Is GunBroker.com rigged?

[SteyrAUG]

It's against the terms of use and shady to say the least. The seller covering his ass is setting the opening bid at the minimum he will accept or setting a reserve.
If the guy makes a living at GunBroker and is too stupid to do that I wouldn't use him.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Yep, if I start a $1 auction, I better be willing to sell for a $1. That's why I only do it with things like accessories. Otherwise minimum bid is the start bid or I have a reserve.

On the other side of the equation, shills can't hurt me. I set my maximum bid and if a shill runs it up and nobody else bids, then the gun will be up for resale soon. If somebody bids higher than my maximum bid, then they wanted it more than I did.

I've been disappointed when items I'm selling have sold for less than expected, I've been disappointed when items I was hoping to buy sold for more than I was willing to pay. But this is exactly the nature of an AUCTION. If you want a sure thing, look at Buy It Now options.

I'd like to buy a Colt Python for $700, but it isn't gonna happen. I'd like to sell my vintage Colt Commander for $2,500 but it isn't gonna happen.

Gun prices are currently down, but that is only on current production firearms...not collectibles. This is the best time to buy something like Colt 6920s and similar items. The market is saturated and you can expect to pay about $25 above dealer price, let alone retail. But those cheap surplus HK P7s that came in at $400-500 years ago...well plan on paying $1,200 or more if you want one because that is what they are going for.

Shoulda, coulda, woulda...and if you didn't get one then well the price they are now won't make you happy. I've grabbed some great stuff at great prices over the years, but I also missed out on some great opportunities that I wish I jumped on.

If it's rare, if it's collectible, you aren't the only one looking at it. Comes down to how bad you want it. I've overpaid in the past for the right firearm in the right condition that I didn't want to miss the boat on. 15 years later I'm not crying about how I paid 10% ABOVE market prices at the time. I have one and I'm happy.

I know the game where people get paid to run up the price $50 or more in the last hour of an auction. But they can't get me if I'm not willing to bid pass my maximum bid. They can get somebody else if they let it become a bid war. And I've even done that a few times in the past to make sure I got a missing Polytech variant AK I needed to complete a set. I overpaid, didn't care. Probably got shilled for at least an extra $100, didn't care. I was willing to pay for it.

And this is nothing new, before Gunbroker you saw all kinds of shenanigans at Gun Shows. The price on the table isn't necessarily the price. If you know what you are doing and especially if you are willing to be a few things you could put together some sweet deals back in the day, but you better be ready to cash and carry. And I've even seen other dealers come over and become interested in a firearm somebody was seriously looking at either just to make the guy close the deal at the advertised price or in some cases to try and run the price up by offering a counter offer as "another buyer."

Seen the same dealers then turn around and absolutely rob old timers who didn't know what their guns were worth. Late 90s I watched a dealer take a Winchester Garand from an old timer for about $400 and then he went around to the other dealers showing off the "steal of the day", I personally thought he was a scumbag and I'd have told the guy what it was worth and what I was willing to pay and if he thought he could do better elsewhere he'd have had my good wishes. Back in my mind I figured the guy probably carried a Garand in the war and that is the last kind of person I want to take advantage of just so I can double my money.

But such is the nature of the gun biz, sketchy sellers, dubious dealer and nickel and dime buyers.

[Artos]

What you are speaking of here is normal and typical behavior of every bid purchase I have ever tried on gunbroker.

I end up high bidder until the very end and end up getting our bid. A few days later the item is reposted under a different seller. I refuse to buy from gunbroker now unless it is a buy it now deal with a great price.

Again, I do mostly penny auctions & all the prices climb substantially in the last hour...GB is great for the seller & you cannot get out bid at the 'very end' because every bid within the last 15mins automatically puts another 15mins to the auction & sends an email out to the previous bidder that he has been outbid. I have seen my auctions continue for another hour & more after they were supposed to end. This is why as a buyer I let GB do the bidding on my behalf & simply put the max I'm willing to pay & don't give it another thought. Too easy to get into that trap & get sucked into not 'losing'. (at least for me anyway).

If the gun you were bidding on got re-listed by another seller, then it either sold for a price someone could flip for a profit or simply wanted out of it for whatever reason...really no other logical reason to pay GB a commission & let the shill bidder re-sell??