Is this odd?

Seller could have a high reserve price. So your bid would not be accepted until it reaches that amount.

Aim1 said:

Doesn't it say "no reserve" though?

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Yes, it sure does... ignore me..

It is possible the auction ended because it was ended by the seller before there were any bids.

This will happen for a number of reasons. One could be that the gun sold locally but also because the seller may have seen there were no bids after a certain amount of time and got nervous that it would sell for too low of a price.

When I search completed auctions I see all kinds fishy stuff.

Probably sold locally.

Also to be aware: I've also been part of/suckered in auctions where a friend of the seller will bid up the price of an item to help the seller get what they want. I was bidding on a car part for a 35 year old car. Nobody buys those parts unless they have the car and it has such low interest I tracked other auctions on that part. When I bid on that item there was a counter bid and so on. I eventually got the part but paid $25 over the normal selling price. I still got a good deal but not as good a deal as the prior auctions from other sellers of that part.

This came to my attention because the same seller was offering similar parts for the car I wanted. I bid once and the same user bid against me. I stopped bidding and the part sold to that bidder. Well some weeks later that same part came back up for sale from the original seller. I knew I was suckered then. That bidder had quite a history of bids but not winning which sent lots of red flags up when doing a history search. They artificially scammed many buyers this way.

Shill bidding is common in every auction setting. Car auctions are the worst.
I, for one, will not bid on any auction with a reserve unless the reserve has been met.
Most professional sellers know that many serious buyers won't bid on a reserve auction and have a back up plan when listing for $0.01
to start. The seller may have several different accounts and/or have buddies that they exchange the courtesy with. The best way to get a good
deal on an auction is to decide the max you are willing to pay and don't go back. If you get an "outbid" email, just ignore it. You set your price.

In the case of this specific auction I'd bet it was sold locally and pulled, which is totally acceptable if there are no bids.
One way to avoid someone pulling an auction, if you are truly interested, is to put in the minimum bid and be willing to pay it if you win.
If it's a penny auction, put in a penny. In the case of this auction, the minimum bid is a good gamble.

Larry pretty well nailed it.
Especially :
"The best way to get a good
deal on an auction is to decide the max you are willing to pay and don't go back. If you get an "outbid" email, just ignore it. You set your price.".

If you pre-set your max bid , and stay true to that , you won't get into trouble.

With shill bidding on sites like Gunbroker they still have to pay the fees to GB. That can be a losing game.

I got a cymbal on ebay that normally retails for $445 for $150. I was the only bidder. So, it can happen.

I'll bet that makes an excellent target!

bdickens said:

I got a cymbal on ebay that normally retails for $445 for $150. I was the only bidder. So, it can happen.

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zorro45 said:

I'll bet that makes an excellent target!

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If you're a bb/pellet/airsoft shooter, check ebay for damaged (cracked, bent, etc.) cymbals. These make excellent targets and are often very cheap. Watch the shipping prices, though.

all very interesting.

zorro45 said:

I'll bet that makes an excellent target!

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For a drumstick, yeah. You'd be insane to shoot a $400+ cymbal.

I believe it is still called bid sniping. The last 24 hours of an auction, watch the price climb. Ebay, gunbroker etc. Auto bids or someone sitting there to bid just higher to win the item. This one was likely sold locally if they are a FFL. Plenty of stores will have their stock listed online and leave it on the shelf in store. Doubles (at least) the chances it gets sold.

I recently bought a NIB S&W Model 17 on that site. The starting price was $619 so I bid $620 and was the only bidder. The description said it had been a display gun, that may have been what turned people off on it, don't know. It was as described NIB, and it arrived with no blemishes or scratches and was tight as a drum. A large local LGS has them for $850 new. My gain some one else's loss. Also, it came with box and all the paperwork.

you got a good deal.

bdickens said:

For a drumstick, yeah. You'd be insane to shoot a $400+ cymbal.

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I take it you're not a utube personality?

I have seen some deals sneak through, and have thrown a bid at some of them only to be outbid very quickly. I suspect that quite often it is the seller using a different account, but I have found a few sellers that tend to be very straight up and take good pics and I tend to look specifically at what they have before I look generally. Today for example, I was looking at stuff that was less than 2 hours from ending with a max price of $50 just to see what might be sneaking through without bids. I snagged a used crickett for my girls for $22 but of course after shipping and transfer it’s going to be $77. Still not bad and I will get my money back out of it should I ever sell it. The thing to watch closely is stuff like manurhin MR73 revolvers as people watch stuff like pythons and S&W guns pretty closely but the more obscure stuff sometimes flies under the radar. I just about got an MR73 around thanksgiving for $375 which was starting bid... again I suspect the seller used another account to bid it up.

Catman42 said:

you got a good deal.

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I did get a good deal. That old saying about the blind hog finding an acorn, I'm usually the blind hog that finds nothing. Feels good to win one.

George Dickel said:

I did get a good deal. That old saying about the blind hog finding an acorn, I'm usually the blind hog that finds nothing. Feels good to win one.

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I think I figured out your problem. Hogs find truffles. Squirrels find acorns!

I scored a never shot since leaving the factory Zastava LK M70 .300 Win Mag with Monte Carlo style walnut stock for $299 (minimum bid, no reserve auction+ $30 shipping + $20 transfer fee) on Gunbroker.com in late 2019, as the sole bidder. This is a commercial Mauser style action all accessories such as scope bases etc. for 98 commercial Mauser, GN, etc large ring Mauser actions fit this action. Also rich traditional satin blued metal, not the kinda sorta blacked metal finish on so many current production hunting rifles. Elk County Ammo and Arms has a current priduction same characteristics rifle asking $799 + shipping and + FFL transfer fees, of course.

https://ammoandarmsstore.com/l7300pa/

The other point to consider is if an item of interest has a BuyItNow price you find reasonable, you risk being bid to a higher final price or even outbid especially in that resetting "15 Minute Rule" on Gunbroker.com that makes auction sniping impossible on Gunbroker.com. There have been one or two times I had that happen to me, so I tend to execute BuyItNow option when available and especially when the BuyItNow price is only 10% or so above the item's minimum bid price.

As others have mentioned I avoid bidding in auctions with a reserve price when the reserve hasn't yet been met.

As far as eBay goes, I've used Auctionsniper.com for years and found the service worth the fees for auctions / items I win using this service. This tool / strategy evades shill bidders who can peck away at a proxy bid maximum purchase price submitted directly in the eBay system in any human reaction time period before an auction ends. There are plenty of others I presume use this service based on how many buds get submitted in the last few seconds before an auction closes. This also is good for sticking to your personal purchase price limit. You get an email notice if your "loaded" bid price is exceeded before the auction ends, giving you a chance to tethink your maximum purchase price should you wish to do so. If it's in the last few seconds and you get out-sniped in a time window too short to tevise your bid, that's generally too bad - but, there is an option to set re-snipes by a user chosen number of minimum bid increments when you set up your snipe.

YMMV of course