Stunt by Gunbroker.com

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sodacan

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Gunbroker.com recently pulled a stunt that everyone who deals on the site should be aware of. This is what I wrote to them. It is self-explanatory. Since I was bidding, I'm doubly ticked off:

"I bid on auction number 336298123 but was outbid. When I went to re-bid, I saw the notification that the seller would not honor any more bids and would not sell the gun to highest bidder. Furthermore Gunbroker sanctioned the seller's actions. What gives? Once there is a bid, a contract exists between the buyer and seller. You should read your own rules for sellers regarding end an auction early. No buyer would ever be released from their obligations with out repercussions. Everyone who deals on this site is entitled to an explanation. Your credibility is at stake."

Anyone who deals with Gunbroker should be aware of this situation and should let them know that they allowed a serious breach of THEIR own rules.
 
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Seems a bit odd to me and in fact GB has the 15 minute rule to actually extend bidding time to insure that the seller gets the absolute highest price. Maybe this is something new.........
 
chief38 said:
Seems a bit odd to me and in fact GB has the 15 minute rule to actually extend bidding time to insure that the seller gets the absolute highest price. Maybe this is something new.........
Click to expand...

The 15 minute rule has nothing to do with it. They arbitrarily absolved a seller of his responsibility to honor a contract made under GB's own rules.
 
I have used gunbroker

So I looked into the procedures and it says a seller can end an auction early IF a legitimate bid has not reached the reserve price. Exact wording:

"A seller can only end an auction early if there is not a bid on the item or the highest bid does not meet the Reserve Price (if applicable)."

I assume that in a no reserve auction any bid at or above the starting price is binding. Is that true??

I think selling out from under bidders is pretty rotten but there are apparently circumstances where this is allowed on the GB site.
 
There were several "troll posts" in another thread in response to a post I made regarding Gunbroker, and how there is this love affair and swear on a stack of Bible's by some members here that they're trustworthy; yeah right. :rolleyes:
 
I don't see where it says GB sanctioned the early closing of the non-reserve auction.
It says it's been 'sold' because the system won't let you cancel a non-reserve auction that already has a bid on it. It ran it's course.
All the person that listed it could do was post the messages to stop bidding on it, it's cancelled & will be relisted, ect.

The person that listed it says "...GUNBROKER HAS BEEN CONTACTED AND INFORMED THAT THIS AUCTION WILL BE RE DONE..." (their caps,not mine)
Nothing about GB saying any of this is OK w/them.

Can I End an Auction Early?- GunBroker.com Help Center
Can I End an Auction Early?
(last updated on 7/7/2011)
Ending an auction early is not a good idea since many bidders wait until the last minute to place a bid.

A seller can only end an auction early if:

there is not a bid on the item
the highest bid does not meet the Reserve Price (if applicable)
>
>
Looks to me that someone has a 547 for $720.57

Just the way I see it.
 
rwsmith said:
So I looked into the procedures and it says a seller can end an auction early IF a legitimate bid has not reached the reserve price. Exact wording:

"A seller can only end an auction early if there is not a bid on the item or the highest bid does not meet the Reserve Price (if applicable)."

I assume that in a no reserve auction any bid at or above the starting price is binding. Is that true??

I think selling out from under bidders is pretty rotten but there are apparently circumstances where this is allowed on the GB site.
Click to expand...

This was a no reserve auction, and a binding contract on both the both the buyer and seller was created. If you read the rules on the GB site, there is no wiggle room. These guys have been watching the president too much.
 
2152hq said:
I don't see where it says GB sanctioned the early closing of the non-reserve auction.
It says it's been 'sold' because the system won't let you cancel a non-reserve auction that already has a bid on it. It ran it's course.
All the person that listed it could do was post the messages to stop bidding on it, it's cancelled & will be relisted, ect.

The person that listed it says "...GUNBROKER HAS BEEN CONTACTED AND INFORMED THAT THIS AUCTION WILL BE RE DONE..." (their caps,not mine)
Nothing about GB saying any of this is OK w/them.

Can I End an Auction Early?- GunBroker.com Help Center
Can I End an Auction Early?
(last updated on 7/7/2011)
Ending an auction early is not a good idea since many bidders wait until the last minute to place a bid.

A seller can only end an auction early if:

there is not a bid on the item
the highest bid does not meet the Reserve Price (if applicable)
>
>
Looks to me that someone has a 547 for $720.57

Just the way I see it.
Click to expand...

That's why I'm ticked off.
 
GB bidder

If anyone knows the "winning" bidder of this auction, please ask him to contact me. Thanks.
 
Maybe there was an issue outside of the seller's and GB's control. There are always extenuating circumstances that can affect things. (i.e. the gun was found to belong to someone else, and therefore the seller cannot legally sell it. It may be stolen. The seller may have passed away and the family has the right to stop the auction.) It could be any number of reasons, that the bidders are not entitled to hear about due to privacy issues. If there's one thing that's certain in life, there is ALWAYS wiggle room.

