Gunbroker. Looking for the one uneducated buyer?

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The 15 minute rule is a God send anyone who complains has no idea how a REAL auction works.

Go to a livestock, car, antique, or estate auction and try to find an example of an auction closing while bids are still rolling in. If an auctioneer tried to pull an eBay style close he'd get run out of town on a rail.

posted via tapatalk using android.
 
I like GunBroker.... I do a lot of research as above, usually get what I want in mind, look for No Reserve and let the game begin.

I do like the 15 minute rule as well for this type auction, something I see has in my mind a very top price to be payed. I often decide that price before I even start bidding, and if it goes over I go away. I generally target 20% off market value for an item including shipping and ffl fees as a good price...dont always work but has enough to keep doing it. I also look for the ones that end Monday to Wednesday... to me when they end on Friday through the weekend they tend to go higher.

I have scored some great No Reserve deals so far. I admit to sniping on ebay on other junk too though...and when you meet up with a fellow sniper in the last 40 secs it is all out throw all you will at it till one of you win the battle, but lose the war paying three times too much for something to prove your point. :banghead:
 
Without the "15 Minute Rule" though, you get "snipers" who place bids in the last couple seconds so no one has time to counter-bid. Try buying something on fleabay and you will see that tactic on almost every single auction. Now THAT is annoying. At least with the 15 Minute Rule, you are guaranteed a chance to counter bid.
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What Mike said.

I, too, like the Gunbroker 15 Minute Rule.

Once on eBay I was treated to the ultimate "high-bid sniper" fun when 2 of these Jokers ended up trying to snatch the item on auction with last second High Dollar bids ... the "winner" of that duel wound up paying, like, 75% more than the item was worth. Priceless! :D
 
The shipping rates are insane also, I never payed more than $25 to ship a rifle.........ever and I always use USPS Priority with insurance ans tracking. It costs me $19 plus change to ship from the east coast to the west coast.
 
Having used GB as a buyer I find that your #1 asset is: "Be informed" #2: Be patient. Consistently relisted items that are obviously WAY overpriced I filter out or ignore. I know what I'm looking for, I save searches for certain keywords and filters and adjust accordingly. Certain sellers are misinformed and selling items they know practically nothing about. To them it's volume but equally uneducated buyers are paying for something that "isn't as advertised". No known cure for the above. Some sellers are charging outlandish shipping fees, that's their way of recouping some of the GB fee, IMHO.
As an aside the new GB search format is terrible. My random and sometimes disconnected thoughts :)
 
I've wondered for three years how people can check the actual closing price for an item which recently sold with no "buy now" price.

They must use a secret coded lingo to describe what terminology they use for an item which did sell, so that potential buyer's can't find out what so-called current market prices are/ For example, "Actual Sale Price", "High Bid", "High bid which exceeded the reserve" etc. How are you supposed to know?

It doesn't matter to me what type of gun. The frustration is that the website seems to want to make it as difficult as possible. We know why casinos make the small exit doors hard to spot under a dark corner in a Las Vegas casino.

No luck on the Advanced Search with GB, because if an item did sell, it's probably no longer listed under "Enfield" or "SKS" etc.
Their new GB layout makes it a challenge to even find a given type of rifle.
 
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Find the little tab that says add this item to your "watch list". When it sells you will get an email saying the auction ended. I only watch items with a low, or no reserve.

Best way for me to keep current on what real world prices are.
 
I've wondered for three years how people can check the actual closing price for an item which recently sold with no "buy now" price.
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You have to be a member to see the completed auctions.

Log on to Gunbroker, go to Advanced Search, and click on the tab that says "Completed Auctions". It will show you EVERY completed auction, whether the gun sold or not, and how much it sold for whether it was "buy it now", "no reserve", or whatever.
 
I'm currently watching eight items with a total asking price of over $4700.00 on gunbroker. Sometimes it's worse. It's like crack, I don't think I can stop.

