Gunbroker Is Crazy

My 2-cents on GB; I've picked up a couple of very nice revolvers recently. S&W 640 Pro that was actually in better shape than the photos (as noted above) but pricey at $767 + fees. To me, it's perfect both mechanically and cosmetically. Next one was a .32NP Detective Special that actually turned out to be nearly new - absent some minor holster wear on the cylinder and one side of the barrel + very cheap knock-off grips. Both sellers were/are low-volume sellers with good ratings. I had heard about fraudulent bidding there & now understand how it works thanks to this thread! Last but not least, just won another S&W (908) from a place that I have used a lot - Shoot Straight in FL. Added a crummy photo and I'm waiting for the fleaBay seller to make some more knock-off but nice older Colt boxes. Colt was 650-ish + tax and shipping.
 

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DR505 said:
I bought a beautiful Model 25-9 on Gunbroker. The seller made the mistake of posting lousy pictures. Here is one from the auction:

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I contacted the seller and received additional photos which were crisp and clear showing the condition of the revolver. I kept bidding below the reserve, no one else would bid, the auction would close, and then it would repost a day or two later. This went for 4 cycles before the seller contacted me directly and sold to me at my low bid. Had they used the better photos I am certain the revolver would have sold for a whole lot more.

The revolver shown above is the 6" 25-9 and it is great.

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I think the key to Gunbroker is patience.
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Patience and discipline! Sometimes sellers don't know what to emphasize in their marketing spiel.

For example, I bought a 1960 Model 29 (no dash) for a nice price not too long ago. I am certain that including the words "4 screw" in the description would've bumped the price up at least 10% and probably more. That plus including a 2000s presentation case that didn't fool anyone. The seller had fewer than 500 auctions IIRC so I was taking some risk, but communications via messaging were good and I took a chance.

Chip
 
Model19man said:
As on any auction site, bid what you will want to pay and always keep fees and taxes on your mind.
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Amen to that! I've learned to add in the additional costs when figuring out my highest possible bid.

I know that Rock Island has very high quality firearms, but their "buyer's premium" is 17.5% before they add on 3.5% for credit card payment. Their shipping costs are OK... then they add on insurance. And my state's sales tax (5.5%).

Compare that to Poulin where I pay a 15% buyer's premium if I pay by check. They would add only 2.5% if I paid by credit card. Also I can drive there to pick up my purchase so no shipping and no FFL fee. Amoskeag is the same on fees. I have to pay shipping and FFL but no sales tax (God bless New Hampshire).
 
GypsmJim said:
I only buy NIB on Gun Broker. Never been dissatisfied. Used is a gamble because you can't see it ahead of time.

First I decide on a model I want. Then I do a search on "completed auctions" to see what the going price is. Then I decide my max bid. If someone outbids me, I'm done.

And of course before I even bid I check the seller's feedback.
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I bought a NIB Smith PC revolver. Wasn't worried that it was a stock picture, after all NIB! When I received it I was shocked with the poor condition. I posted here and the dealer got me an RMA from Smith and they made it right. But I learned my lesson - lots of pics, read the fine print, even if NIB!
 
Post #3 Basically use the same check-list as GypsmJim, but discovered reviewing the tabulated numbers from the Seller isn't always accurate. There is a popular seller from Kentucky that had cumulative negative feedback (significant) and one day a magic eraser removed them all! Funny thing if you click back into the narrative section they are still present at least the ones in realtime. So even though they are a volume seller with a lot of what I'm looking for they are on my "no bid list" period.
GB fallout, you go into the sales forum area here and people are quoting a sales pitch on how things sell their, it is like comparing the county fair to Disney Land. I believe the membership here is a more discerning individual, that is just a bit more savvy on firearms and true values.
 
JohnRippert said:
It is not GB that is crazy. It is the people bidding on it that are crazy.
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Along those lines, if GB were such a terrible place to buy a gun, why do so many people use it? Answer, people do crazy things.

