". Doesn't mean anyone is actually willing to pay that amount, or even that the seller actually expects to get it. In some cases guns sit with "buy it now" prices for literally years, with nobody buying.
More simply, since a thing is only worth what someone is willing to pay "BIN" price may not represent true value.
If you want to see actual market value for a given model of gun, check completed auctions to see what ACTUAL buyers have been willing to pay. That's the best real world valuation for any gun.
As Nmyers says, best way to search is listing auction with highest number of bids first. That shows what the greatest numbers are willing to pay. . .ie, real world/true market value.
Taking this a step further, I just did that for 2.5" 686s, and came up with a pretty wide range of actual bid prices on these from about $580-$900, depending on exact model and condition. Obviously, collectors quality guns of older more desirable models with nice wood stocks new in box command top prices. Used guns with no box and rubber grips, less.
But plenty of guns actually ARE selling at $600, or pretty close and therefore I'd actually say in this case the blue book value you cited is reasonably accurate. . .for a used gun in good condition.
Once I was bidding on a Lyman FL tap in sizer for 45-70. It went for about 10 what they normally go for. I ask the buyer what made it so special. He said he was tired of bidding on one so he set his bid limit high on that one. Some other person must have felt the same way. I bet the seller was ecstatic, or spent days wondering if he let it go too cheap.
The Lee loader in 410 is a now up to $200, wish I had a few dozen to sell.
I too use the GB selling price not the asking price to value guns.
Generally when I see a gun type with a consistently higher asking and or selling price it is due to a rare variation or has pre-83 P&R features or maybe a performance center gun.
Nearly all the 1500 plus asking price 686s I see on the auction side are 1990s vintage with 2.5 inch barrels and wood combat grips.
No 686s that I am aware of are Pinned & Recessed nor are the ones I am watching PC guns.
I am following one that has been bid on it is currently at 905 with a few days left.
EDIT
went ahead and bought one(DOM 93)for 600 out the door.
the finish is highly polished and shines more like my nickeled 27-2 rather than the finishes the 629 no dash and 651 I have.
normally P&R SWs are the ones that peak my interest but this beautiful high gloss SS gun looks great with some recently acquired pearls w/SW medallions in need of a home.
of course the original grips will stay with the gun.
nmyers...
I have not been able to get to the SHOW THE NUMBER OF HIGHEST BIDS FIRST.
I am sure beneficial to me if I knew how to get there.
Thanks guys for your input.
I too use the GB selling price not the asking price to value guns.
Generally when I see a gun type with a consistently higher asking and or selling price it is due to a rare variation or has pre-83 P&R features or maybe a performance center gun.
Nearly all the 1500 plus asking price 686s I see on the auction side are 1990s vintage with 2.5 inch barrels and wood combat grips.
No 686s that I am aware of are Pinned & Recessed nor are the ones I am watching PC guns.
I am following one that has been bid on it is currently at 905 with a few days left.
EDIT
went ahead and bought one(686-3)for 600 out the door.
the finish is highly polished and shines more like my nickeled 27-2 rather than the finishes the 629 no dash and 651 I have.
normally P&R SWs are the ones that peak my interest but this beautiful high gloss SS gun looks great with some recently acquired pearls w/SW medallions in need of a home.
of course the original grips will stay with the gun.
nmyers...
I have not been able to get to the SHOW THE NUMBER OF HIGHEST BIDS FIRST.
I am sure beneficial to me if I knew how to get there.
Re, the above the highly polished finish. Might not be original, S & W. In the past I have run across various posts and instructional videos. About polishing plain vanilla stainless guns. Into a mirror finish. Resembling the mirror finish found, on the old factory nickel plated Colt Pythons. With the correct polishing compound. A lot of patience. And being knowledgeable, about correct buffing wheels. It can be done.
I hadn't considered it but maybe that is how this one came to be as it is.
Whoever polished this one did excellent work in house or otherwise.
I have a LNIB nickeled python 1981 vintage.
This 686 does not have the see yourself clearly mirror finish of the python or the SW 27-2.
Really happy with it.
Would like to send pics if I can figure out how. looks nice with the gold medallion pearl grips.