Gunbroker and Auctionarms are not as good as ebay

[fatelk]

Okay, I'm sure many of you just saw red, reading the title.
I'm just waiting on payment for my last auction so I can cancel my acount with ebay, and tell them darn-well why. I've also checked out GunBroker and AuctionArms but, to be honest, am not impressed.

I'm sure they could both be great sites, if they got more traffic and changed things a bit. Or perhaps I'm just used to the way ebay works. I like ebay the way the auctions work; I can't stand their politics. I read people complaining about the scammers and crooks, but I have not had that experience. I've had nearly 200 transactions, 100% feedback, and very few problems. Most people have been very good to deal with, but then again I am very careful myself. I use clear photos and accurate descriptions, and won't buy anything from people who don't. I will miss ebay; sure wish they had serious competition.

Here's my biggest problem with GunBroker. I did a search for "308 brass" and found lots of listings. I did a search for completed listings, found a bunch, 147 in the last 2 weeks. Of those, only eight actually sold. With no listing fees, it seems people start high, looking for a sucker, then just relist when it doesn't sell. This makes the site hard to use, it seems to me. Auctionarms had very few listings.

I would love to support a sypathetic business, and I am absolutely done with ebay, but how do these sites actually work? Any buyers or sellers here? I tried to do a search thinking for sure this has been covered in depth here; perhaps I missed it somehow.

The other problem is, I can't check either of these sites at work (blocked-WEAPONS). For some reason THR is the only firearm-related site that isn't blocked. Is there any auction site out there for general items that also allows gun stuff?

 

[Impax]

I bought my Colt Mustang Pocketlite on Auction Arms. It was my first purchase from there and went very smooth. The seller had the pistol to me within a week including the time for my money order to get there.

 

[Fburgtx]

I agree to some extent. Lots of the eBay sales were people trying to unload stuff they didn't want anymore. Gunsamerica/Gunbroker/Auction Arms seems to be lots of people looking to make large profits.

For example, you could often find Remington 870/1100 barrels on eBay for under $100. The "gun sites" have tons of barrels starting at $175 that nobody bids on. I think the problem is that it's not as easy for an individual to list an item on these sites every now and then. Everybody was familiar with eBay, but not as much with listing on the "gun sites". So, what you end up with are sites that are 70-90% DEALER listings, and with no listing fees, you end up with items that sit around for months. Hopefully, the situation will improve now that eBay is not available as an alternative.

 

[30 cal slob]

oh, i would give it some time.

rome wasn't built in a day, and i suspect these (fairly new) sites need time to build some sticky critical mass.

 

[velojym]

Hey, who knows... maybe the eBay panty-wetting is just what the gun auctions needed.

 

[MaterDei]

I bought my first rifle on gunbroker on Friday. So far everything is going smoothly. I talked by phone with the seller yesterday and don't anticipate any problems at all.

 

[AndyC]

You also need to use search-engine flags to drill down - the little minus-signs which will exclude things you don't want and plus-signs for things that you do, etc

Example:

308 brass +Winchester -nosler

 

[CypherNinja]

I bought 4 Suomi drums off of GB. 100% satisfied.

 

[mpmarty]

I just bought a 10mm Witness pistol through Auction Arms. Seller was great! Took my credit card at no surcharge and my dealer had the gun in his store for me to pick up in three days. Even had my name on the package that went to the dealer so he knew to call me. Smoothest online purchase I've ever done.

 

[Lashlarue]

I sold two pistols on GB this year, both sold within 24 hours. Of course they were reasonably priced and in like new condition. Shipping is expensive and a pita, but the buyers were aware and none complained.

 

[TX1911fan]

I've bought and sold on Gunbroker. It's a good site, but I do agree that most of the listings are dealer listings that are just not competitive.

 

[fatelk]

Thanks for the info. Maybe with a little more time and more traffic they can work the bugs out of the system. I think I'll give gunbroker a shot.

 

[Feanaro]

I wouldn't use gunbroker for accessories. But eBay didn't allow you to purchase firearms. For older guns, gunbroker is the dog's... well, you know. If I had been able to find an excellent condition S&W 28 and Stevens 311H, I'd have paid much more for them.

 

[Hawk]

I would guess 95% of my online firearms-related purchases are from Auction Arms, and mostly from only a few sellers that have an abundance of "penney auctions".

Not sure exactly why that is - just seems Gunbroker has a great deal more noise although the rare transactions have gone well.

The only stuff I ever bought from ebay was Shadowfist cards and I haven't done that in several years. I won't miss the place - can't even remember my user name.

 

[strat81]

I've also checked out GunBroker and AuctionArms but, to be honest, am not impressed.

Give it time. The ebay issue is less than a month old.

