A Hmmm moment on Gunbroker

[LVSteve]

Small follow up. The Non Rated bidder who won the item was given an A+ rating by the seller. Whether that is because they were quick with payment or did an A+ job stopping me buying the gun I cannot say.

 

[Erich]

Wow. Well, I think you have your answer, amigo.

I sometimes do the same thing you do - idly bid on vaguely interesting guns to see if I can get them at low enough prices for me to have fun with them at no real risk. I won an auction one time for a new Ruger LCR and had the seller tell me he lost money (and I believe it) but he honored the price, no problem. Sorry to hear you had that bad experience, but I really appreciate you reporting on it here.

 

[dave1918a2]

What do You do when the seller sends You an email explaining that He can't sell the item for what You bid and declares the auction void. Then a week later You see the same piece offered by a new seller from the same place.

 

[deadin]

What do You do when the seller sends You an email explaining that He can't sell the item for what You bid and declares the auction void.

FWIW... Report him to GB???

 

[Skeet 028]

A little off topic, have any of you been involved in a live auction where
the auctioneer was taking bids from unseen persons? I have witnessed this several times, once against me until I figured out what was going on. I stopped bidding immediately and left the auctioneer holding the bag. He did everything he could to get me or someone else to bid one more time.
.

I had it happen more than once. Never on guns though. I called an auctioneer on it one time...Asking who was I bidding against? Told me I didn't have to know that. I stated if I was bidding against him he should let it be known. Quite a few in the auction crowd agreed. On a side note, I had an auction "security guy" come up and grabbed me by the arm and said maybe I should sit down and be quiet.. Happened to know him slightly so knew he was a state trooper. I asked him if he realized he had just assaulted and threatened me ...and I would prefer charges. Like he had been struck by lightning he turned loose of my arm. It was a very bad call by him and the auctioneer. Many people left when I did. The auctioneer called and apologized the next day. Don't think he wanted the cop to end up with troubles either. In another auction (different auctioneer) also bid 2.50 on an item first and only bid and in his sing song sales he made it seem as though the bid was 5 dollars...which he tried to charge me., I said out loud I had bid 2.50 and that is what I was paying.. It was only 2 1/2 dollars but right is right. At least at that auction he quit the padding bids. No hard feelings as I have had him sell stuff for me since. I am an auction junkie...but REALLY NOT Gunbroker. Too many shills or too much chance of it

 

[LVSteve]

Indeed, we all complain about what appear to be shills at auctions, but the auctioneers themselves have plenty of dirty tricks of their own.

 

[Chuck24]

At some point, we all have bought or sold our first gun.

 

[Bald1]

Just today I bought a gun on GB. Watched it all week. Opening bid $409 buy it now $419. With 11 mins left and no prior bids I bid $409. Couple mins later a $414 bid comes in. So I hit buy it now for $419, which I was more than willing to do all along. My point is if I'm at $409 wouldn't the other bidder hit buy it now rather than loose it for $5 bucks?????? Seems like it might have been a shill to get price up the last $10. I'll talk to seller by phone tomorrow and get a little better feel for the situation.

 

[bdGreen]

I bought a gun a number of years ago from an individual.

It was not to my standards upon being able to hold it and review it.

I shipped it back to the original seller.

A short while later I was perusing the internet auctions for a new 'treasure' and I ran across that same gun. I checked the serial numbers and, Yep, it was the one in my possession just a few weeks prior.

I watched it for a few days and it seemed to languish at a mediocre price point.

Then bam. A bid jumped it up about 25 percent more.

Then I realized that the 'new' bidder was the same guy I shipped it back to and he had sent it to auction with a different dealer.

That was disgustingly obvious, but, only to me.

I knew the provenance of that gun irrefutably.

Those two guys lost a lot of street cred and I won't deal with either one of them, ever.

They are out there folks.

Watch your hind ends.

bdGreen

 

[Bald1]

I like to send guys like that a email just to let them know, I know……. See stuff like that on Craigslist all the time. Flippers trying to flip.

 

[glenwolde]

I was bidding one gun and watching a virtually identical gun on gunbroker once. I ended up walking away from #1 and never bid on #2. Looking at the aftermath I became highly suspicious that the owner of #2 (which expired later) was shill-bidding #1 up to increase the price of his.

 

[TheHobbyist]

I tried to correct a well-known auction house one time on an item, they thought said item to be authentic, I knew it wasn't. It sold to an anonymous bidder for a princely sum--buyer beware.

