Gunbroker Rant

mike7mm08

Buckeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,709
City & State/Province
Milwaukee Wisconsin
Need to rant to someone. You all are the lucky ones :D Been a while since I sold anything on gunbroker. Digging through my hoard I found way more brass than I thought I had. 375 Winchester oddball should be worth a tidy sum. Post it after looking into past auctions. Should bring two to three bucks a piece. Post it with a buy now of 115 for 50 cases. Currently at about 65 bucks.

Now for my rant. How clueless is gunbroker to obvious shill bidders on the auctions. First off found ended listings that went way high that were relisted multiple times. Seems to me there are running up prices so that bidders on the relist are happy they got a deal if it was less than the crazy price. Don't believe you are going to have multiple non payments.

Now we come to the current auctions. Which has me annoyed. Another auction for same quantity of brass. Nine days left and it has been bid up to 117.36. Same item I am selling shipping cost a buck less than I am charging. So the "bidder" could have the item in his hands probable before the auction he bid on ends,for a buck less than his current bid by clicking buy it now on my auction.

No one can be that stupid. Even with autobid why set your bid higher than a buy it now for the same item? Just don't get it. No big deal if the brass sells or not. Be nice though as I have new toys I want dammit :x

Anyone looking for some 375 winchester brass. :lol:
 
Whats to say he had not already placed his MAX bid on other auction, before he saw yours. Not to mention, many times, I place my max bid that I am willing to pay on something and might never look at it again, until close to the end of said auction. I have been notified that I won stuff, that I had even forgotten I had bid on.........LOL!!!
 
I read on another blog that some commercial sellers have friends and employees that bid up their stuff until it gets to their unposted buy now price. If the friend or employee wins nothing is lost. They just relist it later and try it again till they get the bids that they want. So much for no reserve.
 
its why i stopped dealing with gunbroken 4 years ago. its attracted all the flies in the trade and pushed all the little honest guys aside.
 
mike7mm08 said:
Need to rant to someone. You all are the lucky ones :D Been a while since I sold anything on gunbroker. Digging through my hoard I found way more brass than I thought I had. 375 Winchester oddball should be worth a tidy sum. Post it after looking into past auctions. Should bring two to three bucks a piece. Post it with a buy now of 115 for 50 cases. Currently at about 65 bucks.

Now for my rant. How clueless is gunbroker to obvious shill bidders on the auctions. First off found ended listings that went way high that were relisted multiple times. Seems to me there are running up prices so that bidders on the relist are happy they got a deal if it was less than the crazy price. Don't believe you are going to have multiple non payments.

Now we come to the current auctions. Which has me annoyed. Another auction for same quantity of brass. Nine days left and it has been bid up to 117.36. Same item I am selling shipping cost a buck less than I am charging. So the "bidder" could have the item in his hands probable before the auction he bid on ends,for a buck less than his current bid by clicking buy it now on my auction.

No one can be that stupid. Even with autobid why set your bid higher than a buy it now for the same item? Just don't get it. No big deal if the brass sells or not. Be nice though as I have new toys I want dammit :x

Anyone looking for some 375 winchester brass. :lol:

Sucks as a bidder / buyer as well. I'be even reported shill accounts and my concerns were totally written off and overlooked.

I got outbid on the same item (by a few dollars) Relisted 5 times!!! F*_"(ing obvious??? Each time my replies were belittled and patronized.

Gunbroker DOES have the cheapest deals and lowest prices.... So I conceded.
 
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I love GB...y'all just stay away...leaves more for me.

I have gotten more deals on GB than I have ever gotten anywhere, else.

Just got another one about 3wks ago. :lol:
 
Unless the auction has a reserve price that wasn't met the seller has to pay the auction fees that his shill bidder bids. How does that make sense that you think a guy would drive his price up so it doesn't sell just to have to pay the fees over and over again? An auction with a final selling price of $115.00 creates a cost to the seller of $3.50, ( http://www.gunbroker.com/User/Fees.aspx ) to do that 5 times the seller would be out $17.50 and still not have sold his item. Maybe i am misunderstanding the complaint? :?
 
xtratoy said:
Unless the auction has a reserve price that wasn't met the seller has to pay the auction fees that his shill bidder bids. How does that make sense that you think a guy would drive his price up so it doesn't sell just to have to pay the fees over and over again? An auction with a final selling price of $115.00 creates a cost to the seller of $3.50, ( http://www.gunbroker.com/User/Fees.aspx ) to do that 5 times the seller would be out $17.50 and still not have sold his item. Maybe i am misunderstanding the complaint? :?

xtratoy...don't confuse them with the facts.

