Seller remorse

[contender]

We often discuss keeping or selling our guns around here. Some folks have no problem buying & selling stuff, w/o any regrets. Most of us have sold something that we regret we didn't keep and lament our weakness. We usually can remember the ones we liked but let get away from us.
That's "Seller Remorse."
Of course,, we have some folks who've never sold a gun. Kudos to those folks. But I'd bet most of them don't have a quantity of guns either. More likely less than 20 or so. (I can be wrong,, so don't blast me there. I actually envy those who've never sold a gun.)

Over the decades I've been fooling with guns,, I've been like most people. I used to get a gun,, enjoy it for a while,, get an itch to enjoy something else, and the only way I could afford it, was to sell or swap one I already had. Or,, needing money to pay a bill or such,, and a spare gun would be sacrificed.
Many of these trades or sales stick out because it's a gun we truly liked,, but for whatever reason had to let go.
Seller remorse.

And occasionally, we sell or trade something to a friend or relative,, only to be able to get it back later on. Either the friend is a good one,, or the relative is nice or passes away etc.

I got to where I hated seller remorse and long ago decided to not be afflicted with it anymore. If I got a gun I liked,, it is still with me. But the ones I wished I'd kept,, still haunt me.

But just recently,, I was able to become one of those who was able to get back a gun I let go long ago. About 25-30 years ago,, needing money for bills, I let go of a gun I liked. I remember thinking; "It was a gift from my EX-wife & her mother,, and they aren't important to me anymore." And a friend whom I knew had money to spend bought it. We never spoke about it,, as I consider it in bad taste to try & go back on a deal. My friend passed away almost 5 years ago. Soon after the funeral,, I was talking to his younger brother,, who was cussing about how a cousin had plundered the guys safe & stuff. Stealing & selling things. I quietly asked about the gun I had sold my friend.
It was not to be found among his stuff. I never mentioned it again, figuring he'd either sold it or it had been one of the ones stolen.
Well, a few weeks ago,,,I got a call from the younger brother,, asking me about a gun. I immediately knew it was "my" gun. The widow had just found it,, still in it's original box,, in the back of a closet. She'd been cleaning out some stuff, and came across it.
I told them I had sold it to the friend, and there were a few accessories as well. The widow looked for the items,, but to no avail. But she agreed to sell me back "my" gun,, AND was glad I was the one they had called.

I can now check off one of my "seller remorse" regrets.

 

[thinckley]

Congrats on getting it back, but what was it?

I fall into that category of never selling a gun I like or wanted, and I definitely have more than 20.

The only gun I have ever sold was a mossberg 30-06 that I won from RMEF. It was way too light for the caliber and kicked like an angry mule. Since I knew I would never use it to hunt with, and because it was nothing special, rare, or even exciting, I sold it to a coworker that was interested in getting in to hunting. Last time I asked him about it, he hadn't even taken it to the range...

All that being said, I have two guns that I would part with. A SCCY 9mm and an extra S-380 that came back from my mother-in-law. My son knows that eventually, all of these guns will eventually be his and he is excited to inherit my collection.

 

[thinckley]

I should add... I have experienced "non-buyer's" remorse, when I regret not buying something I saw and passed on, only to realize too late that I really should have picked it up.

 

[Goldstar225]

Yeah, I have a few regrets. Some of them seemed to be the right choice to sell or trade at the time, a couple for financial reasons. Most of them I've made up for over the years but one or two still linger.....

 

[Mobuck]

After I retired (the first time), I was doing 'day work' to supplement my retirement. One of those jobs was helping an old friend do chores and livestock care. One day that friend just fell over dead leaving his family at a loss for how to manage. I took over and filled the gap for several months only asking for the hourly wage even though it was far more involved than just chores and such. In the end, I was offered more money which I refused or my choice of one of the friend's collection of Remington 700's. I chose a fairly rare specimen and no one complained.
Our financial position changed due to unforeseen consequences of life and I was forced to sell that rifle to pay property taxes the following year. I seriously regret that but it was the only option.