I might have to get a second job. :D
 
What I hate most about the 15 minute rule is the bidders who wait until the last minute to up the bid and start the cycle over again. For some reason auctions seem to end right when I have something else I need to do. I have set prices I'm willing to go so most of the time I'm out just watching how it will end. The rule needs to be there but could probably be 5 minutes.
 
I always list as a true no reserve, and it has always worked out in my favor. I won't bid on anything with a reserve.
 
Nothing wrong with having a reserve, it's just the way most sellers seem to use reserve - about $5.00 below their "buy now" price...
 
Course, if a has something that is NOT run of the mill, and a limited market, sometimes it takes several relistings for the right person to find the listing.

Sometimes, I will have multiple items to sell and will auto relist the same item over and over till sold out.

Sometimes, I want the price I want and am willing to wait patiently to get it.

re-list fees will bring a halt to many of the rare or unusual guns you see on GB.
 
I recently bought a brand new in box gun on Gunbroker. The seller is local to me so no shipping or transfer fees. The final price was 25% less than the exact same new-in-box gun sells for at the cheapest price I can find it locally.

Why a good deal? The seller misspelled the maker's name of the gun.

If you searched for "Krieghoff" shotguns, you would miss the one listing for a "Kreghoff".

I have a group of saved searches which correlate to sellers local-to-me who sell a lot on Gunbroker. I check them regularly. No shipping or transfer fees means that I have an advantage over out-of-state buyers in terms of price I can pay, even with sales tax added.
 
Gunbroker. Looking for the one uneducated buyer?
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Not necessarily. There are plenty of educated folks who will end up paying too much because they have gotten emotionally involved with with the item for sale.


What is it?
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^^^ greed... simple greed ^^^
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LOL, have you ever noticed that when folks think a vendor is trying to maximize profits in some manner that we classify the person in several unflattering ways, such as claiming the vendor is greedy.

When one of us secures a deal below market value, we don't call them cheap or greedy. They are just minimizing costs and hence are a shrewd in their dealings.

Also, when vendors try to sell something for more money that we think the item is worth, we say that he is trying to ripoff the buyer. When the buyer gets an item for less that it is worth, we don't claim that the buyer is trying to rip off the seller.
 
^^^ RE "greed"... You didn't read the post above mine nor any of my other posts. :)

I was replying to that poster who was complaining about sellers who relentlessly relist $1100 items for $1300 in hopes of snagging a sucker.
 
I've never seen the reasoning behind a "reserve price". Just list the item at the lowest price you're willing to sell for and post the ad. Reserve prices seem childish at best and deceptive at worst. I automatically filter out all auctions with reserve prices.
 
Historically (pre-internet) reserve prices were to protect the seller's interest when the bidding would only occur for a few minutes. It was more commonly used with high-dollar estate auctions, racehorses, classic cars, real estate, etc.

I agree that with an online auction it's rather useless - just set the opening bid at the reserve price and be done with it.
 
I like the entitlement attitude that others somehow have an obligation to sell their stuff at low prices, just because the complainer wants it cheap. By all means, lets force others to please us.

The listing fee would keep stuff off of GB, not help buyers. GB seems to have become the premier gun auction site specifically due to the way they run their site.

A lot of the previous posts sound like people who really have not used GB to buy or sell, just lurked on it looking for deals. I had to sell a few things on there last year due to financial issues and I felt that their rates are fair, and some items sold for more than I thought they would. I've relisted items that sold on the 2nd or 3rd listing because it had limited appeal, but the eventual buyer was thrilled to find it for sale.

There are deals on GB to be found; especially for people who are actually interested in buying.
 
The problem is wading through the 360,359 new 223wssm Browning A bolt stalker listings to find them. Relist fees eliminate the multiple same firearm redundant listings and the flat overpriced junk that's been relisted for a decade now. (Myoldguns). And does every Blazer imported in the last 30 years need its own listing? How bout an "I sell blazer rifles" ad!

Gunbroker is great for finding a specific oddball firearm.

Ever since the "only show used" function. was eliminated they suck for casual window shopping impulse buys.

posted via mobile device.
 
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