Gunbroker strategies...

[Poper]

I am an occasional buyer and even less frequent seller on Gunbroker. In the last 12 years or so I think I have a little over 20 transactions, so I am no expert, for sure.

Buying:
When I am looking to buy an item, I do the usual search filters to separate the stuff I am not interested in and I look for auctions without a reserve price. I like the "Buy it Now" feature and have used it a couple times when I thought the "BIN" price was near the value for the item and it was a specific item I was looking for.
I like the 'penny' auctions with no reserve. They are, IMHO, the measure of the true value of any item on a particular day or within a particular time frame.

Selling:
When I am selling, I want to sell. Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. It doesn't matter what I think it is worth, it only matters what the other guy thinks it is worth to him. There in lies the beauty of the auction.
My strategy on GB is the 'penny' auction, no reserve. I start it at $0.01 and let it go for whatever it goes for. So far, I have not been disappointed. Everything I have sold has met my expectations and only one item failed to exceed my expectations.

So what strategies and results would you like to share?

 

[bikemutt]

On the selling side, I've never had the guts to start a penny auction. Things do go wrong; a simple misspelling or model number error may have the filters the buyers use exclude my listing, except for one person. I know the lowest amount I'll accept for a gun, I factor in sales commission and start there. I've never been disappointed either.

 

[Wisco]

Penny starts, so I've heard, result in higher selling prices than fixed prices or reserve prices.

I've been burned by GB, eBay, even a local auction site, so I stay clear of them now. There's too much rampant fraud - shill bids, etc. I also recently got burned in an online purchase from a forum - not by the seller but by USPS. I only buy from established business if I can help it so I have some recourse for returns or other fix.

 

[Poper]

Strange.
I have never had a problem on GB. Not like I have a lot of transactions, tho. I just require payment be deposited and cleared before shipment. On the buying side, I had one item that was misrepresented. Fortunately, the shop was close enough I went to pick it up in person and found a very poor repair to a Belgian Browning A5's butt stock that was not indicated in the photos. I declined the transaction and left appropriate feedback. Though the seller denied it, I believe the failure to mention and photograph the repair was intentional.

 

[Prijador]

I haven't started a penny auction, but I did start items at well below market value.
Research is key - looking a several months worth of completed items that actually sold - looking at not just the final sale price, but the keywords in the title and item description, pictures, and the bid behavior.

(I'm still not sure whether is better to end on a weekday or weekend, but I try not to end it in the middle of the workday.)

One more note: cashiers checks are surprisingly open to a nasty form of fraud. There's a reason for specifying USPS money orders. Make sure you don't accept cashiers checks for high dollar items.

 

[Poper]

I accept cashiers checks and personal checks with the caveat that the item will not ship until the check clears and the funds are in my account. So far, no problems.

I like the penny auction just because it seems to generate more interest. Besides, everyone thinks there is a bargain to be had.

 

[lysanderxiii]

I bid what I think its worth and if someone wants it more than I do, I let them have it.

There will likely be another one along shortly.

Longest I have ever had to wait was about a year and a half, for a relatively unusual part.

 

[tarosean]

Things do go wrong; a simple misspelling or model number error may have the filters the buyers use exclude my listing, except for one person.

Bingo.. I've darn near stole a few guns because of typo's...

 

[Poper]

I've darn near stole a few guns because of typo's...

People cannot be protected from themselves. It is imperative, whether buying or selling, to be as accurate and complete as possible. If one has the characteristic of "stupid fingers" when using the keyboard ( I sometimes do) then is is the individual's own darn fault if things go south. I do not post my auction until I am sure it says what I want it to say and is spelled the way it is supposed to be spelled. I feel for those that learn the lesson the hard way, but then, as Will Rogers explained it:
"There are three kinds of people when it comes to learning. Those that learn by readin', those that learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."

 

[.455_Hunter]

I often wait to place my final bid exactly at the 15 minute countdown point, resulting in a smooth jump to the front of the line without disrupting the timing of the auction.

Also, watching auctions that end at very awkward times (9:00 pm 4th of July, Christmas Eve, New Year's Eve, etc.) can result in other potential buyers being distracted.

 

[gspn]

I am an occasional buyer and even less frequent seller on Gunbroker. In the last 12 years or so I think I have a little over 20 transactions, so I am no expert, for sure.