 

[bobski]

i dont know how you can find so much time to type all this , as busy as you are with a huge farm! :>

the way you get out from under the cloud of sellers remorse is to break the tie to it on the soul level.

i have a hard time with this. guns have memories. and every time i see it, it brings back memories.
if i can just get to the point where i realize its an object...and objects dont control me...i'd be ok.
and when i am able to break that tie....away it goes and i dont look back.
i learned a long time ago when i was really active on gunbroken.com and fleebay....that if i lose a bid, there will always be another one...and just move on.

 

[Jeepnik]

I've never had seller's remorse. Mostly because I have never sold one. I do sometimes have giver's remorse. I have given the kids several firearms over the years.

On the plus side I do get to visit those firearms from time to time. They even let me clean them sometimes. Pretty darned generous of those two scamps.

 

[RoundinCircles]

Yes. I sold several guns and my truck more than ten years ago because I was moving to Hawaii. I regret selling all of them but have since bought the same model guns back except for one and the truck. When I complete the sale of my house, I intend to bring similar models of both home.

 

[JAYDAWG]

I should add... I have experienced "non-buyer's" remorse, when I regret not buying something I saw and passed on, only to realize too late that I really should have picked it up.

Thinking about it.........
Buyers remorse and sellers remorse have the same definition for me.
What will I miss more in 6 months the money or the gun?
The gun, it's always the gun......

Cheers,
JAYDAWG

PS,
contender, glad you got that one back!!

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I've managed to avoid this . . . almost.

Way back when, I bought the first Security Six my local dealer received, a low-number first-year item. It fit me perfectly and shot right where I looked.

Sometime later I was in the shop and there was a 4-5/8" Blackhawk .357, pristine. Yeah, I traded the Security Six in on it. A couple days later I realized I had made a mistake in getting rid of the Security Six and returned to the shop hoping to recover it. Ha. It had been purchased by another guy before I was even out of the parking lot! And he just laughed when i tried to buy it from him.

I later bought another Security Six but it was of the revised grip profile type and never has fit my hand or shot as well as my original. I've kept it as a reminder to avoid ever getting rid of anything.

 

[Danjet500]

Sellers remorse isn't only for guns. I've had some remorse over selling a few guns but only because if I had kept them they would be worth more now. What I do have some serious sellers remorse for is a 1969 Mustang I once owned. I've kicked myself many times over the years.

 

[JAYDAWG]

Sellers remorse isn't only for guns. I've had some remorse over selling a few guns but only because if I had kept them they would be worth more now. What I do have some serious sellers remorse for is a 1969 Mustang I once owned. I've kicked myself many times over the years.

Ouch, yep, a kickable offense for sure.

I didn't sell my '69 Mach 1, I rolled it up in a ball and destroyed it.

JaydaWg

 

[gnappi]

Seller remorse is something to be avoided by me.

One of the most accurate pistols I ever owned was a .40 cal DAO Beretta 96D (that's not an error) and a coworker who shot it badgered me over several months to sell it to him and in a moment of weakness I did, and I regretted it immediately.

Then a few years later I come to find out that he took his own life with the only pistol I knew he owned which was likely my old Beretta. Boy did that bum me out and I'll never ever sell a firearm to a friend again.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I recently had one come back to me after many years. I'd traded a Browning Hi-Power to an old friend for a Springfield Armory XD 9mm and some cash. A couple of months ago he told me he was going to give it back to me. I asked why, and he said " I've got two nephews both aggravating me about that gun, and if I let one of them have it they're liable to trade it for a Glock or something stupid, so I'm just gonna give it back to you where I know it'll have a good home." And he did.
Then he said, "about the only gun I want now is a Ruger SR1911. 45, but I probably won't ever get one."
Well, a week later you can probably guess what I handed him...

 

[MaxMan]

Sold a 1970 1/2 ton C 10, short bed step side.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Sellers remorse isn't only for guns. I've had some remorse over selling a few guns but only because if I had kept them they would be worth more now. What I do have some serious sellers remorse for is a 1969 Mustang I once owned. I've kicked myself many times over the years.

I can beat that.
In 1979 I had a 1970 Challenger with a 440 and 4 speed , and a 1970 Chevelle convertible.
I traded the Challenger for a truck and sold a 1970 Chevelle convertible for $100.
I think about that once in awhile.

