How do you protest on GUNBROKER? Horrible experience!

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Originally posted by MisterMike:
I don't know if it's feasible, but I'd send a complaint to Gunbroker.com with the documentation (emails) that show you were mistreated. Then, if you have the backup, I'd sing it from the highest mountain--tell the story, identifying the offender, in every gun forum and enthusiast venue you are a member of. If your story is accurate, they deserve it.

A similar experience on eBay caused me to stop using that website--years of perfect ratings, then an experience with an unscrupulous seller who, after not even shipping my goods, retaliated against my negative rating with one of his own. It was a frustrating experience that soured me on the whole system.
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Ebay changed their policies and now sellers feedback is the only one that matters. As long as you the buyer pay the seller you have done your part. The buyers feedback is of little consequence now, so I suggest you reconsider your position on Ebay.
 
After all this venting you still won't identify this "seller" publicly on GB for us to see so we can steer clear of him.
You quote "Hold to the truth. Speak without fear" but obviously you are afraid....how about living up to those words you claim to believe in??
I wasted my time reading 52 messages...for what??
 
by jakemccoy I've ordered one gun over the Internet. It wasn't GunBroker, but rather JGsales.com. The transaction was not smooth at all. The gun that originally came was the same model (870P), but was in an absolutely horrible condition. They allowed me to return the gun, and they sent out a used gun in excellent condition. Still, the ordeal with the FFL and the time wasted going back-and-forth was not worth the savings.

I'll pay an extra $100+ bucks on a gun just to buy locally. I used to wonder why experienced shooters even bothered with the high prices at the local shops. Now, I know at least one good reason.
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That's some great advice right here.
 
I agree with BlueHawk. You should out them publicly and email him a link to the thread. It is only right to do so in order to prevent others from dealing with them and to hopefully cause them to change their business practices.
 
Gun brokers has been good to me. But i pay cash not credit. I know what I am buying. Sh it happens. And all in all a negative reply really means nothing in E-bay nor gunbroker. They gonna come kill ya or what.
 
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I have been using GB for a long time. I have had nothing but good experiences. But I have heard of this happening. If found if I ask a fairly specific question about an item that tells me what I want to know. GB is just easier to use.

It happens on all Auction sites, Gunbroker is a bit looser but have probably the best all around service. I stopped using GA and AA, way to cluttered and the navigation is sloppy. But I did have good experience with both of them.

Ebay is a JOKE. Buyers can do whatever they want and sellers get screwed. I had one guy purchase an item, never paid, never contacted, the next day he purchased a similar item, for more I should add. I got hold of Ebay and they told me to do a sellers dispute because there was not a thing they would do about it. I could not even give the "buyer" a negative feedback. I checked his and he had done it to other people.
Unfortunately Ebay has 100x's the traffic so it is the only way I can sell my stuff in a timely manner. PayPal, don't give me crap about it because I don't care, is still the best way to do transactions for this type of deal. I don't see them using Gunpal anytime soon.
 
It's funny people ask me why I never do bad reviews of guns for articles. All my reviews (and 99% of writers out there) are postive, and the reason is that if I gun is bad I just don't review it. This previous answer is why. You just heard a nightmare from this guy that their system is built in such a way that the seller can blackmail the buyer into leaving positive feedback, which invalidates their entire feedback system, and this guy comes along and says that he has nothing but good to say about them. Well the whole point of the thread was that when you do find the bad apple on this auction site, you are totally screwed, then he goes on to bash GunsAmerica, that has great customer service, a 100% valid feedback system, and that is known to bounce bad sellers before they stack up bad feedback, because of navigation?? The GunsAmerica search engine is so advanced and simple that an idiot can find what they are looking for in three clicks. There is not even a refine your search on GB, nor a regular browse that you can go into a coherent category and look around.

Which brings me back to my point, which was bound to happen eventually lol. When you give something a bad review, all you are doing is giving the thing you reviewing free publicity. There is always going to be that one guy who comes along who got one of the few guns that left the factory with a smooth action and working trigger, or in this case, who hasn't had a bad seller experience at the auctions. People want to believe that you are wrong, so they just believe the guy who tries to invalidate you. It is better to not give the bad thing the publicity. I shouldn't bump this thread for that reason, but maybe someone will think before posting the next one like this. The best thing you can do to a business that doesn't protect your interest is to take away your business. Posting hater threads just gives someone like Dookie, who may even be a GB plant, a reason to invalidate you, and in the meantime you have gotten a whole bunch of people reading the thread to patronize the business whose sloppiness, complete disregard for their customers and almost complete lack of customer service not only allowed you to waste a ridiculous amount of time and energy, but also allows the bad and fraudulent seller to keep selling, with a false feedback rating.
 
Apparently there is no liking and disliking of a product, they can only be good or bad, one or the other. Good to know, because while I may have said I don't use GA does not mean that I still don't check out your website, and I have purchased through you. Now I have no reason whatsoever to have anything to do with your site.

