The Seven Stages of Gunbroker Auctions

The Seven Stages of Gunbroker Auctions
1. No reserve! Maybe I'll get a great deal on this!
2. Ok, it's no longer a steal, but it's still a great deal
3. Ok, it's still a good deal
4. Ok, it's still cheaper than retail
6. Do I really want to pay for this?
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Quite true.

5. Crap, why did I set my reserve price so high?
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The secret of eBay/GB selling is to be honest with yourself and decide on the minimum amount you'll take. Then start your auction there.

7. You sniping sonofagun! Why didn't you just bid that amount in the first place instead of waiting until the last minute?
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GB uses a 15 minute wait after the last bid, so there's no true sniping going on there. On eBay, it is possible to snipe, but the secret of eBay / GB buying is to be honest with yourself and decide on the maximum amount you'll pay. Then make that your maximum bid. If somebody outbids you, even by a nickel, your attitude should be "Thank God I didn't get suckered into paying THAT much.".

Remember, you can only be sniped if somebody is willing to pay more than you. You do not have a right to see their bid first and then make up your mind to bid more.
 
+1 for *RARELY* having seen a smoking deal on GB like those pictured above. Yes, you might find a new Tubbs 2000 for $100 or The presidents personally autographed AR-50 for $200, but very very seldom, and I'd rather spend my time elsewhere.

My opinion is that unless I'm going to live on GB, I'm probably better with established local relationships or the weekly emails from totallysuperdiscountmegaguns.com, et al.
 
I think by "reserve" he meant to say "Maximum bid amount". Sellers set Reserve prices (the minimum they will sell the guns for), Buyers enter their Maximum.

I got a Winchester 9422M on GB once. Said "like new". When it arrived at my FFL, we opened the box and said - practically at the same time - "Huh, I guess rust spots count for like-new in PA!" Total piece of crap gun. The Seller stood behind it and gave me my money back INCLUDING my shipping fees. His explanation was they had 2 9422M rifles and listed the wrong one first. Fair enough.

I got a Ruger SP101 in 327 Fed Mag about a year(?) ago. Stayed up late and paid too much, but I'm ECSTATIC about that thing - SAHWEET GUN! I figure for an impossible-to-find gun like that, just pony up and forget about it - IF you've got the cash.

One time, I bid on the wrong gun (was up WAY too late and had looked at WAY too many items!) and won it. I think it was like $600, so I took a chance and emailed the guy explaining my lack of mental acuity and offered to Paypal him 50 bucks to call it even. He agreed, said it's an easy gun to sell again so no sweat. I figured 50 bucks was the price for being stupid - we were both OK so no big deal.
 
As others have stated, there is no sniping on GB. As a bidder who is really good at sniping, I love sniping on internet auctions. The GB 15 minute rule really benefits the seller and GB, as it increases the sales price, thereby increasing the potential total paid to GB.

Outside of the 15 minute rule, GB is the best place to buy a gun, as long as you stick with sellers who have a credible and voluminous selling history. If you know what you are doing, and you have a good rating as a credible buyer, you can strike all sorts of deals with the seller that will benefit both parties.
 
I find most of the people I buy from are FFL Gun stores in different areas of the country. never had an issue. I have bought a lot. But like any auction buy one has to know what they are doing.
Ebay over 1ioo positive and GB over 70. So learn how to buy.
 
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natman said:
Remember, you can only be sniped if somebody is willing to pay more than you. You do not have a right to see their bid first and then make up your mind to bid more.
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Yeah, there's really no such thing as sniping. If you put your TRUE maximum bid in there then you weren't sniped, it was just somebody willing to pay more. If you're willing to pay more, why not just put that amount as your max bid to begin with?

That way, if it goes higher than your max bid, that's fine. You didn't want to pay that much anyway... the other person wanted it more and was willing to back it with the checkbook.
 
Both ebay and gunbroker are susceptible to shill bidding though. I think I experienced that a few weeks ago on ebay. I bid on an H&R shotgun stock at $15, with a max bid of $22.25 (mine was the first bid). Near the end of the auction, someone bid up to $22.75. As techno said, no problem, I wasn't willing to pay more. About an hour after the auction, the seller told ebay that the winner finked out and then the stock was offered to me for my price of $22.25 for one day only. I didn't bite. I waited for it to be listed on ebay again at $15, and set a max price of $17.25. Auction went for 6 more days and I ended up getting the stock for $15, no other bidders. Seller waited 5 days to ship it, and didn't respond to any of my emails. I think I ticked him/her off. :D
 
Shill bidding is most definitely a problem on eBay and GunBroker. I know eBay does track and try to eliminate shills, but I don't know about GB.
 
I have actually used gunbroker's 15 minute rule to get out of buying a gun that I changed my mind on before. As long as this hasn't changed in the last 6 or so months, the current winning bidder upping their max bid will reset the auction to 15 minutes as well. I was winning an M&P 40 for $360 if I remember correctly and at about a minute to go I upped my max to $365 to reset the time. In that 15 minutes someone else noticed the auction and it ended with that person winning it at $370.

A few good deals that I have won on there were:

New Smith & Wesson M&P 40c for $314 before shipping
New Kahr CW40 for $226 before shipping
New Sig Sauer p224 SAS for $457 before shipping
New Springfield XD40 for $305 before shipping

I also just won a Taurus pt738 TCP for $123 before shipping. It'll be my first time dealing with a Taurus, but I couldn't pass up the price especially since its the upgraded version with a blackened stainless slide and two magazines.
 
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