Selling:
When I am selling, I want to sell. Something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it. It doesn't matter what I think it is worth, it only matters what the other guy thinks it is worth to him. There in lies the beauty of the auction.
My strategy on GB is the 'penny' auction, no reserve. I start it at $0.01 and let it go for whatever it goes for. So far, I have not been disappointed. Everything I have sold has met my expectations and only one item failed to exceed my expectations.

The quality of any auction depends partly upon how many qualified and knowledgable people are participating in it. If two guys show up you might sell your gun for $100. If 1,000 people show you up might sell it for a great deal more.

What I think (or know) my item is worth, very much matters in an auction. As an example, I once listed a fairly rare WWII PPK on Gunbroker. The first auction resulted in a high bid of $600, with someone emailing me afterward offering me "$650 cash right now". It did not sell at that level. The second auction might have got to $800. On the third auction the gun sold for what I know it to be worth...$2,500. There's no way I'd run a penny auction with no reserve unless it was on a junk gun I just wanted out of my house. Heck, I even sold one of those recently and got 4X the initial bids by putting a reserve on it. It sold in the second auction. There just no way to know what type of crowd will see any particular auction.

I don't sell run-of-the-mill guns though, it's not worth my time and effort to deal with. For unique guns with higher values I set a reserve or a minimum bid every time. To do otherwise is basically throwing money away.

I've played around with different strategies with regard to using a reserve or a minimum bid. I've seen more bid activity when starting an auction with a $0.01 starting bid and a reserve. If I start with no reserve but a high minim bid I get less action.

Having said that, "action" doesn't translate into "sales". You'll get tons of bids that are a total waste of time. Many people will bid next to nothing because it costs them nothing, and they expect they'll eventually get a "steal" on a gun.

My experience on GB has taught me to be a patient seller. My experience may be different than other because I'm generally selling older and rarer items.

 

[Poper]

The quality of any auction depends partly upon how many qualified and knowledgable people are participating in it. If two guys show up you might sell your gun for $100. If 1,000 people show you up might sell it for a great deal more.

What I think (or know) my item is worth, very much matters in an auction. As an example, I once listed a fairly rare WWII PPK on Gunbroker. The first auction resulted in a high bid of $600, with someone emailing me afterward offering me "$650 cash right now". It did not sell at that level. The second auction might have got to $800. On the third auction the gun sold for what I know it to be worth...$2,500. There's no way I'd run a penny auction with no reserve unless it was on a junk gun I just wanted out of my house. Heck, I even sold one of those recently and got 4X the initial bids by putting a reserve on it. It sold in the second auction. There just no way to know what type of crowd will see any particular auction.

I don't sell run-of-the-mill guns though, it's not worth my time and effort to deal with. For unique guns with higher values I set a reserve or a minimum bid every time. To do otherwise is basically throwing money away.

I've played around with different strategies with regard to using a reserve or a minimum bid. I've seen more bid activity when starting an auction with a $0.01 starting bid and a reserve. If I start with no reserve but a high minim bid I get less action.

Having said that, "action" doesn't translate into "sales". You'll get tons of bids that are a total waste of time. Many people will bid next to nothing because it costs them nothing, and they expect they'll eventually get a "steal" on a gun.

My experience on GB has taught me to be a patient seller. My experience may be different than other because I'm generally selling older and rarer items.

Interesting.
I have yet to be disappointed in a penny auction with no reserve. It has been my experience such an auction on GB creates the maximum amount of interest and views. I currently have such an auction on GB for a 6" Python. In less than 9 days, it has had 1164 views. Similar auctions with a reserve and/or high starting bids have about 150 views. One in particular on my watch list, for research and comparison sake, has a meagerly 154 views and 1 bid. He still has 3 days on his auction where I have 1 day remaining on mine. I would have been happy with $2500 for my item yet the latest bid was over $3k. That's $500 more than I expected and $1200 more than the pawn shop offered for it.

Maybe it's just because it is a Python? I dunno. I have a need for cash to pay my wife's cancer treatment bills. I figure I'll sell my highest value stuff first. Then if necessary, the lesser valued items. There are a few I will not sell as the sentimental/family value far exceeds the fair market value.