The other problem is, I can't check either of these sites at work (blocked-WEAPONS).

Get back to work, hippie!

 

[tkcomer]

I liked it for certain types of brass. I got 500 rounds of 357 for a fair price. 100 rounds of 30-30 for about 13 bucks if I remember. Was gonna stock up on 44 mag brass, but they went plumb crazy those last two weeks with used brass going for not much less than new. Got 500 rounds of 38 for around 15 bucks, but about 150 of it was Amerc. I haven't looked for a site to get that kind of stuff yet.

 

[Rufus Pisanus]

I was scammed once out of 50 transactions on ebay. The payment was with paypal but I never got back those $50. I was just told that they were investigating the crook and I honestly didn't have more time to waste on that. After that I look with a lot of suspicion at anybody with less than 50-100 positive transactions.

I have had so far 17 very positive transaction on gun broker.

I have seen people trying to make money out of gullible customers on both. I like gunbroker's auction termination better than the original ebay method. Plus I like the fact that gunbroker doesn't charge you for listing something until you actually sell. Thus, I'll get GB any day over ebay.

 

[v35]

Here's my biggest problem with GunBroker. .... With no listing fees,

Plus I like the fact that gunbroker doesn't charge you for listing something until you actually sell.

Ebay is a wildly profitable company for many reasons; one of them is that they charge insertion fees, final value fees, Paypal fees, advertising fees, maybe others I don't know about. I surmise one of the ways they allocate those fees is paying programmers to write some very robust software. When I first used Ebay back in - what was it, 1998? - their listing fees were almost insignificant. People sold things like matchbooks and stamps to each other for a buck or so. No longer. Today it seems Ebay has more commercial sellers than ever before, and the matchbook trade is gone.

Gunbroker has no up-front listing fees. I don't know who maintains it, but I'm sure it costs money to maintain and support the site. You get what you pay for. It's worth remembering that websites like Gunbroker, Packing.org, even THR, need capital to exist.

I for one am grateful for those who maintain the equipment and software that power the websites that most of us take for granted.

 

[Cosmoline]

I've also found Gunbroker to be wanting. We're going to have to see how things hash out. If Numrich was smart they'd set up their own auction site for gun parts so people could sell to each other. But most outfits like that are run by old timers who think that would cut into their bottom line.

 

[joplinsks]

It sounds like Gunbroker and Auction Arms have some great dealers who follow through... but if they're selling at fair prices remains questionable.

Almost every auction I've seen on these sites have minimums or "buy it now" prices with markups 25% to 50% higher than the most expensive local gun shop around here. Many of the minimums are well higher than Blue Book and Gun Trader's Guide values. Many of the minimums make gun shows look like heaven on earth.

If there's good values on these sites, I have yet to see them.

 

[akodo]

gun dealers have a bit of a different mentality than most business folk in my experience.

I work in logistics for a electronics superstore. We are all about get that product in, price it competatively, and get it sold fast...basically before the 30 days that sony has given us to pay them for the truckload. Small margins, fast turnaround, lots of product going out the door.

Gunshops on the other hand, seem to buy cheap, mark up, and sell a few items per day. I guess a lot of jewelry stores are the same way. When you are only selling a few high dollar items per day, you are going to need a bigger margin...and you aren't going to slash your own prices if it doesn't sell right away, you have the experience to look long term and know eventually the right guy looking for that specific thing will buy it.

I think that is why people on ebay price very tight, and hope it sells right away, whereas the gun dealers on gunbroker have no problem letting it sit on the website for weeks just like it sits in the display case for weeks.

 

[bluetopper]

Where gunbroker and auctionarms shine for me is if I'm looking for a firearm no longer in production. Almost any gun your looking for, you can find it on the auction sites. It is an invaluable tool to collectors of a certain type gun, whatever it might be. Yes, most of the prices are high, but they're not being sold either. There are good deals out there however. It is also great for the non-FFL gun enthusiast, such as myself, for buying and selling.

 

[klover]

Some of the best guns I bought were off of GB. The prices weren't a steal, just fair. Who has time to go looking? Much easier by computer.

 

[bender]

as others have said, I expect both places to get better once the ebay sellers of gun parts and reloading components move over to GB or AA.

I have bought or sold on GB or AA, but I have browsed thru both. I notice the GB has tons of listings with 0 bids, even right up to when the auctions are almost over, as fatelk mentioned in the OP.

 

[2RCO]

I don't think you'll ever see the deals on gunbroker or AA that were on Ebay mainly because several of those items were offered by people who only had one or two gun related items --I honestly don't think they will sell on other sites. I am personally trying to get switched over from Ebay to the other sites and also focusing more on my online store.