Gunbroker -- Suspicious Sale then Relisting

[DNorton]

First, apologies in advance since surely this has been discussed here before. I think I remember reading about this same phenomenon but didn’t pay too much attention to the details. I have purchased upwards of 25 firearms through online forums such as this, nary a hiccup. I finally decided to buy a hard to find rifle on GB. I was winning bid for days until last 10 mins someone outbids me. So I up my bid $20 and they are still high bidder. I wasn’t going any higher and I let the new bidder have the rifle. It is sold to the new bidder. Now, 1 day later the same item, same photos, same seller, is relisted again at a higher min bid. What happened? Was this a scam attempt by the seller to bid up his own item ? Not enough time elapsed for the seller to relist due to non paying bidder. It was literally 12 hours later. Like I said, never paid any attention to GB irregularities since I wasn’t using them for anything. Just seems nefarious. Thanks.

 

[Adam in WI]

Have you checked the sellers feedback? Other thing you could do is report the seller and see what GB has to say about it

 

[urbanrifleman]

Pass.

 

[Mark M.]

In the past I have seen items won and then relisted by the original seller, but the seller has provided a reasonable explanation in the description of the resisted item.
I agree with Adam, feedback is key, along with length of membership

 

[DNorton]

Long time seller with many thousands of A+ transactions. I’m not bidding again. Just curious mostly if this is common and for what purpose/reason is an item relisted so soon after being sold at auction.

 

[joshb]

You might have a seller playing games . I’ve seen it a few times. I think they get a buddy to bid it up for them.

 

[DGP4]

You might have a seller playing games . I’ve seen it a few times. I think they get a buddy to bid it up for them.

This! It happens all the time. They could place a reserve, but then many people will not bid. So, they list with no reserve in hopes of exceeding the desired sale price using a proxy bidder. I would email the seller and ask for an explanation. If none is provided, leave a negative review.

 

[jimmymac]

Cheating on GB has to happen all the time.

 

[Dave in WI]

Probably had a buddy bid it up. You used to be able to put a hidden reserve on the ad without paying extra. People used to do this with a stupid high reserve to see how high it would go and then when the reserve wasn't met, relist it with a better idea of what people will pay. You can still add a reserve, but it is an additional (not cheap) fee added to the lister.

 

[Emmett Dibble]

It’s called Shill Bidding.

 

[Lesloan]

Cheating on GB has to happen all the time.

I've bought quite a few guns off GB over the past 20 years or so and have never had a problem. I should stress, though, that I always look at the feedback. I have to ask, though, can the poster cite actual evidence of repeated cheating or is his comment just opinion? P.S. I accidentally clicked on "like".

 

[acloco]

Your example is a SHILL bidder hired by the seller. Plain and simple.

REPORT the seller to GB.

 

[jimmymac]

Cheating happens everywhere in one form or another. It’s one of the downsides to human nature. There are bad apples. GB isn’t immune. That’s all I was saying.

 

[Walt Krafft]

I have had people win auctions and then say oops or want to pay with venmo or credit that I dont accept. I report those buyers and relist. Ask the seller what happened.

 

[Dodge61]

First, apologies in advance since surely this has been discussed here before. I think I remember reading about this same phenomenon but didn’t pay too much attention to the details. I have purchased upwards of 25 firearms through online forums such as this, nary a hiccup. I finally decided to buy a hard to find rifle on GB. I was winning bid for days until last 10 mins someone outbids me. So I up my bid $20 and they are still high bidder. I wasn’t going any higher and I let the new bidder have the rifle. It is sold to the new bidder. Now, 1 day later the same item, same photos, same seller, is relisted again at a higher min bid. What happened? Was this a scam attempt by the seller to bid up his own item ? Not enough time elapsed for the seller to relist due to non paying bidder. It was literally 12 hours later. Like I said, never paid any attention to GB irregularities since I wasn’t using them for anything. Just seems nefarious. Thanks.

Was the item/rifle unique in that it was used and hard to find or was it a new rifle that is hard to find? Reason asked is, if he has more than one he is intending to sell, he doesn't have to disclose that information. He can immediately relist after the auction sells. If it was a used hard to find rifle that is very unlikely he would have more than one of, that is a different matter. If bidders know that a seller has more than one of an item they will generally be more inclined to wait and let the first one sell to get an idea of what it will bring. Then bid accordingly on the next one listed. As far as the same photos, if they are of a used rifle, something isn't right. It could be a problem with the transaction not going through as planned, but hard to know for sure.

 

[Lesloan]

Was the item/rifle unique in that it was used and hard to find or was it a new rifle that is hard to find? Reason asked is, if he has more than one he is intending to sell, he doesn't have to disclose that information. He can immediately relist after the auction sells. If it was a used hard to find rifle that is very unlikely he would have more than one of, that is a different matter. If bidders know that a seller has more than one of an item they will generally be more inclined to wait and let the first one sell to get an idea of what it will bring. Then bid accordingly on the next one listed. As far as the same photos, if they are of a used rifle, something isn't right. It could be a problem with the transaction not going through as planned, but hard to know for sure.

It's also possible that the buyer backed out. I'd hesitate to jump to any conclusions.

 

[gdbleb]

It’s called Shill Bidding.

There is software available where you can even automate your (shill) bidding. EBAY had it 20 years ago.

 

[dryhumor]

Watch GB long enough and you spot the little things… There are a couple of those high thousands of feedback that look a little iffy. At least me. And most are ok. It takes a bit of due diligence to figure some or them out, they can be pretty slick.

I almost bought a brand new stainless tikka T3x in 30-06 yesterday. I didn’t need it…. It was 500$… I knew it wouldn’t be there this morning….

And it wasn’t.

 

[Scalloper]

If I remember correctly EBay will at times do the same thing but maybe in a different way. Still, we end up losing the bids in the last 5 min of the so called "auction"

 

[dryhumor]

GB adds 15 minutes if there is a bid during the last 15 minutes. Seems fair. eBay bidding ends when the timer ends. Lotta people and algorithms hit it at the last instant. Kinda sucks.