The Python is not the only thing that has exceeded my expectations. I sold an Inland .30 M1 Carbine with a penny auction, no reserve that I expected to get $800 for and I would have been happy with $600. It's final bid price was just over $1300. Who woulda thunk it?

Maybe I have been very lucky with my auctions so far. I don't think so, though. I think there are hundreds, if not thousands of people that peruse GB looking for bargains and fair deals. If something is priced appropriately, it will sell for its fair market value. Will I find that unicorn ridden by the leprechaun at the end of the rainbow sitting on the pot of gold? Nah, probably not. But then I am not looking for him either. I am just asking for a fair price for the appropriate item. I believe an open, honest auction is the way to get there. After all, something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it, no?

ETA: Years ago, a friend of mine that owned a Ford dealership had a Bronco that would not sell. It was on the lot for over two years. They ran every special they could imagine to try and move that sucker and even tried selling it for less than they paid the factory for it. No dice. Finally, he licensed it with the state and sold it on the auction block as a used car. Why, I asked, would you do that? He said, 'it is locking up resources and taking up space of something that will sell. In other words, it has cost us an unknown amount of profit to date. Enough is enough! Time to cut the loss on that one off.'

 

[larryh1108]

I actively participate in Gunbroker as a buyer and a seller. I have over 700 positive feedbacks so I've been around the block a few times.
Many love the penny auctions with no reserve. I agree that they do get the highest end result but every now and then you do get burned if the auction is run at a time when the right buyers are not on the auction site. It is a gamble that often times pays off but does leave you vulnerable.

I do not participate in nor view many auctions with a reserve. To me, it is a way for the seller to see what the market will bear without trying to sell the item at a reasonable price. It is a waste of my time and I don't humor the seller with a bid. I just blow by reserve auctions. If it is something I own or am interested in then I may watch it to see what the market says it is worth but I won't bid on a reserve auction unless the reserve has been met and I see what the true selling price is.

When I list an item for sale, I research to see what a similar item sells for and start about 25% below that (about wholesale value) with no reserve. This way a potential buyer can see he could get it at a good deal if he bids on it. The secret is the more bidders you get, the better chance of getting top dollar due to the "action" of the bidding process. If I have a gun that sells for $650 new and $500-$550 used (in VGC) the I'll start the auction at $375 with no reserve. If I get 1 bid, then I control my losses but the chances are if it is a nice gun, more than 1 person will try to "steal it" until the price comes in near the market value.

If you want to get more than market value for something then you may have to relist it for weeks or months. It may never sell if you price it well above market value. It your expectations are in line with reality you should be able to get what you want for anything you sell IF the pictures show great detail and your write up is honest.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I buy 'em cheap and sell up for a reasonable price. I have almost never lost money selling, if I do, it's very little. Gun Broker had allowed me to get guns I'd never find otherwise.

 

[GBExpat]

So what strategies and results would you like to share?

S'been awhile, but ... on GB I post 7-day auctions on Sunday evening starting at the minimum that I am willing to take for the item (never a Reserve). I provide a thorough & honest description along with too many close-up, well-focused and well-lit digipics.

... and then hope that (at least) two guys wander by and just Gotta Have It!

EDIT:

Relative to Buying ... after ascertaining the Market Value of the item and deciding upon the GBExpat Value, I will place a bid for the most that I am willing to pay for it and walk away.

I do not participate in bidding wars.

If, at the time that I find the item, there has been no activity, I will make a note to return close to the auction date/time so that I don't stir-up any additional interest by placing an early bid.

 

[Legionnaire]

Buying: I rarely look at auctions with a reserve. I have a "top price" in mind, but generally don't bid it until late in the auction, as the proxy bidding can get me into a bidding war before I'm ready. I prefer to let other prospective buyers hold the high bid position until later in the auction. Always ready to let someone else pay more; I don't look for "gotta have it" items on auction. I tend to focus on "good deals" on things that look interesting and fun, that I will be able to get my money out of again if they don't hold my interest.

Selling: I don't run reserve auctions. On less expensive items, or things I didn't buy (e.g., the scope packaged with a rifle I purchased) I'll happily start at $0.01. For items of known approximate value, I set the starting bid at the minimum I would accept in a local sale and hope there are several who want it more than I value it; generally works out well. I will often include a BUY NOW price slightly above what I hope to get. I won't do this on something I don't know the market value of, though. I've been pleasantly surprised by items that went for waaay more than I anticipated. I like to run 10 day auctions that span two weekends and end at a reasonable evening hour. And I like "view counters" on my auctions for popular items; I think it motivates the "gotta have it" guys. Lots of good quality pictures and thorough descriptions help, too.

