Gunbroker, sellers bidding on own items?

F

Falcon642

New member
So tell me if I need a new tinfoil hat, but there are times on Gunbroker when I swear the owner of the item has to be bidding me up.

I know on ebay there have been cases of people having multiple accounts, they list with one account and then use another account to bid up their item. Anyone else have any experiences that have them suspicious that this is happening on Gunbroker?
 
Idk, but what few items I have bought from there I make my mind up before who much I will bid and where to stop. That way when it gets to my limit I ain't going a penny more. So if they want to bid on their own item and it passes where I want to bid. Well, they just lost a potential buyer !!
 
It is easy to tell if it is himself or his buddy. If that bidder wins, and you see the item relisted a day or so later. There ARE phantom/ghost/shill bidders, but most auction sites like to squash them quickly as it gives the site a bad reputation. I have never understood those who start at a penny, but they have a reserve price if $1000 or whatever that they won't take less on. Just start the bidding where your minimum acceptable price is and go from there
 
Shill bidding. It's pretty common all over the net. Most sites do a good job of policing it, but there is no fool proof way to wipe it out completely.

I know of a few archery forums where string manufacturers have a ton of loyal customers constantly singing their praises. All from the same IP address block...
 
BigD_in_FL

...I have never understood those who start at a penny, but they have a reserve price if $1000 or whatever that they won't take less on...
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I think that a lot of this sort of stuff is done when a guy is planning on selling his item locally or to someone he knows and just isn't sure what the thing is worth or when someone wants to sell an item but isn't crazy about paying an auction site's fee. They list the item on an auction site, set a reserve that is way beyond what the item is worth and find out what people are willing to pay. If somehow somebody goes over the reserve, WTH, you're ahead of the game.
I'm not seeing as much of this as there was 5-10 years ago. It seems as though buyers are catching on to this and you're seeing more and more auctions with a reserve get no response.
 
skimbell said:
I think that a lot of this sort of stuff is done when a guy is planning on selling his item locally or to someone he knows and just isn't sure what the thing is worth or when someone wants to sell an item but isn't crazy about paying an auction site's fee. They list the item on an auction site, set a reserve that is way beyond what the item is worth and find out what people are willing to pay. If somehow somebody goes over the reserve, WTH, you're ahead of the game.
I'm not seeing as much of this as there was 5-10 years ago. It seems as though buyers are catching on to this and you're seeing more and more auctions with a reserve get no response.
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Also, ebay used to assess their fees based on starting bid and final price. Therefore it made sense to start at a penny and go up.
 
It shouldn't matter, to me at least, if people outbidding me are other buyers, or shills. If the max I'll pay for something is $700, I bid $700. If I'm outbid, I'm outbid. It either means either someone else is willing to pay $701 or the seller isn't willing to let it go for less than $701.

It's hard not to get caught up in the emotional aspect of "That guy outbid me, darn him". But the point of it all is you're trying to buy a gun and you think it's worth XX dollars and no more.


Sgt Lumpy
 
The world of GunBroker can seem mysterious, but it is well managed. You can't bid on your own auctions unless you have another complete account, different email, different credit card, address, etc. I am not saying there is no monkey business going on but with GB; If you get caught, your gone.
IMHO, GB is far better managed than other auction sites.

One thing you must get used to. Most wait within the last 30 minutes of auction close time to bid. Get used to it. I have seen the 15 minute rule make an auction go on for hours after it supposed to close.

If something is in high demand, you can bet there are other people interested too.
There has been a rash of non paying bidders on GB, quite a few NRs are have been bidding on ammo, which as you know some are paying $1 per round for 5.56 and $10 per box of 22LR. These buyers then catch what is called "Buyers Remorse" This is NOT the fault of the seller as often these auctions start at one penny of more.
These actions cause the NR to be banned and the dealer ends up almost always with a negative feedback. The negative feedback will disappear in a matter of days once the seller reports the non paying bidder.

IMHO I am greatful we have GB as the other auction sites ban firearms and related items.:):)



NR - (No Record) a first time bidder on GB with no feedback.
 
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As other members have mentioned - it's just something you have to deal with, across all online auction sites (and even some live auctions).

