Why I don't use Gunbroker

[pacpiper]

So I generally buy from the local guy or Gun shows so I have yet to use Gunbroker because.....well, it makes me nervous.

So I finally bite the bullet and bid on something for the first time.

About 2 hours prior to the auctionending, a NR bids me up to my maximum.

Granted, I'm an NR too so I understand the nervousness on their part but this smells fishy. I don't mind paying my maximum since I think it's still a good deal but you wonder why I have been so reluctant to use GB.

Anyone else have their auctions pushed up by a NR buyer?

[mythaeus]

I've actually never wondered why you were reluctant

Seriously though, what was the problem? Did you get the item for a fair price that you were will to pay for? It's not unheard of in the auction world that there are more than 1 person willing to pay a similar price and a bit more...well, that is essentially an auction in a nutshell. The seller doesn't know your max bid so if he had another user or another account in an attempt to push your bid up, he runs a high risk of winning the auction himself. If the item is sold, the seller gets charged the percentage of sale. Not much incentive in winning your own listing.

I've bought quite a few items, including several firearms from GB, never a problem and always got either a great or fair price.

Al

[thebearpack]

Yep, it seems like it worked exactly how it was supposed to. You entered the maximum price you felt comfortable paying and you won it at that price. I think that's a positive, not a negative.

[Coops]

No different than Ebay in that regard. I actually caught a guy bidding up his own auction on ebay and reported him. Don't know the outcome on that one, but if you only bid what you are willing to pay then you can't complain very much.

[WilliamMunny]

I have used Gunbroker quite a bit to liquidate my collection. Mythaeus is correct: As a seller, I can't tell what your maximum bid is. I can only tell what your "current" bid is. Therefore, it would be stupid of me to create another user profile and shill bid up to your maximum since...I don't know your maximum. Odds are I would eventually out bid you and have to pay the fees associated with winning my own auction. Not a good idea.

You bid what you were willing to pay for the item and now you get the pride of ownership!!

[LongOneShortOne]

After my first experience on GB, I found I'd learned whole LOT!
I usually go to an item's "Buy It Now" selection and if it meets
my final top-bid price, I buy it. I HAVE had the selling price
15-minute operation go on for an hour. It was a Titanium
Taurus, with three bidders, and it went for $765. !!!! Glad I lost.
Patience is the winner on GB. L1S1

[The_War_Wagon]

I've never had a problem with Gunbroker, and before fleabay turned to shiite, I used to manually bid at the last second sometimes, to get something I wanted. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost - that's a timed auction for ya'!

[Pkspawn]

If you don't get caught up in "having to win" the auction. You will never pay more than you wanted to for an item.

[GeorgeF]

If you didnt get the item at your price, who cares? If it's another new person, that's the way it rolls. If the seller is bidding up his own item, you dont want to do business with that guy.

[The_War_Wagon]

If the seller is bidding up his own item, you dont want to do business with that guy.

If you suspect THAT'S the case, report it TO Gunbroker! They're pretty fastidious about tossing people that do that. They run a very tight ship, from everything I've ever seen there.