quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:
What I usually do is put in my max bid and then don't look at it until after the auction is over. That way you don't get emotional....

^^^This. I did this on my pre-owned Glock 17. Threw a $400 max bid at it Saturday morning (last day of the auction) and left for the day. When I came home that evening, I found out I'd won the auction....for $370. Simplest purchase I've ever made.

I have been happy with Gunbroker for the most part. Have gotten some good deals. It is important to not let your emotions get involved. Several years ago I got some great ammo deals. I got a new FN from a private seller for a good price. It is important to carefully read the feedback from the seller.

quote:

Originally posted by berto:

quote:

Originally posted by Hammer1967:
A friend of mine is looking for a rifle in the $3500 range, not a common rifle but they are a few out there.

I’ve been helping him because I love spending his money and he is new to GB

There is a vendor that over the past month or so has had three of the rifles listed as no reserve auction each starting at $2999.99, 5 day auction.

This is where it gets weird, the same bidder has been “winning” the auctions. Yet the seller has never left feedback for the buyer.

This buyer has won 9 auctions for $3500 or more from this seller in the past month. I would think if someone spent almost 35k at my shop I would leave feedback for them.

He currently winning 2 more that are over 4K each

His “winning” has knocked my friend out for now

Sounds like a shill situation. I would avoid any seller who does it.

I would agree. The seller still has to pay gunbroker the sellers fee since it “sold”. That’s a significant amount of money on 9 items x $3500 so it’s possible that it’s legit. The problem in this situation is that GB probably doesn’t car since they are getting a nice big fee from the seller over and over.

Sniping is somewhat possible, there’s just looser windows. I typically don’t bid too early tho, but I track possible items in my watchlist, and if it’s still reasonable with a half day left, I put in a bid and try not to look again.

A few pointers:
* Use saved searches that automatically alert you to new listings.

* Combine that with your watchlist and searches on recent sales to track where the market is at for your area of interest.

* Do searches on variations of what you want. I.e., something might be listed as 226 and not P226. Or you’ll see X5 vs X 5 vs X-5 vs X Five or X-Five. S&W nomenclature can be similarly fuzzy. searching for “19” won’t find an ad where it is listed “M19”. GB’s search is terrible and won’t pick up on those. Make sure you are aware of various nomenclature for the same item, and do searches on ALL variations, even if collectors will tell you that such and such is not the correct name for that model.

* If you see misspellings or oddball product names, that can be a place to swoop in because others won’t find it in their searches (see previous point). Just be careful in these situations, and look for high quality photos and good reviews for the seller.

* If you see your item with a high starting price and no bids, add it to your watchlist. Check back after the auction ended, if the seller auto re-lists it, there may be a price drop with a link in the original listing. Folks using saved searches frequently tell the GB bot “don’t alert me to repeat listings”. Great deals can be found after the third or fourth consecutive price drop.

* Be patient and keep cash on hand for what you want.

thanks gents -- the auction expires this evening -- i will report back.

i am prepared to pay significantly higher than the displayed 'current winning bid' which is now $540

it's kinda a tough call how high to go -- not really a 'rare' / highly collectible revolver -- but this particular model is long out of production and it is in LNIB condition so it's easy to see how a collector out there might bid it up at a premium...

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Good luck! Bid your absolute max with 16 mins left to go, and that’s the best you can do.

There is one winning overall strategy.

1. Decide the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend to buy that particular firearm.

2. Enter that value as your maximum bid.

3. Pray your maximum bid is higher than all the bids submitted by other people.

4.a. If you win, proclaim your genius to the world every time you get the opportunity.

4.b. If you loose to another bidder who had a higher maximum bid, proclaim to the world that Gunbroker auctions are rigged by shill bidders.

4.c. If the seller had a reserve price that was not met by you maximum bid, proclaim to the world that Gunbroker sellers have unrealistic ideas as to the value of their guns.

That is the most effective strategy I’ve seen.

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Another pointer - if you see an item you want and there are no bids on it you can contact the seller to see if they will sell it outright to you for whatever you're offering. I have made several purchases off GB this way.

As of January 1, 2021, Gunbroker will be adding sales tax to the final purchase price. This tax is paid by the buyer, collected by the seller, then paid to Gunbroker at the end of the month from the seller's account.