As others have noted, this is one of the pitfalls of buying a gun online from auction sites like GB.
Unlike actual consignment auction companies with reputations to protect who act as actual middle parties in the sale, sites like GB just host the listing and they are extremely unlikely to ever insert themselves into a dispute, even when it's a clear case of fraud or misrepresentation of the item, out of fear of losing sellers.
There a few warning signs to look for and some things you want to consider.
- avoid sellers that only accept a postal money order. With a credit card you can dispute a transaction for up to 60 days (and the card company will often freeze the sellers funds until the dispute is resolved if the seller has a history of claims). That won't bother a legitimate seller at all, but it will cause massive problems for a seller with a spotty history.
- read the fine print on inspection and return policies very carefully. Some sellers may allow, for example, a "three day inspection" period, but that period often starts when the FFL receives the shipment. It can take some FFLs 2-3 days just to log it into the bound book and notify you it has arrived. Your three day inspection period is often over before you even receive the gun to look at it, and sellers know it and often use it to their advantage.
Similarly, some sellers may not accept a return once it has left the FFL. So let's say they sell you a 9mm revolver and it looks great during the inspection. However on your very first range trip, that same day straight from shop to range, you discover you need a mallet to eject the cases from your Remington green and white box 115 gr FMJ rounds. It's a defect in how the chambers were cut in the cylinder that you cannot detect until you shoot it. Almost no FFLs routinely test fire a transfer firearm, and many don't have the facilities to do it anyway.
The end result is that even with an inspection period you may be unable to return a defective and or mis represented firearm. And GB isn't going to care.
- do look at feedback and anything less than perfect should be suspect.
- buy local when you can. You might pay a bit more at a local gun shop but you do have the ability to inspect the firearm before you buy. With a local shop you will *probably* get better service when it comes to return and warranty issues as they have a reputation to protect with local customers. But there are exceptions, so ask questions about return and exchange policies upfront as well as who is responsible for pursuing warranty service if there is a problem with a new firearm.
