auction rant

[mdram]

i hate auctions that have a reserve, but opening bid of .01

why not set the opening bid at the min you will take?

 

[iH8DemLibz]

Start with .01 and let the free market dictate what an item is worth.

Most people's minimum is higher than the actual value of an item.

It's why 97.3 percent of Gunbroker auctions have zero bids.

 

[mdram]

doesnt work with a reserve, no sale unless its met

 

[Abulg1972]

From fun broker itself:

Reserve Price auctions are very unpopular with bidders. We receive complaints about them daily. We suggest that you set your Starting Bid to the least amount you will take for the item and let the bidding start. If you have priced your item fairly, you are likely to receive a higher price than your Starting Bid.

If you set a Reserve Price, we strongly suggest that you set a Starting Bid equal to at least 1/2 of the Reserve Price or you will very likely get complaints from bidders.

 

[KevinK]

I know I hate when people give me a logical reason to try and calm my ranting, but many more auctions get bid up to a high price when started at a very low price, than when the auction starts at a high price to begin with.

Mostly psychological but I've seen it many times.

 

[mdram]

been watching this sellers auctions, and many end with no bids
or no reserve met

 

[iH8DemLibz]

I know I hate when people give me a logical reason to try and calm my ranting, but many more auctions get bid up to a high price when started at a very low price, than when the auction starts at a high price to begin with.

Mostly psychological but I've seen it many times.

YUP!

 

[iH8DemLibz]

been watching this sellers auctions, and many end with no bids
or no reserve met

I don't even look at auctions with reserves.

Too many people think their South Korean turd of a mixmaster M1 Garand is worth $1,300.00

With a reserve of $1,299.99

 

[BlackBart]

Simple solution........... don't buy guns unseen on an online auction, you're probably going to pay too much anyway. Get off your ass and go to the actual local auction.

 

[mdram]

where on the shore do they have em?

 

[BlackBart]

where on the shore do they have em?

Marshall's in Parsonsburg has one every Feb.... over 300 guns, clean auction other than phone bids bidding them up. I suggest you try auctionzip.com..... somebody selling every week. Foxwell in Cambridge if you can tolerate Buddy the ******* that runs it. Easternshoreauctions............ another clean auction.

 

[mdram]

i'' have to keep an ear out
all the ones i see are during work hours

 

[BlackBart]

i'' have to keep an ear out
all the ones i see are during work hours

Most I went to and still do are Fri nights and sats. Otherwise.... go with the big rip offs and buy something sight unseen.

 

[mdram]

well if you hear of any please let me know

 

[mawkie]

It's surprising how few live auctions use reserves for most firearms. I'm a huge fan of live auctions and have only dealt with reserves a couple of times where they went over like a lead balloon for obvious reasons.
Now if we could get auction houses to scale back those obscene buyers premiums (Earth to Alex Cooper...).

 

[StantonCree]

I've come to find out the best way to buy guns on GB is search exceptionally broad. I have a list of like 30 guns I want and I just type in "revolver" and see what actions are ending soon and what they are looking like. I add a ton of crap to my watch list and see where the cips may fall.

 

[BradMacc82]

It's surprising how few live auctions use reserves for most firearms. I'm a huge fan of live auctions and have only dealt with reserves a couple of times where they went over like a lead balloon for obvious reasons.
Now if we could get auction houses to scale back those obscene buyers premiums (Earth to Alex Cooper...).

Or if you can get auction houses to portray the item as it really is in the catalog pictures...

 

[erwos]

Simple solution........... don't buy guns unseen on an online auction, you're probably going to pay too much anyway. Get off your ass and go to the actual local auction.

If you are looking for something specific that's uncommon, there's really no getting away from using the Internet, unfortunately.

Gunbroker's "no listing fee" policy is really what drives the idiocy on there. You have a lot of sellers just relisting stuff with stupid prices OVER AND OVER without any downside to them. Even a minimal relisting fee would clean that place up really quick.

 

[Melnic]

My recent $300 Ruger Single six was a reserve auction starting at .01
No one bid on it. During email conversations, the guy told me unsolicited what the reserve was.
I bid the reserve about an hour before the auction ended and had to leave, got home and found I won.

I don't get reserves either, I don't ever do that on ebay anymore. I just set a min bid.

My only guess is that sellers may think that if it does not sell, he will at least know the market price? But of course if people are not bidding, they are reducing the market.

 

[Machodoc]

I know I hate when people give me a logical reason to try and calm my ranting, but many more auctions get bid up to a high price when started at a very low price, than when the auction starts at a high price to begin with.

Mostly psychological but I've seen it many times.

I think this is very true in live auctions, but generally not so in online auctions. For all of our comments about Grey Blanket, he tends to start his auctions at a penny with no reserve, and let's the market truly take care of it ... and he usually cleans up!