Whats up with Gunbroker.com ?

[Bullard4075]

I'm selling my Ruger #1 338mag with bullets, dies, cases ...the whole smash.
I have to downsize so I'm getting out of the 338 business.
Heading over to gunbroker to look up the price of things I was shocked!!
Nothing seems to be selling. Pages and pages of things,rifles,pistols with no bids.
Is there something I should know about and don't?
The articles didn't seem to be overpriced.
Is it just the economy?
Somebody help me out here please.

And I will offer my rifle here before there.

[vancelw]

I don't know if it's just the economy or Christmas. I saw a Browning BPCR in almost new condition go for $1300 the other day. They usually bring almost $1600 on gunbroker.

[David]

I think it is the economy...
I pretty much only look at pre-1899 pistols but I have seen a a far amount for 2-3K guns that should be 4-5 and a couple in the 5-6 that should be in the 8-9k. If I had the money to buy and wait it out now is the time, my problem is of course what I'm looking at is stuff I would want to keep and just can't drop that kind of money now either.

[jdad]

STart your auction at .01 and let it run 2 weeks. Check out any of "Jack the Dog's" auctions over on AA and you will see that it's a successful strategy. In economic times, good & bad, I try to let the market decide the value and I have not been disappointed.

[gak]

OTOH, from a mostly buyer's perspective, I've also seen many items cycle over and over--even 'no reserve'--without any bids..but also without any reduction from one bid session to another--sometimes going 10x before (sometimes) just being taken off...no acknowledgement whatsoever of the economy. I'm talking starting prices that are high to begin with, IMO, regardless of (but especially considering) the economy. Guess it's called fishing the market hoping for a chance sale. Odd.

[Ysabel Kid]

Economy and the season. The December gun shows here are always the biggest for individuals selling their own guns while walking the show. A lot of people looking for extra cash for the holidays. I imagine a lot of people just aren't looking to buy much with the holidays around the corner and the job market/economy still doing so bad.

Of course, to all of us, there is seldom a better material gift than a good gun!

[O.S.O.K.]

There are things selling but bolt guns are dead flat.

[71fan]

I can tell you from personal experience that GB is, in fact, dead right now. I have some very reasonably priced rifles listed and I'm barely getting nibbles (they are linked in the "classified" here). Last year they'd all be sold at these prices.

On the other hand, the live auctions are also being hit hard, so there are some amazing deals out there if you have the cash.

This is not a good time to be selling guns and I'm thinking of pulling mine. I have considered Jack the Dog's strategy for a few. I may just try that, but it sure is ner-racking.

[BenT]

I bought a gun on gunbroker in Sept and was the only bidder. I got it for the starting bid ($500) which was a fair price. In the past it would of been around $700 + .

[Nate C.]

In addition to the overall economic condition of the country, I think what you are seeing on GB is to a certain extent a return to reality after some of the hysterics in the market (with accompanying price hikes) over the past year or so. People are no longer going out and wildly purchasing everything they see without regard to prices. What goes up must come down, and all of that.

[oic0]

I just did some gun hunting on there and here is how it went for me.

A lot had seemingly good prices, but crappy shipping rates (same as ebay). A lot had really high starting bids. The gun I finally settled on had a buyout price about $10 over the starting bid of the other auctions and free shipping so even doing buyout it came out being $20 dollars cheaper than bidding the minimum and waiting several days on the others. I don't know how they hoped to sell theirs. Maybe to someone too lazy to do the math and wanting to wait a week? (Keep in mind, all NIB guns)

I admit though, I was a bit apprehensive about all of their prices.
Why?
Google price search!!!!!!!
Dealers lie on prices with out of stock items to get you in to their store. So I go looking for the gun on google price search to get an idea of the price and I see prices $100 under ($250 under msrp) what I am seeing on Gunbroker. Of course they are out of stock and IF they ever did get any in stock they would jack up the prices. I knew this and it still made me apprehensive. People who aren't aware of this practice probably would have thought gunbroker was just overpriced.