 

[pawngal]

I was bidding one gun and watching a virtually identical gun on gunbroker once. I ended up walking away from #1 and never bid on #2. Looking at the aftermath I became highly suspicious that the owner of #2 (which expired later) was shill-bidding #1 up to increase the price of his.

I'm watching 3 auctions for the same model of gun and I'm wondering the same thing.

 

[handejector]

I

When I checked the auction I found I had been knocked out by a bidder with no feedback (NR)...and the item was shown as "relisted". There is nothing in the listing to show that the seller won't deal with NR bidders, but the relisting notice intrigued me. Is it a way of getting around a listing charge when you have multiple examples of a gun to sell?

You do not avoid listing fees simply by relisting an item that has been sold. GB does not give credit for a SOLD item unless you prove there is a reason for a credit, like an item being returned, or a non-paying bidder, etc.
Check it out- Requesting Credit for Seller Listing Fees
Listing fees are small change. It's the % of the sale price that hurts!
Relisting an item due to a non-paying bidder is a PITA and eats up time and money.
When a Buyer Doesn't Pay - Credit Request

 

[Dave from Pa]

I have bought a few guns on GB and have not had any negative experiences yet.Once I bought a factory engraved Model 19 from a dealer for a great price, gun only nothing else.A year or so later I get a fed x box from the same dealer with the factory box and all the accessories and paperwork.That being said a few times if the auction was suspect for whatever reason you just walk away.In person auctions to me are the worst.A dealer I knew was friends with a local auctioneer who he helped appraise guns and accessories.Quite a few times I would see the auctioneer give him a fast gavel on something he wanted then drag it out on the next couple of items to make up the loss.I have seen this with more than one auction house.I also think Shill bidding is more prevalent in live auctions along with make believe bidders(don't sit in the first row).I don't know what it is but sometimes the buying and selling of guns brings out the worst in people.JMO

 

[nksmfamjp]

I have a (bad?) habit of placing BS bids on strange guns that aren't attracting much interest at auctions. Usually they are guns with offbeat operating systems like rotating barrels or gas delayed blowback. I did it again last night, and was pipped at the post by another bidder. That's fine, my auction strategy is to calculate the total cost I am prepared to incur and bid accordingly.

When I checked the auction I found I had been knocked out by a bidder with no feedback (NR)...and the item was shown as "relisted". There is nothing in the listing to show that the seller won't deal with NR bidders, but the relisting notice intrigued me. Is it a way of getting around a listing charge when you have multiple examples of a gun to sell?

Then the nasty, suspicious part of my mind kicked in. Did the NR bidder suddenly appear because otherwise I was getting the gun too cheap for someone's liking? I have a bid on the relisting, so we shall see what happens with that. Watch this space.

That is one possibility. Or the NR bidder bid on the auction and then was a no show or was bumped due to policy after auction end.

 

[LVSteve]

That is one possibility. Or the NR bidder bid on the auction and then was a no show or was bumped due to policy after auction end.

There is nothing in the seller's conditions to say they don't deal with NR buyers. If they do have such a policy, it seems odd that they would give the NR bidder an A+ rating, which is exactly what they did.

 

[LVSteve]

Rinse and repeat. Another NR within 20 minutes of the auction's end and the item has been relisted. Oooo, tell me how surprised you all are.

 

[charlie sherrill]

You do not avoid listing fees simply by relisting an item that has been sold. GB does not give credit for a SOLD item unless you prove there is a reason for a credit, like an item being returned, or a non-paying bidder, etc.
Check it out- Requesting Credit for Seller Listing Fees
Listing fees are small change. It's the % of the sale price that hurts!
Relisting an item due to a non-paying bidder is a PITA and eats up time and money.
When a Buyer Doesn't Pay - Credit Request

And when you have to relist it the previous bidders think something is wrong with the item or something fishy is going on and they bid less or not at all.

 

[TheHobbyist]

Just free thinking: Can you network with other collectors in your area that have items of your interest?

Be it classic cars, antiquities, other items, I have found utility in like-minded collectors in my geographic/locality.

I understand you have been doing this a long time--has it turned out?

Auctions can be great and in rare circumstance a burden. Just curious if you have explored your local network.

ETA: I wish you the best my friend, just wondering if you have a professional or personal network that supports your interests. If so, you will likely have far more interest and benefits in this capacity.