I do know one thing though.
Whoever has them today , will never drive them like I used too.

 

[gunman42782]

Not the only gun I ever regretted selling, or in this case, trading off, but by far the one I regretted the most! Had a original Colt Anaconda I bought for the princely sum of $400 bucks in a pawn shop back in the day. Kept it a year or so. Saw this absolutely beautiful Browning Xbolt rifle I just had to have and traded for it. Worse shooting rifle I ever owned, by far, even my old Mini 14s would shoot as good as that thing did. Six months after trading Colt stopped making DA revolvers and the prices went through the roof! Traded that Browning for something else (I don't even remember what) and have never regretted getting rid of that gun!

 

[Brant]

I sold an unfired ruger 50th anniversary 357 Blackhawk to a cousin. It was probably only a year old then. Last year he traded it to a neighbor for a better carry gun of some type. Not long after that i was selling a Remington 700 308, and that same neighbor that now had the anniversary Blackhawk wanted it. A deal was made and it is back home! All 3 of us are happy too! At least they had better be because I ain’t giving it up again!

 

[GasGuzzler]

Sellers remorse isn't only for guns. I've had some remorse over selling a few guns but only because if I had kept them they would be worth more now. What I do have some serious sellers remorse for is a 1969 Mustang I once owned. I've kicked myself many times over the years.

Same.

138378K179201

Still have the VIN memorized from the 1968 SS396 Chevelle I had from 1991 until 2005.

 

[vito]

I know I would have seller's remorse if I sold a few of my handguns that I never shoot, do not rely upon for home or personal defense and could well live without them. But the few bucks that I might get for one or two of these guns would make no real difference in my life, so why sell them? Someday I might want to go back to use the P97 or that SR40c that sit in the safe untouched for years at a time, so I know that if I sold them I well might regret doing so later.

 

[Brant]

You guys with your mustangs are killing me. When my Pop went to Vietnam he left his 65 fast ack in his sisters care. She was to use it and return it upon his return, but willed to her in case he did not. It burned in a fire when The apartment complex she lived in burned.

 

[Ranger]

I don't have any I've regretted selling or trading. I do have some I've regretted not buying. I also have some I've regretted not selling (during the covid panic). Could've sold some old ones I never use any more then to fund some better ones now. I knew it then too; but talked myself out of it...

 

[6GUNSONLY]

As to seller's remorse for things other than guns...?
Sold a 1977 Ford 250 4x4 Hi-boy that I'd ordered new. Duh. I don't even have a picture of it.

 

[el caminero]

I have seen, in rifle, pistol, automobile, motorcycle, boat, wristwatch, and aircraft magazines, the question is asked; of which ones should you have never sold, and want back. Invariably, the answer will pop up; all of them. Havent read enough horse magazines to see it there...

 

[thinckley]

I have seen, in rifle, pistol, automobile, motorcycle, boat, wristwatch, and aircraft magazines, the question is asked; of which ones should you have never sold, and want back. Invariably, the answer will pop up; all of them. Havent read enough horse magazines to see it there...

It's there.

 

[peachhead]

Sold a 1970 1/2 ton C 10, short bed step side.

Wish my dad had not sold his. I would love to have that truck now! No a/c and all. His was a long bed.

 

[MaxMan]

Wish my dad had not sold his. I would love to have that truck now! No a/c and all. His was a long bed.

Yeah, three on the tree. Until the bushing wore out.

 

[Ride1949]

My '67 Fairlane GTA. 390, 3/4 race cam, tri-power, 4:11 posi. Beautiful, fast car.

 

[krw]

I regret selling my 61 Chevrolet Impala 2door hardtop. White w baby blue stripe.
Through years I hav owned 3 Browning Rennasiance High Powers. I should hav held onto 1 of them

 

[Randyzzz]

Yep. Lots of sellers remorse. A Dan Wesson .357 with 2 barrels. A HK4 with the full kit- all 4 barrels and boxes. A Buckmark- not for the gun but because it used to be my Dad’s. More than a few vehicles.

Worst part is that most were sold because I wanted something different at the time- and honestly I can’t remember what I bought with the money I received.