[Don McDowell]

Gunbroker's prices are a joke. Most of the stuff I'm interested in is way over priced. Alot of the auctions with no reserve have the bid started at as high or higher than you can buy the brand new one from your local slobber shop. Then those that take credit cards are going to whack you 3% or more, just so you can use your card and have some sort of fraud protection. Then you get into some pretty rediculous shipping rates, add on the transfer fee it's going to cost when the gun gets to your local dealer, .....
Auctionarms is a bit better for buyer/seller .
Stuff listed on Guns America is high but the price is there for everyone to see, no silliness about reserves and opening bids etc....

Thing is with things as tough as they are for everybody, if you're having to sell something to help make ends meet, don't expect someone else to be the goose with the golden egg, cuz everybody else is suffering the fools that turned out in mass to vote last election also.....

[mescalero1]

I am looking at something on GB.
But $35.00 for shipping is eating on me, will probably pass just for that reason, that and paying for two FFL transfer fees.

[Bullard4075]

Check out any of "Jack the Dog's" auctions over on AA and you will see that it's a successful strategy.

Could someone explain this please. What is a Jack the Dog auction and where (or who) is AA ?

[Don McDowell]

Jack the dog is a seller/gunshop that regualarly works Auction Arms ie AA
www.auctionarms.com

[kimwcook]

Bullard, Jack the Dog is the name a guy (seller) goes by on Auction Arms (AA).

[Bullard4075]

Thanks kimwcook !
Sometimes I'm just dense.

[.45colt]

I get some pretty good laughs from Gunbroker. Alot of people often selling junk that was beat to death long ago and calling it "very rare" and asking top$$ for it. P.T.Barnum was right.

[jnyork]

I get some pretty good laughs from Gunbroker. Alot of people often selling junk that was beat to death long ago and calling it "very rare" and asking top$$ for it. P.T.Barnum was right.

Agreed. 90% of the stuff listed on GB is so high that only a fool would buy it. To add insult to injury, many people refer to the listed prices on GB to price their guns they want to sell. GB prices are NOT indicative of fair market prices.

[71fan]

GB is a decent sight for location hard-to-find stuff, and I have found a LOT of good deals using a buy-it-now option over the years. I don't use it for NIB guns so I can't speak to that. IMO, here is no other place / source with as broad a reach as GB and the opportunity to get a great deal. I use AA as well but it doesn't get nearly the traffic that GB does. I agree there are fishers and high price dealers, but there are also a lot of "hobby" collectors like me that do a lot of successful business on GB, with fair and reasonable auctions. I rarely, if ever list a gun more than three time, and I will adjust my start for each relist. If I can't get it sold on round three, then it goes back in the safe for my further enjoyment.

We're just in a slump, nothing more, nothing less. For me, I know the antique Winchesters and Marlins will come back up in price soon enough, simply because "they ain't making them anymore," as we always hear.

As a side not, shipping a gun costs at least $30...try it for less. By the time I buy packing materials, post, insurance, time and gas to get to the PO or UPS, I'm usually at $45 or $50. Shipping a rifle isn't as cheap as it was a few years ago.

[71fan]

Agreed. 90% of the stuff listed on GB is so high that only a fool would buy it. To add insult to injury, many people refer to the listed prices on GB to price their guns they want to sell. GB prices are NOT indicative of fair market prices.

I agree as well, but that can easily be overcome / ignored. The simple solution is to view the "Completed Auctions" and see items that actually ended with a successful sale, and base your value on that.

[Kansas Ed]

Chad hit the nail on the head....for those who complain about outrated shipping fees, try shipping something once. I needed to ship a 35# package to Ontario the other day, and the PO wanted $91 to do it. Yep...$91 plus the insurance cost. I've shipped quite a bit off and on, and almost always end up with shipping costs more than what I charge the buyers.

