I disagree Plink,
I would rather that a gun I was bidding on NOT get sold out from underneath me somewhere else. Especially if I am feeling really good cuz I finally got one at a price I can afford.
To have that snatched out from underneath you is extremely foul.
Habitually, the nasty folks that sell online do that sort of thing to you when they didn't get exactly as much as they were hoping for, again, unfair.
For if that is fair, it should always be fair that I decide not to purchase after "winning" an auction. ( I should be able to say [by the same logic], "I got one for less!" with impunity also... but we wouldn't want that would we?)We really can't allow a double standard that sellers can always do what they want but Buyers have a contract and MUST go through with it. (or get the nasty feedback or whatever)
Having a gun sold out from under you cuz the Auction Arms people bid higher than you did at Gunbroker, creates a sad state of affairs, and seems unfair in practice. (or even when they claim that some one might walk in their store and buy it, so your bid gets cancelled.) That is unfair competition for purchasers.
When ever I see those ads, my first thought is that I'd like to ask "Why bother?" if you're going to be that way. I personally don't bid on those kinds of auctions as I'd rather not have that shafted feeling later.
Another thought is that if they (anyone, I am not referring to Big Iron) are so desparate to sell that they have to stoop to those sorts of tactics, then perhaps their business isn't very solvent, and these sorts of tactics may indicate why. ... They just aren't well organized.
It is one thing to be, or want to be, a gun dealer or merchant of any kind, but it is another thing entirely to have the capacity and ability to do so.
See what I am getting at? Its rather unfair to sell the same gun at two sites. Makes everything sorta "iffy" on the ethical level.
Ebay has ways for the liars to do this to you. A seller can, without warnung, cancel a sale by clicking on a box that says the item is no longer available, or was misstated and other excuses like that. You can complain and ebay will, of course, "investigate", but unless the seller has had repeated complaints about the same sort of thing, they will let the sellers off the hook for awhile, and you get the shaft.
But I would rather, if any website is gonna "force me to pay" by using negative methods on me, (bad feedback, barring from site, etc.) then I would prefer that sellers MUST honor their sales, or suffer the same as any buyer. THAT is what would be right.
Of course we all know that "Ebay doesn't do guns." right... hehehe