not a big fan of gunbroker dot com

[lobo9er]

gunbroker has its place but i find its every gun shop in the country putting there better (or sometimes garbage) inventory up for auction for a few bucks more than its in there shop. and the no reserve thing is a joke cuz the auction is already started for retail price. i'm new here but thought i would see if anyone else sees it like that. theres mos def some good sellers on there but i just find a lot of prices tend to be a little high

 

[Ash]

Sometimes the auctions are started insanely high. Of course, those auctions rarely sell. I have noticed a guy from Vinton, LA, who manages to price his stuff about double.

Ash

 

[Quiet]

auction sites = capitialism = prices set via supply vs demand economics

Don't like the price, don't bid.

 

[dullh]

What "Quiet" said...don't like the price, don't bid.

Now I did see a guy in Kansas offering "gold inlaid" Glock 19's for $10,000 each...would like to meet the guy who buys one, wouldn't mind being in his will!

My personal experience is not the same as yours. Yes, some prices are ridiculous, and those auctions do not sell. But I will say the vast majority of sellers on there are selling guns for right at the same price or a little less than my local gun shops. The only decision then is do I want to pay shipping and transfer fee or state sales tax...

 

[The Deer Hunter]

Whenever I want to know how much a gun costs, I'll check it out first on Gunbroker. A lot of guns $300 higher than retail prices from stores and on manufacturer site.

It's just like the sellers you see on Ebay. There's the store seller who sells a lot of stuff at reasonable prices and makes half a living off of it. Then you have the ordinary joe seller, who is just looking to get rid of some stuff and put some cash in his wallet. Then, you have the ripoff sellers that are trying to sell stuff as high as people will pay. They sensationalize the product the best they can in an attempt to offer incentives to buy from them.

 

[SaxonPig]

Don't like the prices? Don't pay them.

Duh...

 

[raskolnikov_22]

and the no reserve thing is a joke cuz the auction is already started for retail price.

Not always. It's not atypical to see penny auctions on expensive or rare items like Colt Pythons or W. German Sigs. Gunshows are no different: there's good buys, but you have to wade through the gougers to get to them.

Recently I just had to have another High Power. Called every gun store remotely in my area, no luck. Got a brand new '08 Mark III on gunbroker for a good price. Nothing to write home about, but no worse than at a gun store.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I use GB for components for my sporters. If a barrel or receiver is priced too high for me, I just wait for one that's not.

 

[lobo9er]

sure i know dont like it dont turn it on. just seeing what all ya'll thought i check things out alot on there bought and sold a few things, like raskol said you gotta wade through the gougers

 

[j21blackjack]

I've gotten some pretty good deals on GB. I actually found my 44 spl Lee Classic Loader on their. I've also sold a few guns there myself. I happened to get 2 P3AT's for $250 a piece w/ no shipping last year .

 

[Deckard]

Sure people put up guns for crazy prices hoping some sucker will bite, it costs them nothing and could land them a big profit, but you just have to look a little harder to find some decent listings. I'm always a little nervous about a gun I can't see in person, but I've gotten two excellent shooters at reasonable prices from GunBroker: a Swedish Mauser M96 and a Browning BPR.

 

[Mags]

I have a Springfield 1911 I bought new for 850 I added a magwell and pachmayr grips. When asked by a coworker what I wanted for it I said "1000 bucks" hell no I know the gun aint worth that much but that's what it would take for me to sell it. The way I see it online merchants don't wanna come off their product too easily. Maybe they like to save their inventory for the local customer and will only sell it on the ineternet for what the hassle is worth to them.

 

[hso]

It's a great reference source if you're signed up with them since you can see what sells and at what price by looking at completed auctions. It also helps you see if a gun has been on the block before and how often. Plenty of silly prices asked, but not usually given.

 

[atblis]

Go to advanced search, and search for no reserve auctions. Then sort by price.

 

[Resto Guy]

This week I watched a Dan Wesson Monson 15-2 6" .357 go for $500+. It made me feel really good about the deal I got on a virtually identical 15-2 a few months ago.

 

[2RCO]

It's a good way to check and see how competetive your local dealer is. If a new gun frequently goes for $1500 on GB and your local dealer won't go cheaper than $2k you see that the local guy is off on his prices. In my area GB is usually a bit higher than what they go for locally.

FWIW to me GB beats the heck out of price guides because you can see what someone has paid recently.

 

[Gun Slinger]

What hso said. Good reference source, goofy prices.

