Gun Broker and other internet auctions safe?

[larryh1108]

I am a buyer and seller on Gunbroker. I have nearly 500 perfect feedbacks. I always look at the feedback before I buy and if i see more than 1 negative I ask myself why. If you know how much something is worth and decide not to pay more than $XX for it then you can easily get a bargain but you have to watch the shipping costs. I usually advertise free shipping to let the buyer know I am not scamming him. If a gun has a blemish, I take a close up of it where others will avoid a picture showing it. Full disclosure gets happy customers. There are a lot of honest sellers on GB so you just have to check out his feedback before deciding to buy from him. If you know your prices you can save a lot of money.

 

[rbernie]

I have hundreds of transactions on Gunbroker and Auction Arms. As has been noted, the virtual auction sites are no different than any flea market/gun show - it's up to the buyer to make sure that the merchandise is acceptable and the vendor reputable.

I had some quarrel with GB some years back over their unwillingness to deal with dishonest sellers, but my experiences in the last five years or so have been completely above-board and satisfying.

 

[oldbear]

With Gun-broker or any other on line auction or E-seller I try and follow the following: Only deal with Brick and Mortar stores, check the return policy, and any purchase in excess of $100.00 is by credit card only.

Perhaps I’ve been lucky, as I’ve only had one bad Internet purchase experience. It was simply a seller who refused to commutate about what should have been a reasonable shipping delay.

As for GunBroker I’v only made two SMALL purchases using them and both went very well.

Somewhat off the topic, but watch for the cost of shipping there have been several times E-sellers have attempted to charge as much for shipping as the price of the product.

 

[atblis]

Always look at the feed back!
Negatives regarding item condition (especially more than one)-->bad bad bad
Negatives only for slow shipping-->probably not a bad seller.

Also ask questions. If they answer them quickly and reasonably, probably a good seller. If they don't know the answer to your question, and they say as much, that's probably okay. If they make up crap or start in on a hard sell tactic, that's usually not a good sign.

 

[Ledgehammer]

Gunbroker noobie here too

I've actually sold 1 gun on GB and purchased a magazine. Both transactions were flawless. I definitely did my research before jumping in with both feet, but it's just like any other auction site - ebay or whatever. The same thing can happen to you with guns as it can over a new tv or whatever you buy on ebay.
- Check feedback (most sellers that have multiple transactions are legit -they would have been reported if not)
- Communicate with buyer/seller if you win the auction.
- Don't bid on something you don't really want to buy (good way to get negative feedback) if you back out of a winning bid.
- I did background web research on th FFL that sent the transfer to make sure they were legit. You can google the name and address and it should pull them up.

Overall though I've found that by the time I pay shipping and transfer fee I could have bought it at the local shop for about the same price. So just remember to include that when you're adding up the cost of the item.

Good Luck -

 

[speedway]

I have bought a few on GB, no problems. I have also bought some on Auction Arms and Gunsamerica. No problems there either.