r/canadaguns • u/SteakAndAle • 2d ago
Misc Gunpost: should I even bother?
New PAL holder here. I am familiar with firearms but new to being an owner.
There's a number of firearms I'd like to acquire over the next few years (22LR bolt action, hunting rifle, a lever action etc.). I'm in no hurry, and not too picky on specific models, so I thought "no problem, I'll just take my time, wait for the right thing to come up on Gunpost in my area, and save myself 25-30%".
....except most posts on Gunpost are consistently at or above new price at Cabela's or one of my local gun stores. They're even worse deals when you compare to online gun stores. At best I'd be saving $50-100 in tax vs a new gun - hardly worth it IMO.
Am I stupid? Are all these sellers pricing high in the expectation of selling lower? Or should I just give up and buy new?
(this is lower mainland BC, so I'm willing to believe that local sellers are dumber than the average...)
3
u/number75 2d ago
The problem is that a lot of the actually good deals get snatched up really quickly, or are sold privately off gunpost. A lot of people on gunpost tend to consider the cost of what they paid for when they bought the gun, rather than the cost of what it is after use and ownership. TBEH, you have to pretty proactive in looking at gunpost and making offers to find good deals. They exist, they're just hard to spot.
If you're not looking for anything special, you're better off waiting for Black Friday, Canada Day, or Boxing Day to come about and buying stuff new from retailers. The local retailers in BC are pretty good and Reliable Gun even does price matching with online retailers.