Gunbroker Penny Auctions

[hemiram]

I just put a price about 2/3 what the gun would normally bring, and let it go. I used to put by it now prices on my stuff, but they were almost never used, and the bids went way above it most of the time, so I stopped. But you have to know what something is worth. A few times, I have won auctions for great prices by "buy it now" because the seller didn't have a clue what it was really worth. Not using a "buy it now" on a couple of my guns I sold a couple of years ago got me prices that just made me laugh. I couldn't believe how high two guys bid on an Astra A100 and an S&W 4006 TSW with dead night sights. I miss the days when I could snipe..

 

[evan price]

When you use the search feature, you can select "no reserve" to only see no reserve auctions. That I'd what I do. I never even look at reserve auctions because the reserve is usually higher than the gun is worth. I search sorted by price, lowest first. Then I look at ending time. In must cases it's not with actually bidding until less than 24 hours left in the auction.

My wish to sellers: don't use reserves. Start at lowest price you will accept. If that is too much it won't sell. Bidding against a hidden reserve just annoys buyers if the gun is nothing special. If it I'd common wr just move on.

 

[longknife12]

I've always simply figured what an item is worth to me, including shipping/transfer/taxes. I enter that as a max and forget it! If I buy it...fine...if not, so be it....there will be others.
Dan

 

[dogtown tom]

Poper Whose vernacular, you ask?
Why, those of us that use Gunbroker, of course! Obviously you understood the term well enough to be critical of it.

I do understand what a "penny auction" is.......and Gunbroker has nothing of the sort. As to whether it's a common term used on Gunbroker to describe an auction with a $0.01 start.........sorry bub, it's not.

There are few people that use GB that would not not know what you were talking about if you mentioned a "penny auction on Gunbroker".

I think a quick read of this thread will let you know how many people know the difference between a "penny auction" vs an auction that starts at $0.01.

Poper

Quote:
Originally Posted by dogtown tom View Post
Whose "vernacular"? I don't see the term "Penny Auction" used anywhere in GunBrokers information and the term "Penny Auction" only shows up on 140 listings........that's 140 listings out of hundreds of thousands.

In reality, you are just being obtuse.

Obtuse? Sorry bub, but you are the one being obtuse. Just because it's your understanding of the term doesn't make it fact. Google the term "penny auction" and I'll bet you don't find a single reference to an auction that starts at $0.01 and accepts bids without the bidder losing his $$$. Instead, each hit on Google will explain that a "penny auction" is an auction in which all participants must pay a non-refundable fee to place each small incremental bid. Since Gunbroker does nothing of the sort, your assertion that it has "penny auction" is complete and utter nonsense.....obtuse indeed.

Here: http://www.gunbroker.com/All/BI.aspx...Bid=0.01&Tab=1

How many times can you see "penny auction" on this page? Every auction listed on the page says "penny auction" in the title. And there are 3 pages of "penny auctions".

Well thank you Captain Obvious! You search skills confirm what I ALREADY WROTE ABOVE!. 140 listings out of hundreds of thousands? That makes your claim that "penny auction" is common vernacular on Gunbroker laughable at the least.

 

[Poper]

When you start your auction at 1 cent, the possibility of "a slow week" is always a risk. I know that going in, but then it is a risk I am willing to take. I have a S&W M14 K38 Masterpiece on GB right now as a penny auction, no reserve. I haven't sold a lot of items that way, but when I have, I am yet to be disappointed.
A .30M-1 Carbine sold on GB for almost double what I would have been satisfied with.
I can't see a downside for a buyer, tho.

 

[Poper]

140 listings out of hundreds of thousands? That makes your claim that "penny auction" is common vernacular on Gunbroker laughable at the least

Hardly.
There aren't very many auctions on GB that start at $0.01 without a reserve.

We'll just have to disagree. And that's ok.

 

[Mainsail]

I've always simply figured what an item is worth to me, including shipping/transfer/taxes. I enter that as a max and forget it! If I buy it...fine...if not, so be it....there will be others.
Dan

I did that a few times and the seller locked me out of bidding on his auctions. Dont understand why.

 

[Twiki357]

The way longknife12 bids is the way I almost always bid. Never had a problem with a seller reneging or complaining or locking me out and I’ve won a few auctions at well below what the gun was worth.

For those of you who complain about the reserve auctions, there is a box in the top left of the page that you can check and hit return. It will omit all of the reserve auctions.

 

[dogtown tom]

Mainsail

Quote:
Originally Posted by longknife12 View Post
I've always simply figured what an item is worth to me, including shipping/transfer/taxes. I enter that as a max and forget it! If I buy it...fine...if not, so be it....there will be others.
Dan

I did that a few times and the seller locked me out of bidding on his auctions. Dont understand why.

Huh?
The seller locked you out for some other reason than simply bidding on his auction.

 

[dragon813gt]

As a seller it would have to be an item I didn't care about at all. Any money it brought in would be good. For an item I care about I start it at the minimum I'm willing to accept. Penny auctions by nature get you to bid on something because it's at a really low price. Not necessarily because you need it. I don't fall into those traps.

 

[Mainsail]

Huh?
The seller locked you out for some other reason than simply bidding on his auction.

That's all I've ever done is bid. Never sold anything and never made any comments or even asked a question.

Does it bug a seller if you bid below their minimum somehow? I may have done that a few times while learning the ropes.

Nevertheless, if the seller locked me from bidding on his items, and the ONLY thing I've ever done on the site is bid, then it must be for bidding.

 

[Poper]

Penny auctions by nature get you to bid on something because it's at a really low price. Not necessarily because you need it. I don't fall into those traps.

I think there is more to it than that.
Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. A penny auction that runs two weeks should find the people looking for such an item.

I see posts here where the author says they will only bid an amount that is the maximum they are willing to pay. If that is a winning bid, then that is what the item is worth at that particular time. If someone puts a reserve on their item and it does not get a bid that meets or exceeds that reserve price, then that item was not worth at that time what the seller was asking/expecting.

In order to see what things are "worth" on GB, all we have to do is look at the completed auctions where something sold.

As I said before, I have some serious financial needs that are requiring I liquidate much of my accumulated firearms. Some of them are collectible, and they will go first, and some are not. I will sell them off down to the last one if that is what is required to care for my wife's health. They are just things and can always be replaced at a later date if my financial situation changes for the better. For now, though, the GB auctions will just have to do.

For the record, I think the "15 minute rule" is about as close as you can get to a real, live auction.

 

[dogtown tom]

Mainsail

Quote:
Originally Posted by dogtown tom View Post
Huh?
The seller locked you out for some other reason than simply bidding on his auction.

That's all I've ever done is bid. Never sold anything and never made any comments or even asked a question.

Does it bug a seller if you bid below their minimum somehow? I may have done that a few times while learning the ropes.

Nevertheless, if the seller locked me from bidding on his items, and the ONLY thing I've ever done on the site is bid, then it must be for bidding.

Gunbroker doesn't allow you to bid less than the sellers starting price. If the auction has a $500 start, you try and bid $300........the system won't let you do that. Bid $500.01 and it automatically accepts your bid. With a reserve, the bids will show "reserve not met".

After your initial bid, sellers can block you from submitting new bids, but that does not stop the automatic proxy bid.

Sellers CAN block those with no feedback, poor feedback or those who fal to pay on previous auctions.