One of the problems with GB now is that people are so used to seeing the same items listed over and over again, that buyers are waiting for the initial price to drop on an item. Like Chad does with his auctions. I've seen people wait for an auction to be relisted several times before going ahead and bidding on it...though they would have paid the first price quite happily...but they play the game now. When ever I list an auction...either GB or Ebay...I put in there that it will only be listed once, if it doesn't sell I will keep it. And I stick to that. I don't have the inclination to play games with other people...and I've only not sold something one time.....and as luck would have it, someone else came by and offered me more than the ebay reserve was....

Ed

[jnyork]

Agreed. 90% of the stuff listed on GB is so high that only a fool would buy it. To add insult to injury, many people refer to the listed prices on GB to price their guns they want to sell. GB prices are NOT indicative of fair market prices.

I agree as well, but that can easily be overcome / ignored. The simple solution is to view the "Completed Auctions" and see items that actually ended with a successful sale, and base your value on that.

While some of that may be so, there are many, many cases in the Completed Auctions where it is obvious that the purchase was made by someone with more money than sense. Recession to the contrary, there are still plenty of fools out there who will spend whatever it takes to get something they want, they have so much money that price is no object. Comparing price guides such as the Blue Book and others to the prices paid on GB can be a real eye-opener.

[jdad]

Thanks kimwcook !
Sometimes I'm just dense.

Here's a good example of one of his auctions that just closed. It started at .01. I consign my nice stuff to him because he markets the product better than I could and has a strong following of "collectors". He gets 15% as a fee.

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/displ ... &oh=216543

[Mike D.]

There are too many mis-represented guns on GB. I did serial number searches on three Winchesters listed as all original and, as it turned out, none were. They are probably counting on the uninformed to buy these rifles. Too many new collectors fall for these too nice looking guns.

[FWiedner]

I've never sold anything on gunbroker, but I've bought a few things. Several times I paid what I thought was a fair price, once I paid waaaay too much (I really wanted it ), and a couple of times I've even got some bargains that were akin to theft.

The sellers don't set the shipping rates, the carriers do. I never thought it was fair to ask the seller to spend his money to ship my junk, but I never turned one down that offered to ship on his dime as long as insurance was included.

Maybe it's JMO, I think gunbroker is a good resource.

Seems to me that if you don't like shopping somewhere you can always go somewhere else. What with this being America and all.

[gak]

I agree. I think GB is a great buyers' and sellers' forum. I don't dabble in high-end, but have not been stung--yet in the low and middle zone. There is a certain amount of "Buyer beware" responsibility the buyer should shoulder as well, and the directive to ask questions before final bid is an appropriate one. Most sellers I've dealt with have been straightforward, dealings and communication cordial and responsive, the items ultimately (generally) as described (and sometimes a nice surprise in the + direection!), and shipment 90% of the time reasonably prompt. On any of these forums, you'll get the odd ones; tomes in their ads like: "Do not ask stupid questions. (All questions are stupid by the way). If you do, I will not answer them and you will be shot. Then you will be terminally disbanded from any further communication or sale. I do not have email or a cell phone number or a website or any of that c*** and am seldom by the phone, so don't bother." I exaggerate (only slightly) to make a point, and understand many sellers have been stung as well or, at a minimum, their time wasted, but some of these get a little much to the point you don't want to deal with them, regardless of how bad you want it or--more rarely--how great a deal!--and you wonder how badly (apparently not much) they want a sale. Most are great though, in my experience.

[Don McDowell]

There's aGB dealer down in Florida with alot of sales supposedly. He keeps relisting a rifle , a used one at that without any of the papers, ownersmanual etc, his buy now price exceeds what you can get the same rifle from the distributor for even on a bad day. He has labeled it a couple of times even with reduced reserve price. Don't know what his reserve is and have gone past the point of caring, but twice have bid the rifle to more than what the distributor will sell a brand new one for and still not beat the reserve price.....

Ontime on GB I bid on a rifle the only bid up until about 10 minutes before the end of about the third time it had been listed,and was still below the reserve. I emailed the seller what he would take for the rifle, and lo and behold at the last minute he got a "sale" for the buy it now price which was well over msrp.....