Apparently my experiences and preferences for usability are not worth anything, because the search function on GA blows, big time, AA and GB are both superior and much simpler to use. It's not as if I don't search ALL the websites for the best deals, I spend money and go through them all, I have found the GA user interface to be cluttered, kinda like trying to navigate AR15.com.

And being the spokesman to an auction site I bet you are being 100% impartial. As if I have never been around salesmen before.

And why do you think I am a GA plant? Because I have an opinion and don't follow suit? It's nice to know I am being insulted by someone I have given money to. I will now be closing my account.
 
ditto what Dookie said

as to the GB complaint

guy searched long and hard for "hard to find"
finally found at a good price
made the deal, sent money
seller did not steal his money, seller sent goods
WRONG goods
buyer informed seller, seller said sorry, kindly return wrong merchandise
wrong stuff promptly returned
seller could not find/send correct merchandise
(I do not know why, buyer doesn't know why, but a lot of clairvoyants do know why... maybe seller is satan incarnate, maybe seller screwed up, maybe some dummy in shipping screwed up, but somebody screwed up)
seller said will return money
buyer says not worried about money, is confident he will get his money back ok

buyer understandably upset, angry, frustrated...
"hard to find at good price" was found but unfound

name calling ensues

You are a "F" !
well YOU are an "F" too, so there "
he touched me first !
no, no, he touched me first !
well your mommy wears army boots !

near as I can tell nobody lost money, and nobody made money
buyer is still looking for "hard to find at good price"

and a guy who is selling an internet auction service thinks everybody ought to use "his", and not "theirs"

who ever woulda' thunk it ???
:rolleyes:

PS
I have only ever bought ONE gun off any of these numerous auction sites (does not matter which one), and I got lucky... so I ain't calling anybody an "F"

caveat emptor and good luck to all !
 
Oh come on. The guy intentionally sends the wrong gun so he doesn't have to try to get out of posting something he doesn't have. The buyer actually notices that he got the wrong gun, silly buyer. Then the buyer leaves appropriate bad feedback and the seller whacks him back and says you remove yours and I'll remove mine. Silly buyer then gets no response from the website and the seller is allowed to continue messing with people, wasting their time and creating a bad experience for yet another person trying to get a good buy on a gun he wants and can't find locally.

The guy wasn't ranting. There was no "user error" which is so common with ranters. He is smart, articulate and described what happened to protect others from a clearly flawed system and business mentality.

Instead of saying to yourself wow I guess I'm lucky that I never ran into a bad seller on the auctions you have to try to invalidate his very real situation because you haven't.

How you feel about GA was a side point, and really has nothing to do with my point. I was just ranting about that. Everyone has usability issues and there is always going to be a push and pull between advanced abilities and simplicity. We tend to go towards the former, whereas your other two concerns go towards the latter. I will not use your preference for an attack on you. :) I am glad that you have never had a bad experience. Like the buyer here, I have, on GB and GA both, and it isn't any fun. Having the website with a reputation for zero tolerance for fraud and games to me makes a world of difference when I am buying stuff online. But if your preference isn't the same, it's a free country.
 
I agree with BlueHawk. You should out them publicly and email him a link to the thread. It is only right to do so in order to prevent others from dealing with them and to hopefully cause them to change their business practices.
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I stated what I would do, and I am sticking to it. If you are buying from an Oklahoma seller, feel free to PM me. Yes, I had a bad experience. While this guy is being a royal pain to me, he has nearly 5000 A+ transactions so my experience is not the norm.

I started this thread to get information on how to force GB to change this false selller rating of me. He knows who he is, and if you need to know PM me. Slamming or outing the seller was not the objective. Seeking a solution for, and pointing out the details of, GB's flawed rating system was. Vindictiveness is the pool of sewage he swims in, not me.
 
Quote:
Taken from Gunbroker's user agreement...

Quote:
2. Listing. Placing an item for auction is an irrevocable offer to sell an item to the winning bidder. The winning bidder is the highest bidder on the item, or in the event of a tie, the bidder who placed the highest bid chronologically earliest. In the case of a reserve price auction a bid is only a winning bid if it meets or exceeds the reserve price on the item. In the case of a Dutch auction there may be more than one winning bid depending on the quantity of items available and the number of bids placed.

Listing an item constitutes entering a binding legal agreement to sell the item to the highest bidder as determined by the rules of the auction. Items listed on this auction site may not be concurrently offered for sale on any other online auction site. Once an item is listed and has received a winning bid, the item may not be withdrawn from sale. Please consider carefully whether you want to place an item for auction.
If you really want to push this with the seller, your in a good position to do so..
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Ebay has this same policy too yet seller's continually break this agreement when they don't get the price they wanted for the auction.
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Sellers (and buyers to) pull crap like this because they are correct in their assumption that the vast majority of buyers (or sellers) won't sue them over breeching a contract for a $25 trinket, or even a $500 gun. Lawyers are expensive.