Buy elsewhere when you find a better deal.

 

[DRYHUMOR]

You've really got to look closely. The deals are there.

Mostly from individuals. Occasionally from dealers that move a lot of volumne.

It's about the best place to find discontinued models, wait patiently and one you are looking for comes along at a fair price.

The last rifle I bought was for $300 less than what the rest were selling for on GB from everyone else, and $400 less than any of the local dealers would sell it for.

 

[R.W.Dale]

the real story of items as far as what sells and what won't on gunbroker isn't told by the starting price it's the number of bids you should be looking at. I've sold on GB a lot and what other sellers fail to understand is if you get no bids on the first run you're price is too high and after the initial offering your chances of a sale become less and less. But unlike e-bay that charges for relists gunbroker does not. So after awhile the site has gotten choked up with pie in the sky dreamer listings that literally get relisted for YEARS.

It's strange

E bay could make more $$ if they had GB's 15 minute rule.

and

Gunbroker could make more $$ if they charged to relist items like E-bay

Either way though as others have mentioned you have to dig around for the real auctions on GB. Easily 98% of the listings are pure spam. My favorites are the places that will have 50 listings for the same make and model firearm. Just exactly how much business are they afraid to loose if one night there's a nationwide run on 243 WSSM A-bolt stalkers?

 

[j-easy]

way to much spam posts on gunbroker, i wish ebay didnt ban firearms sales

 

[41022collector]

I usually find decent parts deals on GB and AA but it takes a lot of true hunting and dective work to weed out the bad sellers and shills. I find the firearm prices by far to be over stuffed, if it is popular, they are high, if they have not sold they are high. I laugh at the quantity of "The Judge" pieces on there not moving at all and the one or two with real bids are bid so far up, they would have been better off on a BIN and bite the bullet.

I personally do not like the 15 minute rule. Especially when I have bid maybe just a little high to get a part and then still at the last minute someone bumps the price up (usually a shill) and if I really need the part I have to stand by and watch the damn auction to make sure I get the part. It is the Shill Buyers that cause the most harm. Shill buyers are friends of dealers or people on there that bid the price up on things, most sellers have them (some part time, some full time) and if a shill wins, the bidder (shill) and the seller just electronically shakes hands and gives each other good feed back and the item is re-photo'd (sometimes not even re-photo'd) and placed back in the auctions. If someone beats me in an honest auction, so be it, but far too many times I have been beaten by a shill as and hour later I will see the same item back up for auction, even though I have a pre auction comms stating it was their only one. The 15 minute rule just allows a shill to keep dragging out an auction.

I have turned some suspected shills in but nothing happens, especially now that GB is fairly much automated for all things to include customer service. The one shill, I know got suspended, but also know they had 3 other member names to play their games with. All it takes is a $19.00 pay as you go cell phone and the address of Wriggley Stadium and an ongoing (non free) email address, where people can add or delete names to their account.

Without the shills and the 15 minute rule, GB would be a decent site. I would say 1 in 25 items I look for are not shilled, over priced or a waiting game on GB or AA, you just have to troll through what you want and be stead fast on your price.

GB and AA expects me to be their police force and once I got burned after turning in a shill just to see them back on, I just do not bother to turn them in, nor do I participate in feedback, nobody really looks at it and even if they do, the seller or buyer responds with bull in it is always the other persons fault.

I agree the reserve price of things is way over used, especially when they say the reserve price in the description and it is 20% over retail . I do have odd tastes in firearms, so I am relegated to buying from an auction site because reg shops around me are too lazy to order what I want or do not / will not carry it at all.

What I have seen is, if it is a perfect gang banger type or style piece, then the price will be hugely high but will sell, usually to someone wanting to be hip and cool, even though they have 20-40% more money into it. If it looks good shooting sideways or upside down, it sells.

 

[chuckusaret]

I have been rather lucky on GB, I beat the local gun store prices including the shipping etc on many of my buys, but I buy from private individuals. I don't like the 15 rule.

 

[Ash]

The 15 is for sellers and does drive up prices. However, it also negates sniping.

 

[lobo9er]

i know i wish ebay allowed guns too.

 

[lordgroom]

I like GB and find better prices there than my local stores, even after adding shipping and transfer fees. My home state is so expensive for many things firearm related.

I like the 15 minute rule. A previous poster disliked the 15 minute rule due to shilling, but sniping is a huge problem on eBay and there are services that will snipe for you at a cost.

No system is perfect but I like GB.