Ever lose an auction because someone hits 'Buy Now" while you are looking at the site or while waiting for the seller to respond to a question? I lost three auctions today. Two while waiting for an answer from a seller and one where someone hit "Buy Now" while I was looking at the site. All for the same model firearm. He who hesitates loses the auction.

As I have posted before, I have seen really funny things happen on the online auctions.
I guess three times on the same model gun in that short a time sounds suspicious to me.
But I'm already spring loaded in that direction.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I have lost several while waiting for a response which drives me nuts. My questions are typically not of the obscure but rather things that should have been in the posting to begin with. I have come to the sad conclusion that you basically have 2 choices and they both depend on how badly you want the item and what the BIN price is. If the BIN price is reasonable and you want it, forget about asking for any clarification, hit the buy it now and take your chances. If the BIN price is high then take a chance and ask the question. Sadly, I believe omissions are often intentional and whose to say how long a seller can wait to respond? I think they set the BIN price and ignore questions in hopes someone will take a chance on it.

If GB would just institute a simple $10 listing fee then almost all the nonsense on that site would disappear overnight. Reserves would come down or go away, starting prices would be realistic, pictures would be of better quality and descriptions would be more detailed. I would love to know what percentage of the auctions that end on any given day, end without a sale for whatever reason. Its got to be 75%. I swear there are guns listed that have been relisted 25 times because the seller is looking for the unicorn, and with the current system, there is no cost to continue the search.

Pretty much.

Yes, but there is always another one.........

No but I've won some that way. Got a very nice model 57 that way.

Not on an auction.

Last week I found some shipping totes at a GREAT price on Amazon.
Put them in my cart and continued looking.
When I went to check out: This Item Is No Longer Available.
Somebody else had bought it.
Should have done - One Click Buy

Bekeart

OP, is it "he who hesitates loses the auction" or is it "he who asks the right questions avoids a bad purchase"?

Exactly! Not worth taking the chance and spending money on what you don't want/need.

A couple of sellers I know say about 99% of the questions are from tire kickers. When you shop on-line you assume a certain element of risk ..... not always are all the i's dotted and t's crossed.

Yep ... you snooze, you lose.

Cannot be any worse than proper auctions with an auctioneer. Some of the games that go on in that environment beggar belief.

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Release the Kraken

Couple times I hit "buy it now" a few minutes after a gun was posted, and literally a few seconds after I found the gun. You snooze you loose. Of course I scanned the pictures quickly and made sure the seller wasn't brand new and didn't have negative feedback. Couple other times there were bids on one I bought, it is what it is, if they really wanted the gun, they should have hit buy it now.

Now, of course, once I saw I gun a wanted for a steal but thought no, I have enough guns, and I was so proud of myself for resisting an impulse purchase. That lasted about a minute and I went back to get it.... it was gone.

All I had to say to the lgs when I had him on the phone (and he with gun in hand) - 'Hold it for me'. I did not and an hour later it was gone

Ain't that the truth. I've seen more than one live auctioneer make up bids by pretending to recognize someone at the back of the room.

Fourth time was a charm. I have a Winchester 71 coming my way. Paid more than the three I missed but it's what I wanted, including a bolt peep sight. The heart wants what the heart wants.

And he who buys based on assumptions and wishful thinking will regularly suffer from buyer's remorse.

I would rather lose an auction the way you describe than win and later find out there were issues with the gun that would have come to light through a response from the seller. Auctions are a dangerous arena, and one best entered into armed with patience and skepticism.

Just had the opposite happen. Lost bid, then got a message I was a winner.??? Ok I will take it, 32-20- nickel . Hey its Christmas!!!

Back in my reckless youth I went to test ride a very nice BMW motorcycle. I fell in love with it and took it back to the owner fully prepared to pay his asking price. When I arrived he had already sold it to someone else.
What a BUMMER!!!
I was so upset while riding my Honda home I forgot it was no BMW and went into a curve too fast and went off of the road. I only got scrapped and bruised and broke off the clutch handle,- all but a little nub one finger width long- I was most embarrassed , and couldn`t get out of that mans yard fast enough!You should have seen me trying to work the clutch with one finger.

If it was bought using Buy It Now, someone thought it was worth the price asked.

Guns are selling for asking prices and above especially rare models, if you do not want to pay that then buy the new model. It could be a few hundred more but in the end you will have a new example of a firearm that someone bought used for a few bones less.

In a previous life I was an auctioneer and have sold many,many thousands of items for clients. Here's a little known secret, Nobody ever has lost an auction. Ever. Yes you will hear auctioneers say there is a winner. It's all marketing. It's all based on feeding on an irrational "fear of loss". No different than the used car salesman saying "Buy now or you'll lose the deal, car, financing, etc.". The reason it's irrational is you are not losing anything. It's not yours to lose. You walk away with everything you came in with. So don't feel bad. It hasn't cost you a cent.

Most of us have lost guns at auctions for various reasons mentioned.
What really bothers me is the seller that has his auction ending at some early morning hour, like 2 or 3 a.m. when most people are asleep. I like to be up to bid, not just place a proxy bid, go to sleep, only to wake up in the morning to see I've been outbid.
I got lucky once... a model 28-2 was ending around 2 a.m. and I placed my bid before going to sleep, which really bothered me.
I happened to wake up (naturally) a bit after 2 and ran and turned on my computer, only to find I had won the auction.
Everyone gets lucky once in a while. And if you lose that one, another will come along.
I've lost auctions due to being outbid, but held my ground, knowing that model will come along at the price I'm willing to pay... and it's happened a number of times.
It costs money to be impulsive.

Ya win a few, Ya lose a few...

I've got probably half a dozen revolvers, rifles, and shotguns that I won, just because the current bid was too low. And I thought, 'I'll never get it for this amount'. Next thing I know, I'm taking delivery of my third Remington 1187. Or third Marlin 512. Or fourth Mini-14. Not to forget the Thompson 1927 A5 that I haven't a clue what I'm going to use for.

If it's something I really, really want (last was the Winchester Classic Stainless BOSS .22-250 I had to have). And the BIN price is close to the reasonable level, I'm owning it.

Just the nature of online auctions.

I have seen no action until the last day then its the same bidder with multiple bids. Could it be someone associated with the seller?

I never thought of it as losing.

If the seller is'nt smart enough to include "ALL" relevant info
and detailed photos of what he is selling i will avoid the auction.
Yes, it could be a diamond in the rough so to speak. But then again
it most likely is someone who is trying to mislead or pull a quick
one on you. No big loss. Just be patient and wait for that model
at a later date. If you had bids on three of the same model that
tells me it was'nt something hard to find to begin with.



Chuck

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They hold no Quarter