 

[kimberkid]

On the selling side, I've never had the guts to start a penny auction. Things do go wrong; a simple misspelling or model number error may have the filters the buyers use exclude my listing, except for one person. I know the lowest amount I'll accept for a gun, I factor in sales commission and start there. I've never been disappointed either.

This is typically what I do as well ... a lot of time I'll offer free shipping but that is also factored into the starting price.
I like the view counters too so others can see how many times its been looked at.

 

[Wisco]

Bingo.. I've darn near stole a few guns because of typo's...

That was my burn #2 on GB and why I don't use them any longer. I bid a max of $2,000 on a used Nighthawk Hi-Power that was listed without reserve and with a low start price, but without many details, some misspellings, and an incorrect first couple of photos (of a standard Hi-Power). I contacted the seller for more info and photos, got a suitable response and bid. My winning bid was under $500.

The seller refused to sell it for that. GB obviously can't make him sell it. GB didn't care. The seller kept his account and other listings. GB is very seller oriented with their protections, in their view that's where they make their money - sellers pay commissions.

 

[JONWILL]

I buy and sell.

To sell I look up the high and low selling price and price mine in the middle. I never do penny auctions. I burned myself several times.

Buying I watch for shill bidders. I was Bidding on a CZ 97 and I put in a decent bid. Price got run up by two "people". One had no feedback and the other had under 12 but hadn't bid on anything in over a year.

I believe some sellers have many shill accounts, some old, to run up the price.

I just bid the maximum I am willing to pay and if I win great if not there will be a similar item for sale in the future

 

[.455_Hunter]

Yes- Beware when you are in a bidding war with person who feedback is "NR".

 

[Poper]

That was my burn #2 on GB and why I don't use them any longer. I bid a max of $2,000 on a used Nighthawk Hi-Power that was listed without reserve and with a low start price, but without many details, some misspellings, and an incorrect first couple of photos (of a standard Hi-Power). I contacted the seller for more info and photos, got a suitable response and bid. My winning bid was under $500.

The seller refused to sell it for that. GB obviously can't make him sell it. GB didn't care. The seller kept his account and other listings. GB is very seller oriented with their protections, in their view that's where they make their money - sellers pay commissions.

Interesting.
I bought a Rem. 783, new in the box on GB, for less than my lgs can buy it for (quite a bit less, according to him). The add said it came with a 3-9x scope. When the gun arrived, no scope. I contacted the seller (dealer) and he squealed like a pig stuck under a gate because that wording was part of a cut'n paste/save -as from an old auction. Not MY fault, says I. He honored his auction and sent the scope. POS Chinese Walmart thing in a blister package. Probably cost him more to ship it than he paid for it. I didn't care, because I had the scope I was going to put on it anyway. I

have a buddy that likes to play with cheap stuff just to see if he can make it perform as well as the better stuff. I gave it to him and he was tickled pink.

If the dealer had got his back up and kicked up a fuss, I wouldn't have pressed the issue. But, at the time, I just couldn't resist the temptation to poke the bear!

 

[hemiram]

I've never had a problem with a GB transaction on the buying side. I have had problems when selling, due to screwups by my FFL sending it to the wrong FFL, and a buyer sending me a copy of the wrong FFL license to send it to. Then that FFL got $50 out of me to send it back to my FFL. What a mess.

Where I have had problems is on Ebay selling some old radios. One guy flat out lied to try to get me to refund part of the price. I didn't, so he sent it back. There was nothing wrong with the radio at all, it worked fine when I got it back and showed no signs of the problem he claimed it had. Another guy bought it and he still has it and it's worked fine for years. Another guy bought a radio and the fuse holder popped out due to UPS bouncing and so the radio didn't work, he claimed he checked "everything", but when I got it back, the fuse was sticking out and all I had to do was push it in and turn the cap and on it went. I put it back up and he tried to bid again, but lost it. I was happy, as I got almost $100 more the second time around.

