Gunbroker -- Suspicious Sale then Relisting

[Emmett Dibble]

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

It’s hard to fix Shill Bidding unless the sellers auctions develop a habit. I do like the way GB extends auctions 15 minutes to eliminate snipe bidding. I always bid the max I am will pay for something (GB or EBay) and let it ride.

 

[nakneker]

I have 240+ transactions on gunbroker, some selling but mostly buying firearms, I never buy from a seller with little or no feedback, I never buy from a seller with a negative mark on his history unless I really want the item and he has a very good reason, there’s always two sides to every story.

I just had a buyer bail on me after winning an auction that ended yesterday, I have to wait 4 days then I can report him as a non paying buyer and the item will get relisted with the terms and conditions the same as the original auction. It happens.

The seller that relisted the item your referring to may have a valid reason, listing it at a higher price is kind of unscrupulous though.

Gunbroker has it faults but the positives far out weight the negatives, for me anyways. It’s like walking into a the biggest gunshop there is and finding rifles I’ve been after for years, it isn’t hard to do. There’s always something there that will intrigue me. Probably won’t be long before they shut it down too…. Enjoy it while it’s there.

 

[Walt Krafft]

The biggest problem coming for Gunbroker is the new IRS reporting requirement that they send you a 1099 if you sell over $600.

 

[acloco]

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

Automated bidding is not shill bidding.

 

[Taildrag15X]

The biggest problem coming for Gunbroker is the new IRS reporting requirement that they send you a 1099 if you sell over $600.

That has been put on hold as far as I know....Bidens plan to pay for everything has no backing.

 

[Walt Krafft]

It has only been put on hold until next years.

 

[Louisiana Shooter]

I buy and sell on GB often. I play fair when selling and sell at whatever price it goes for. BUT I start it at my minimum acceptable price to begin with unless it's an item I KNOW will sell for a good price anyway.

Buying can be a real challenge at times due to shill bidders. It goes with the territory and there's very little you can do about it except report it and hopefully GB can do something about it. I won't bid on anything that I suspect is listed by a seller that does shill bidding though. I keep a list of suspected shill sellers.

 

[ben lurkin]

Shill bidder who was hoping you would get in a bidding war to get a higher price. He lost the bet and is hoping you’ll rebid at his new listed price. Just walk away. GB doesn’t have any incentive to go after shill bidders. They get a percentage of the final price and the higher the better.

 

[20VarTarg]

The biggest problem coming for Gunbroker is the new IRS reporting requirement that they send you a 1099 if you sell over $600.

If this happens, I will have a bill of sale made up for every single item I sell on GB and then show a loss at the end of the year. Why pay tax on an item over and over and over again. It just doesn't make any sense to me how the Gov't continues to get away with this stuff.

 

[Rsadams]

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.

Almost like putting a minimum bid without actually putting a minimum bid...

 

[Brians356]

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.

Nothing unusual or perplexing about that at all. It's called "flipping" and it works for houses, cars, guns, and anything collectible. If he flips it for more than he paid for it, then he's an astute horse trader. If not, then he may have simply suffered acute buyer's remorse.

But, if the reseller doesn't yet have possession of the item, then he should indeed be in trouble with the site administrator. Or the original sale was a scam. Or both sellers could be the same person. I'd have to dig deeper.

Edit: I see now there is only one seller in the OP's case. I thought it had changed hands. Likely shill bidding but not necessarily.
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[JSH]

Maybe, just maybe, the seller had multiples of the item?

 

[Nick Caprinolo]

I've never trusted the dealings on Gunbroker.

 

[Jayplace]

Maybe, just maybe, the seller had multiples of the item?

I would tend to think the seller had multiple items. At the conclusion of a sale, the seller is charged a percentage of the sale. That could get expensive to just re-list a sold item. If they have a minimum price they need, it would be better to just use that as bottom dollar and hope for more.

Speaking for myself, if someone listed an item and I and a shill bidder were the last two bidders and I lost, I wouldn't be a prospective bidder again for the same item and since the shill is just a faux player, the third person would now be the possible bidder who had already dropped out with a somewhat lower bid..

 

[JSH]

I would tend to think the seller had multiple items. At the conclusion of a sale, the seller is charged a percentage of the sale. That could get expensive to just re-list a sold item. If they have a minimum price they need, it would be better to just use that as bottom dollar and hope for more.

Speaking for myself, if someone listed an item and I and a shill bidder were the last two bidders and I lost, I wouldn't be a prospective bidder again for the same item and since the shill is just a faux player, the third person would now be the possible bidder who had already dropped out with a somewhat lower bid..

I find it interesting a lot of times going and looking at the list of bidders after the auction is over. Starting bidders may have one, two or even three digit numbers after their handle. Even the low four digit, I get suspicious of medium to high fours and five I am all but convinced.

A couple of online type stores I disregarded all together as I see repeat “customers” over and over in the last part of the auction.

There are several “live” auction venues close by me. I know for a fact that their are at least 6-10 paid bidders at one of them on a regular basis. It’s almost a game with me and a couple of others. Once we figure out what the “tell” or their “signal” is, we stick their bidder with the item, lol. Of coarse we have got stuck a time or three also.

 

[DNorton]

As an update and for closure, I contacted the seller and he simply stated he has more than one of the rifles to sell. He also states in his “small print” that “stock photos may be used due to volume”. So he is using the same (custom close up photos of various parts of the rifle) pictures again for a supposedly different rifle altogether, AND listing it as a “relist”. That is enough for me to steer clear of this seller and his shenanigans.

 

[rockhound78]

I was trying to buy a press one time and on the last day I had been high bidder for the last 30 hours or so. All of a sudden, the bid went up, so we went back and forth bidding. Got suspicious and quit bidding and the other person got it. Next thing, a few hours later, the seller contacted me and said the other guy decided against paying for it and I could have it for what my last bid was. I replied that you take off all the other guys bids and I will take it for what my bid was then ($$$ less).
His reply was pretty well unprintable here.

 

[Brians356]

That's exactly why your top bid should be no higher than what you've predetermined the item is worth to you. Then let the chips fall where they may.
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I was trying to buy a press one time and on the last day I had been high bidder for the last 30 hours or so. All of a sudden, the bid went up, so we went back and forth bidding. Got suspicious and quit bidding and the other person got it. Next thing, a few hours later, the seller contacted me and said the other guy decided against paying for it and I could have it for what my last bid was. I replied that you take off all the other guys bids and I will take it for what my bid was then ($$$ less).
His reply was pretty well unprintable here.

 

[Louisiana Shooter]

I was trying to buy a press one time and on the last day I had been high bidder for the last 30 hours or so. All of a sudden, the bid went up, so we went back and forth bidding. Got suspicious and quit bidding and the other person got it. Next thing, a few hours later, the seller contacted me and said the other guy decided against paying for it and I could have it for what my last bid was. I replied that you take off all the other guys bids and I will take it for what my bid was then ($$$ less).
His reply was pretty well unprintable here.

Classic shill bidder tactic.

 

[COLT45SA]

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.

It's called "shill" bidding. Some people think that they are very clever. If $10 or $15 means life or starvation to them, then "F--- 'em"