I purchased a revolver there that nobody bid on except me. I sweated that one out until I had a look at it at my FFL. I thought there had to be something seriously wrong with it because nobody else bid on it. The price wasn't inflated like many are on used firearms either. I got lucky I guess. Nothing wrong mechanically except it needed a serious cleaning. Actually a decent deal because it was in excellent condition with very little use.

I don't waste my time on GB anymore. I could never score again like that in a 100 years. Too much chicanery going on there for my tastes. It's more like playing poker than buying a gun.
 
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TheTinMan said:
Amen to that! I've learned to add in the additional costs when figuring out my highest possible bid.

I know that Rock Island has very high quality firearms, but their "buyer's premium" is 17.5% before they add on 3.5% for credit card payment. Their shipping costs are OK... then they add on insurance. And my state's sales tax (5.5%).

Compare that to Poulin where I pay a 15% buyer's premium if I pay by check. They would add only 2.5% if I paid by credit card. Also I can drive there to pick up my purchase so no shipping and no FFL fee. Amoskeag is the same on fees. I have to pay shipping and FFL but no sales tax (God bless New Hampshire).
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Since I went through Proxibid I got hit 20% for my purchase from Poulin. This was an auction in Maine. I paid by card because it was less than $10 difference for their 2.5% cash discount.
If I was bidding on a high-priced item, I'd be hard pressed to pay the 20%. I'll see if I can bid with them direct. Sometimes Proxibid is your only on-line option.
 
I have purchased three firearms on Gunbroker; a 3" Model 657, a .45 Colt Mountain Gun, and that 25-9 mentioned above. I had good experiences (or good luck) for all three and got them at very good prices. However, that was nearly a decade ago...haven't been back for many of the reasons outlined above.
 
There for awhile, I probably needed the '12 step plan' - but did learn from it......
Learned to avoid the combo of 1. - Laptop open to GB, 2. - More than one adult beverage and 3. - after 8-9pm.
Nope, for me that was just a bad combination and recipe for hurting my bank account.
- Have had overall good experience with ~98% of the sellers. Lucky I guess.
 
I have bought 5 guns off GB that were intended to become Project guns so they came in a little lower than they would otherwise have been because they were somewhat "condition challenged". As things went, two of them didn't work out for their intended uses, so I did a minimal amount of work on them and actually showed a small profit when I resold them, because I bought them right.

My point is, if you are "bottom feeding" and willing to accept less than pristine examples, GB can be a good resource. People have "lesser" guns they just want to get sold. For higher grade guns, you may have to be ready to contend with other buyers who want them more than you. In that case, run the price up to what you are actually willing to pay, then be willing to let them go, knowing that somebody had to pay more than you think it's worth!

That's my strategy for pretty much all auctions, YMMV.
Froggie
 
People who don't buy from gun broker don't ever get what they're really looking for . Watch what you're doing read all descriptions and carefully look at pics. It's the greatest gun shop I've ever entered. I browse everyday.
 
Ackley1952 said:
People who don't buy from gun broker don't ever get what they're really looking for . Watch what you're doing read all descriptions and carefully look at pics. It's the greatest gun shop I've ever entered. I browse everyday.
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I hate on it from time to time, but it is a lot of fun to peruse. Same with Auctionarms though their 'velocity' is much lower and they have lots of guns that just sit with high reserve prices.

Just assume all sellers are cheats and you'll be fine.
 
They lost me as a customer several years ago when they started charging the BS "admin fee" and sales taxes. Several sellers have advised me they have no idea where/how/who the sales taxes go… I have an idea! Too many other online sellers that do as good a job listing items w/out the silly fees…
 
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Earlier this week I was watching a particular revolver. It didn't have a reserve or "buy it now" price. I don't bid early-that never made sense to me so I went on yesterday to place a bid as it was still a day or two away from ending and it was gone LOL. Maybe someone threw an offer to the seller and it was accepted-oh well.