 

[JONWILL]

I've never had a problem with a GB transaction on the buying side. I have had problems when selling, due to screwups by my FFL sending it to the wrong FFL, and a buyer sending me a copy of the wrong FFL license to send it to. Then that FFL got $50 out of me to send it back to my FFL. What a mess.

Where I have had problems is on Ebay selling some old radios. One guy flat out lied to try to get me to refund part of the price. I didn't, so he sent it back. There was nothing wrong with the radio at all, it worked fine when I got it back and showed no signs of the problem he claimed it had. Another guy bought it and he still has it and it's worked fine for years. Another guy bought a radio and the fuse holder popped out due to UPS bouncing and so the radio didn't work, he claimed he checked "everything", but when I got it back, the fuse was sticking out and all I had to do was push it in and turn the cap and on it went. I put it back up and he tried to bid again, but lost it. I was happy, as I got almost $100 more the second time around.

I had some similar problems on ebay. Guy bought 2 Beretta magazines. Claimed one was defective. All he did was push the floor plate retainer up and slide the floor plate forward. He wanted a refund on the "defective" one.
Obvious scam. Told him I was reporting to the ebay fraud department and would send the returned magazine to the ebay product examination department for fraud resolution. No.such place. Lol. ever heard from him again.

Another bought 2 gas masks. I shipped both. Had the postage and weight of the package. Found 1 more and posted it for sale. The same day it was posted he sent me a message he only received one mask. Funny after a month and the day I posted the last one he noticed the missing one. Obvious scam. Reported him to the fraud department and never heard from him again

 

[Tirod]

My strategy as the frugal buyer on GB is do your homework. I filter for the completed sales first - there are far too many reserve and BIN auctions that didn't meet the sellers overinflated requirements and simply clog up the results. Not that anyone here has suggested they do that, but a reserve price above the completed listings, or a BIN price that high and relisting it over and over is exactly the problem we see in GB now.

No different than gun shows - some ( or perhaps far too many) are simply waiting out the crowd for that one uninformed buyer with more money than patience. Considering how few there really are it's amazing there are so many sellers doing it.

As the buyer you simply scrape them off the list and move on to the actual completed sales for that specific item. Then you get a good estimate of what is winning the bid war - the real action. There will be highs and lows, I bid toward the lower end expecting to get sniped. I also bid knowing there's another gun in the pipeline in the next day or two, don't bid two auctions - oh heavens no, you will be stuck for both - and wait it out. No last minute changes. Two out of three times I might get outbid, but within the month I will win one and usually its for less than the amount I put in. Pennies have made the difference.

As the frugal buyer I'm looking for a functional gun I will use, and a model that is proven and common. That means while someone from the coast with a higher income who might be willing to bid more can win it, fine. Get them out of the way - no different than buying horses, if the well attired dude in chaps wants that brownback because it has dappling, fine. There are three more in the corral and he's not buying them all.

It's not hard to see what a gun is selling for at that time period, but wait too long and you may see things changing. A news event, celebrity, or even a post online can start others toward buying them as as we all know, demand will increase price. One aspect of gun selection is to avoid being part of that rush by choosing something not in the limelight. I began looking for a .45 ACP last year, CMP wasn't going to do the job soon enough. Research led me to the S&W 4506, and selecting the appropriately comfortable carry model the 4566 series. The late production on those were often LEO issue and the TSW model seemingly getting ignored on the market. Actual completed sales showed the price was slowly rising but one could be had for under $500, cheaper than any Govt 1911 I'd seen in years. Since it was a shooter and the bullet is what really does the work, why fidget over "year make model?" You need to get to work, so to speak, a vehicle to do that doesn't need to be a show car track racer. I found a stream of auctions as they were slowly selling on the market, reviewed to see who were the flipping relisters and avoided them. It came down to a few auctions to watch in two weeks time, got outbid by a good margin on one, got the next. Shipped and owned in ten days work for less than $500 including FFL.

And, it's the last one I saw that cheap, the are pushing $200 more lately. The internet collectors are now being forced to find them in the gun store cases in out of the way places where traffic for them is poor.

Actual sale price of completed transactions, not relisters is where you target and research. It means scrolling thru some long lists of transactions on GB but it's the research you need to buy where the market really is moving at actual pricing. And of those auctions, most are penny sales no reserve.

 

[Poper]

is it just me, or does there appear to be significant shill bidding in many of these dealers' reserve auctions?