Edit: I'm confused, in the OP, you said that the seller wouldn't sell to the highest bidder, but now you're asking if anybody knows who bought it? Was it sold or not?
 
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I usually wait until the last one ot two minutes of an auction to bid and then if it pops back that I have been out bid I let it go. If not I watch it for the fifteen minute limit to see if I will be out bid . I Hate the fifteen minute rule!
 
i had a run in with them a few weeks ago....I bid on an item at the last minute and would have made out really really well on an AR purchase but when about a minute after my bid and with only seconds left I noticed popped up saying that my account was frozen. I said what the ....? I emailed them saying I have never bid on anything why is this happening?? They told me that since I hadn't bid on anything in the year that I had belonged to the site they froze the account and they would temp reopen it once I have given them a credit card account numbers and they would charge my account again another $1 to verify who I am....it would have been nice to know this bull before I tried to bid.... I haven't had much luck on the bidding sites...on another one it was one of those penny bid sites and I should have won another really nice AR with all the trimmings....I was the last bidder and the timer froze at 00 for over a minute...then they added back on 45 seconds....allowing others to jump back in. To top it off the winning bidder had the same screen name of the one who had been winning all the other top knotch auction items...Not sure why it did that or if thats the way those things work but felt cheated either way and for that reason I am done with em lol
 
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Jyezahn said:
Maybe there was an issue outside of the seller's and GB's control. There are always extenuating circumstances that can affect things. (i.e. the gun was found to belong to someone else, and therefore the seller cannot legally sell it. It may be stolen. The seller may have passed away and the family has the right to stop the auction.) It could be any number of reasons, that the bidders are not entitled to hear about due to privacy issues. If there's one thing that's certain in life, there is ALWAYS wiggle room.

Edit: I'm confused, in the OP, you said that the seller wouldn't sell to the highest bidder, but now you're asking if anybody knows who bought it? Was it sold or not?
Click to expand...

I didn't say it was bought, but the auction ended with a legitimate bid. There was a "winning" bidder but the seller refused to follow through on the sale. If you read the sellers comments on GB, you will see they made an arbitrary decision, and GB allowed them to slide. Do you work for them? LOL.
 
The seller attempted to cancel the auction on 4/10. On 4/12 and 4/13 he repeated that the description needed changing, bids were not valid and the auction was not happening.
Looks like he had a problem with the accuracy of the description and wanted to make it right. He had a Dickens of a time getting it cancelled.

Interested parties can copy the auction number from the OP and paste it into Gunbroker.
 
sodacan said:
I didn't say it was bought, but the auction ended with a legitimate bid. There was a "winning" bidder but the seller refused to follow through on the sale. If you read the sellers comments on GB, you will see they made an arbitrary decision, and GB allowed them to slide. Do you work for them? LOL.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I just gathered that you might've known if it was bought since you asked if anyone knew who bought it. And no, I don't work for them, I'm simply putting out there that despite "rules", there are always circumstances that will warrant them being bent, and it's very likely that whatever circumstances the seller had, you would not be privy to. Even if the seller didn't have extenuating circumstances, that doesn't mean he couldn't just break the rules of the site and deal with the consequences.

Edit: After going to the site and looking at the listing and comments, it would seem that the seller didn't want to have an inaccurate listing. I'm sure this would fall under extenuating circumstances, as if I post an auction for a particular gun, but the description does not match it, then the auction should not proceed in good faith. I can understand why GB would accept this action on the seller's part. It's quite likely that the seller contacted GB prior to cancelling the auction and GB OK'd it.
 
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Why yes....yes.....I would trust them as far as I could throw them. Even though I have purchased several firearms on GB I would still not put any faith in their endeavors to help me with a problem of any kind. They are basically all hat and no cattle.
 
2152hq said:
..Looks to me that someone has a 547 for $720.57. Just the way I see it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, me too. It's unfortunate for any potential bidders, including the OP, but this is a situation where the seller needs to 'eat it'. Just like buyers are expected to do. It appears that GB failed to cancel the auction after requested by the seller. Let the seller deal with GunBroker.

If the seller does re-list the item, refusing to sell to the winner (husqvarna), then that winner has an issue with GB.

Lesson here: Continue to bid, regardless of what the seller posts, until the auction ends or GB cancels it.

And I don't work for GB either. And I'm not inherently lucky either.

But I have purchased a vast quantity of: rifles/shotguns/pistols/revolvers/ammunition/accessories from various sellers on that site. Only minor problems with two transactions.
 
bunkshaner said:
i had a run in with them a few weeks ago....I bid on an item at the last minute and would have made out really really well on an AR purchase but when about a minute after my bid and with only seconds left I noticed popped up saying that my account was frozen. I said what the ......?
Click to expand...

This happen to me last weekend on a 36. My cc on record didn't expire until the end of the month, but my bid was not honored. By the time I figured this out, the 15 minutes had expired and the auction had ended. I checked my emails and found none regarding the need to update my information.
 
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