They NEED to find fault with GB...it has to be bad because it is so big and used by so many buyer/sellers.
 
An auction that I was watching that was a relist ended. First time it sold for an insane price. This time around it was reasonable but on the high end of the going price. Guess what same high bidder. Waiting to see if it gets relisted again. If you got burned by the bidder wouldn't you block him the second time around??? Seller is gambling that he can drive the price up.

Sure he might lose a bit. But this brass is selling right now for about triple the cost of full retail the last time it was available. If you been sitting on it a bit you paid even less. Even at the reasonable prices sellers are potential making five or six times what they paid if they have had it more than about five years. So a couple relistings are not going to hurt the profit very much. If you get a 150 bucks out of something you paid twenty five to forty for, ten or fifteen bucks worth of fees does not matter much. Still going to clear a hundred bucks or better.

Waiting to see what happens with my auction. Does not sell it will be going to a few classifieds for a fair but going rate. Not going to hope for top dollar. Should of done that to begin with.
 
AJGUNNER said:
mike7mm08 said:
Anyone looking for some 375 winchester brass. :lol:

So give us a few good reasons why you would not just list it here where you are among friends with decent reputations???

Won't lie I was chasing the biggest buck. Also last couple times I have tried selling oddball expensive brass I have been chewed on about the price. I was asking a lot yes. But it was always within the prices of the last couple weeks on the auctions. Figured throw it on auction and potential buyers could easily see what the going rate was and take it or leave instead of questioning my price. I understand people want a deal but why should I sell below market or be questioned if you don't like my price.
 
You want to sell it for the MOST money you can get..........leave it on GB. You WON'T get top dollar on forums like this. Some get the impression you are all "buddies" because you share a forum and converse at times and always expect the "buddy" pricing. At least that has been MY experience trying to sell guns on forums. Although I still generally list guns I have for sale on various forums, at what I KNOW are FAIR prices, I seldom sell any until I move them to GB and have ALWAYS gotten more there, than I was asking on forums where I usually get NO replies.
 
As noted, shill bidding certainly can happen and should not
However, the seller is paying GB due to the "sale" (to employee, friend, etc...) thus they don't care as they get paid each time

Do that 5-10 times and that adds to lost profit to the seller when it finally does sell to a legitimate buyer
 
mike7mm08 said:
An auction that I was watching that was a relist ended. First time it sold for an insane price. This time around it was reasonable but on the high end of the going price. Guess what same high bidder. Waiting to see if it gets relisted again. If you got burned by the bidder wouldn't you block him the second time around??? Seller is gambling that he can drive the price up.

Sure he might lose a bit. But this brass is selling right now for about triple the cost of full retail the last time it was available. If you been sitting on it a bit you paid even less. Even at the reasonable prices sellers are potential making five or six times what they paid if they have had it more than about five years. So a couple relistings are not going to hurt the profit very much. If you get a 150 bucks out of something you paid twenty five to forty for, ten or fifteen bucks worth of fees does not matter much. Still going to clear a hundred bucks or better.

Waiting to see what happens with my auction. Does not sell it will be going to a few classifieds for a fair but going rate. Not going to hope for top dollar. Should of done that to begin with.

Yep relisted again. See if the same "high bidder" comes back again.
 
Just contact GB marketing to get "into" the complaints persons, let them know the IP address(es) (geolocation) of your suspected shill bidder(s). You can get there by starting with their email address, etc. If the IP reveals the same ISP billing address or even zip code, GB will ban that IP address for good. I followed this route twice and it works, very well I might add.
It is also illegal in most states to use electronic media for fraudulent intent. Ponder the implications...

BTW, shill bidding (specifically) on an interstate website selling goods is a crime in many states. Once you have some specifics, file a complaint if you want. Or... ROAD TRIP!
 

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