There is case law for this, it's called bait and switch which is what it sounds like happened. If they're selling something they don't have and expecting to have it dropshipped from somewhere else and they're out then that is fraud, you can't sell something you don't have. Gunbroker is required to help you if the seller refuses to respond and that BS about feedback is being used as blackmail pure and simple. Keep all the E-Mail and get an lawyer I think the threat of a Law Suit might get this AH's attention.
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Agreed, though I'm not sure of Gunbroker's specific roll. You as the buyer are still stuck with hiring a lawyer. And proving your case and fighting it out in court is an expensive pain in the butt, which is why most victims of this sort of thing will just take the lump and move on (see my statement above). Sad but true.

Same is true of the buyer who screws the seller by not paying, as described by Dookie above. Dookie could have taken legal action against the buyer, and would likely have prevailed, but what would it cost? Most of us just don't have the resources (thousands of dollars) and time to sink into such a project to make it worth it.

OTH, sometimes something gets under your skin that makes it worth it. I suppose if everyone took this attitude, you'd see more buyers and sellers alike straighten up and fly right.
 
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AKElroy said:
I stated what I would do, and I am sticking to it. If you are buying from an Oklahoma seller, feel free to PM me. Yes, I had a bad experience. While this guy is being a royal pain to me, he has nearly 5000 A+ transactions so my experience is not the norm.
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And what if those 5000 A+ ratings are a result of the same blackmail techniques the dealer tried to use against you?
 
And what if those 5000 A+ ratings are a result of the same blackmail techniques the dealer tried to use against you?
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I'm not about to change my rating; I would hope others would stick to thier guns as well. That fact that some may not is the flaw in GB this thread was started to address & expose.
 
I'm curious as to how the seller was able to change his original feedback on the OP once it was posted. I've never seen that done before....unless it was a secondary posting.
I find it amusing GunsAmericaFan thinks Dookie is a plant when all he basically said was he preferred GB and he did say he had good experiences on GA!
Funny you didn't say the same for Rogertc1 because he stated back around the middle of January..."Not a real fan of GunsAmerica.com I like GunBroker.com better."
If anyone is a plant GAF...I suspect it's you!!!!! :what:
For the OP...how many feedbacks do you have on GB, by the way? If you have established a good feedback rating then one negative is not going to hurt you in any way...shape...or form.
 
It's not always necessary to hire a lawyer and go to court. Back around 1995 or so I had a run in with Century Arms Int. which had offered a rifle for sale via a flyer in the mail. I sent the money as soon as I got the flyer. (I had an FFL back then). Waited over 6 weeks with no response, so I called and was informed they had none because there had been a firing pin problem with them. I pressed further because I knew that excuse was nonsense. (was a "sporter" '98 Mauser...what possible firing pin problem could they have with a tried and true Mauser??) To make a long story longer...eventually after getting to the head guy (woman actually) I was told they just didn't have any for sale, irregardless of the fact I had a flyer in my hand showing the opposite and I had paid for it and had a receipt!
One simple phone call to the Attorney Generals office in Vermont solved the problem! The AG's office called them that same day and I was faxed the next day by Century Arms telling me I was in luck...they had found ONE rifle in the warehouse!! I called and said thank you...please ship it right away!
I called the AG's office and told her secretary the outcome and she was very pleased...she said Century Arms was told by the AG to produce the rifle or face charges of false advertising and some other thing because they had used the US Mail to do it!!!!
I still have that rifle today...had no firing pin problem...it was a standard Mauser pin and it's a great little sporter!
So...there are alternatives to hiring a lawyer...if ya have a good case try calling the local prosecuter or the AG's office...worked for me!
 
Sounds like a jerk, you're better off finding another seller and leaving him negative feedback in my opinion.

I hope you find and get what you're looking for
 
Clix...you must not have read all the postings...he did leave him an "F" rating for feedback.
 
GunsAmericaFan,

For what I have purchased on AA, and the selection, it just has been a better experience. I have not had shipping issues, or payment issues. The transactions were simply cleaner for me than on GB.

The number of auctions and buy-it-now/haggles running right now are 3300-ish for Rifles and about 3100-ish for handguns.

Honestly, I haven't really given it much thought, as far as the auction versus strictly sale option goes. I notice that on AA, for example, most auctions have the bid system and the "Buy It Now" feature. I have observed that the "BIN" tends to be what, I believe, the owner "wishes" he could get for the item.

Maybe just emphasizing that both straight sales and auctions are available would be enough.
 
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I am in OK, who was the FFL? We have a local board that a lot of people post on, I would prob recognize the dealer.
 
That is why I don't like Gunbroker. You send people a money order. They can cash it and not send you your merchandise. Need some for of online payment to make me want to buy stuff off Gubroker.
 
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