I actually have a family member that used to use a glitch in eBay's system, to push his wife's products to the highest price possible. He was somehow able to see what the current high bidder's max bid was, when viewing the auctions through some kind of RSS feed, and use that information to place incremental bids to just below that price. That practice came to an end with the "Paypal Only" requirement, though.

It's a dirty move, no matter who it is or how they do it. :(
 
Unfortunately, . . . it is people, . . . caught in the act of being people.

Like the song says, "People steal, they'll cheat and lie, for wealth and what it will buy, . . . . "

I'm both a buyer and seller on GB, . . . and I really don't believe I've ever been worked over on the site, . . . by the owners or the users.

There are undoubtedly shills out there, . . . maybe groups of 3 or 4 who work together to sell their items, . . . but like previously said, . . . make up your mind where you want to quit, . . . bid it there, . . . and quit.

Best part of this system, . . . you may not get it today at a big price, . . . but you might get it tomorrow at a smaller price. That has happened to me as a buyer several times.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Sure there are shills. I caught one once on Ebay, but it's harder to catch them these days. Still, you do get a sense of when there is a chance of a shill bidding up the price. Does it really matter? No.

I do two things. Bid at the end of the auction and I bid only what I feel is a "good buy" price. I've lost more auctions than I can shake a stick at - I just don't care. Either I get the gun at the price I'm willing to pay, or I walk.

There are only about 8 firearms that I have that would be difficult-to-impossible to find the same thing within a 6 month period on gunbroker. The rest trade like commodities. I can't say that I've never overpaid for a gun - I have. But, they will be guns that are difficult to impossible to replace.
 
Skans said:
I've lost more auctions than I can shake a stick at - I just don't care. Either I get the gun at the price I'm willing to pay, or I walk.
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How sensible.

I've always been... bemused... by the whole notion of "won" and "lost" as applied to online auctions; the idea that it's a contest seems designed to foster overpaying for an item by people whose competitiveness gets the better of their common sense. IMHO, the only way to "lose" an auction is to end up paying more than one intended to -- acquiring something at an inflated price is hardly a "win," except for the seller.
 
LOL - good point, Vanya.

"Yippie I won! I won"

""Really? What did you win?""

"I won ownership of this model 10 for just 1200 dollars"

""Um, you're a winner all right""


Sgt Lumpy
 
"I have never understood those who start at a penny, but they have a reserve price if $1000 or whatever that they won't take less on. Just start the bidding where your minimum acceptable price is and go from there"

Some people get curious and bid, and end up buying your item.

I usually put a buy it now at a high price, it seems to make people more willing to spend in the auction, as long as its under the buy it now. The buy it now is never so high it turns people off to the auction though.
 
I've always auctioned with a penny start price, with a reserve, and a buy it now that is 10-15% higher than similar auctions are ending at.

About 50% of my auctions sell with the buy it now. The other 50% max the bidders price until the reserve is hit.

When I don't start at a penny I always get fewer bidders, which shows less demand, which makes others think its not as valuable, and in turn end up with a lower selling price. Not to mention the fees are less for listing a penny start price. I think I've only had 2 items not sell with the reserve and I usually set the reserve at what similar items are selling for.

Its all about presentation and information and you can maximize your profits.
 
Just start the bidding where your minimum acceptable price is and go from there
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At a penny a lot more people look at the item. If they can get a few people bidding at a lower price it is MUCH more likely those people will get caught up in the "competition" and make an emotional decision to pass a logical price. I have done it in FTF auctions. Usually on items that are below $50. I don't get caught up online.
 
I've been on the other end of this. Perhaps he bidders thought I was in on it.

I listed a gun with a buy it now price for what they were selling for. The two bidders bid it up $300 past that.
 
During the height of the recent insanity, I watched several people bid up after market magazines for a Ruger PC-9 to over $100 each.

Not Ruger mags, just some garbage after market ones. Once they set their sights on those mags common sense went right out the window.

So far, I've sold one and bought one on GB. I had a good experience with both transactions. But if there is a way to cheat, someone will find it and exploit it.
 
On Ebay, it used to be common for a shill to outbid others on an item, just to expose the maximum bids of others. The vendor would then contact the underbidders in turn, after a decent interval, saying the deal had fallen through with the shill bidder, and did you perhaps want to purchase the item at your final bid?
 
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