On Line Gun Auctions

[usnavymasterchief]

Anybody else notice that the on-line gun auctions are rapidly turning into on-line consignment gun shops? Sites like Gunbroker and Auctionarms for the most part aren't true auctions anymore and are more like Gunsamerica. Most items hawk "Buy Now For $XXX" and the "starting price" or "reserve price" of the item is not much different from prices charged in your local gun shop for the same item. By the time you pay shipping, FFL transfer fees, sales tax in some states and background check fees you probably will have paid more for an item than if it was purchased locally.
Anyone know of a true on-line gun auction site that conducts genuine auctions where you actually get to bid on an item?

 

[Byron Quick]

I don't. I mainly use GunsAmerica to find stuff I am not locating locally. I'm not above dickering with the sellers.

 

[BryanP]

You pretty much nailed it. I have bought exactly one thing on gunbroker - a parts kit to go with my stripped AR-15 receiver. The minimum bid was a slight bit lower than what the seller was asking for on their web site.

Although I enjoy trolling the auctions, it's kind of like gun shows - fun to look around but I haven't seen many real deals lately.

 

[TechBrute]

It's supply and demand.

Most gunshops that I've worked closely with made no more than 10% markup on a gun. Any less than that, and why bother? Any more than that and noone will buy it because the one down the street is selling it for less.

Generally, gun owners seem to be the cheapest, stingiest group of people I've seen. People will drive to Wal-mart and buy ammo there so they can save $.50 a box on a $5.00 box of ammo. Then they complain that the local shops go out of business.

Face it people, people selling guns want as much as possible for their gun, be it new or used. The internet allows them to connect with more buyers, one of which is probably willing to pay more than you.

My personal opinion is that dealers have to pay too much for guns. Gun companies are passing the mounting costs of their legal troubles on to the dealers, who pass it to you. To everyone who reads this, if you don't/ didn't vote, IT'S YOUR FAULT!! Pro-gun politicians (oxymoron?) are an indirect solution to rising gun costs.

 

[TechBrute]

Ok, sorry about the rant. What kind of "good deal" are you looking for?

 

[Standing Wolf]

I've noticed more and more sucker prices at the on-line auctions. Sometimes, the people who post sucker prices are willing to dicker; more often, they're not. On the whole, I ignore sucker prices and concentrate on those within the realm of reason: I don't like to reward raw greed.

 

[Zundfolge]

I've bought 4 guns off Gunbroker. 2 where individuals and 2 where dealers.

I agree that there seems to be more and more dealers out there and not as many "regular folk" just trying to sell their guns as it used to be, but I still paid less then I would have localy (with the exception of the AR-15 I just bought, and I only paid about $5 more then if I ordered from the local guy ... didn't know his prices, learned my lesson and will buy from him in the future).

Also, 2 of the guns I've bought where guns I couldn't even find localy (Steyr M40 and a Bulgarian Makarov).

I've also sold one gun on gunbroker, so I know there are others out there buying and selling who are not dealers.


Clearly it's caveat emptor, but if you know what you're looking for and are patient, there are still good deals to be had there.

 

[TechBrute]

Zundfolge, you brought up something that I forgot. You can find stuff that you can't find other places. I use eBay and Gunbroker for finding hard-to-find stuff.

 

[Snake Eyes]

I've bought 5 or 6 guns from auctions at both Gun Broker and Auction Arms. With one exception, I've been very pleased with the deals--and the one exception wasn't bad enough to return the gun.

I buy--almost exclusively--guns that are no longer in production and have some collector value. Sure, I have to look long and hard to find a deal, but how is that different from a gun show? I might spend a whole weekend at a gun show, see 5-6000 guns and not see ONE I want for a reasonable price.

Patience.

I don't like Guns America because they don't have a mechanism for feedback on the sellers. I want to see how the seller has performed in the past before I send off $600+++. I also won't buy from an ad or auction that doesn't have decent pictures of the gun.

As far as "deals"--I like to think I'm realistic. I watch the auctions and know what people are paying for like models. I go to gun shows and see what they are asking for those models locally. If I can get a better than average gun at a better than average price, I'm happy. I'm not sitting around waiting for that NIB 70 series Gold Cup to show up for $400.

Just my thoughts....YMMV


Peter

 

[hammer4nc]

I've bought firearms at both gb and aa; I can still find better deals than I can locally, but as others have mentioned it takes patience. I agree with you that the sites are flooded with postings that never get bid on...used as nothing more than ad billboards. In other cases, there's certain guns I recognize, that have been for sale for more than three years!

Its annoying...one guy on gb sells generic holsters. He runs 40+ pages of auction listings, separate listings for every single make, model, and caliber that the holster might fit. If you use the search engine looking for a specific gun brand or model, you always get half a page of his useless listings. GB has a better search engine than aa, with an "exclusion" field; however, it doesn't recognize seller names, so you can't switch him off. I've asked GB to add the equivalent of an "ignore" switch for certain sellers like this...so far, no dice. They must be happy with the revenue stream.

I've found that certain pawn shops that sell on GB and AA, consistently sell guns with no reserve, good starting prices. If you bookmark these sellers, you can home in on a pretty good selection of firearms at reasonable prices.

 

[usnavymasterchief]

Maybe I didn't make myself understood. My "rant" is simply this, if you want to call it an auction, then let it be an auction where people can bid for an item. I agree that rare and out of production stuff can be located there but what pees me off is the dealers who list hundreds of new handguns with "started at" prices and with"reserves" set at an amount equal to what they would charge in their gun shops. There are no good deals on these items. I think GB and GA should get rid of those who use the site for a cheap catalog and go back to letting folks bid against each other for that old Colt they always wanted but couldn't find any place else. Let these dealers advertise their Llamas, Jennings, Witness and Accu-Tecs someplace else.

 

[TechBrute]

he site has put the mechanism in place for people to put up "auctions", but just like ebay, there are people that only use the "buy it now". It sounds to me like your gripe is with the sellers not with the site. In this day and age it's more than easy enough to start your own website. Maybe you can start an auction site and have people that review the postings before they are publicly viewable. Maybe there should be some automated system that requires that the gun start at 50% of book value otherwise they can't use the site. I'm curious what you view as a solution.

 

[usnavymasterchief]

Good point, don't present a problem without offering a solution, I agree completely.
Just venting I guess.

 

[TechBrute]

I figured you'd catch that, being a squid and all...



This is the best venting site around.

 

[Aerodog]

Solution - No Reserve......start auction at 0.00 and sell to highest bidder.