Forgot to mention that it doesn' show up in the completed transactions-hmm, perhaps withdrawn by the seller.

For the most part I look there now just for giggles.
 
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S&W Fan said:
Earlier this week I was watching a particular revolver. It didn't have a reserve or "buy it now" price. I don't bid early-that never made sense to me so I went on yesterday to place a bid as it was still a day or two away from ending and it was gone LOL. Maybe someone threw an offer to the seller and it was accepted-oh well.

Forgot to mention that it doesn' show up in the completed transactions-hmm, perhaps withdrawn by the seller.

For the most part I look there now just for giggles.
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I've seen this several times lately..
 
I have bought many items on Gun Joker, and all but one was exactly what I expected, or better. The one was early on and as much due to my inexperience as it was the unscrupulous seller. With a little patience and due diligence, great deals abound. I will agree however, the fees are getting out of hand and are why I have stopped selling there. Honestly though, my biggest issue has been with the post office screwing things up.
 
I have a nearly foolproof method of winning auctions on GB. Place the bid, and do not care at all if I win it. EVERY time I've done it, I win! If I really want a gun badly, I would say my batting percentage is .500. Same goes for if I put a bid in and realize there is a problem with the gun, or I don't want it for some reason, I end up losing it only about half the time. The higher the price, the more likely I am to win.
 
We had a saying at Ford Engineering, "you want it bad, you usually got it bad". Just another version of being patient and thoughtful.

Tom
SWCA 3823
 
A local auction house continually posts on GB. Sometimes you'll see a good buy happen but not too often. The best part is if you do score something, there is no shipping and no FFL transfer fee so the total costs are down compared to an out of state buy.
 
TheTinMan said:
Patience and discipline! Sometimes sellers don't know what to emphasize in their marketing spiel.

For example, I bought a 1960 Model 29 (no dash) for a nice price not too long ago. I am certain that including the words "4 screw" in the description would've bumped the price up at least 10% and probably more. That plus including a 2000s presentation case that didn't fool anyone. The seller had fewer than 500 auctions IIRC so I was taking some risk, but communications via messaging were good and I took a chance.

Chip
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Not long before Covid hit us I took a similar chance on a 57-0 on GunBroker, Chip. As in your case, the seller's posted less than excellent photos and it sold below what most similar 57's sell for. Not being a big fan of nickel guns in the first place, I was nervous and expecting to be disappointed when it arrived but was very pleasantly surprised to find the finish was in better condition than the pictures indicated. Not quite perfect, perhaps, but extremely nice. The stocks needed refinished but of course that wasn't a big problem to take care of and it's now one of my favorite guns.

 
James K said:
A local auction house continually posts on GB. Sometimes you'll see a good buy happen but not too often. The best part is if you do score something, there is no shipping and no FFL transfer fee so the total costs are down compared to an out of state buy.
Click to expand...

One of our LGS runs ALL of their used guns through GunBroker. You cannot walk into their store and buy a used gun over the counter. As a result, I always watch their listings and have picked up several very good deals, especially since there are no shipping or FFL transfer fees involved.
 
S&W Fan said:
Earlier this week I was watching a particular revolver. It didn't have a reserve or "buy it now" price. I don't bid early-that never made sense to me so I went on yesterday to place a bid as it was still a day or two away from ending and it was gone LOL. Maybe someone threw an offer to the seller and it was accepted-oh well.

Forgot to mention that it doesn' show up in the completed transactions-hmm, perhaps withdrawn by the seller.

For the most part I look there now just for giggles.
Click to expand...

Was there any bids on it? Sometimes if there are no bids and the end of auction gets close buyers will call with offers to buy it now. If I see a gun I really like I will bid a few times to hopefully keep me in the game. Many sellers once a bid is made will play it it out. I lost a gun or two by not bidding at all.
 
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