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Do you have a preference of one over the other GB or GI when buying or listing ?
AG
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Neither when buying. Either or both when selling. I have purchased new guns and some antique ammo on GunBroker.
Chuck said
Neither when buying. Either or both when selling.
And for the same reason in each case: You’ll be paying a premium price if you buy, & receiving (hopefully) a premium price when you sell. An example: a hard to find barrel I listed on this site elicited not a single response, but sold for $60 more than I was asking the first time it was listed on ebay. (For gun PARTS & accessories, ebay is a better place to sell than either GB or GI.)
Have purchased and sold many times on both.
If I were looking to sell some collectors, would definitely go the GI way.
Trying to talk a good friend into going this route, instead of local auction house that will get 35% off the top…
All I know is that, if I come into some money, Tom Burness (on GI) is going to be happy. I like to drool and he seems to have a lot of the OBFMCB “used” Winchesters that I gravitate toward.
Huck Riley said
All I know is that, if I come into some money, Tom Burness (on GI) is going to be happy. I like to drool and he seems to have a lot of the OBFMCB “used” Winchesters that I gravitate toward.
I would violate my no buying on the internet policy if Tom Burness is the seller. He is one of the most honest dealers out there. If the gun has a problem he notes it and usually has a picture of the problem. If you can contact him do so and see what he says about his gun.
Chuck said
I would violate my no buying on the internet policy if Tom Burness is the seller. He is one of the most honest dealers out there. If the gun has a problem he notes it and usually has a picture of the problem. If you can contact him do so and see what he says about his gun.
Yes, he’s also a nice man. Helped me value a 66 a decade ago, sounded real straight, and didn’t know me from Adam. I agree with a former comment about GI prices and Tom Burness prices are in accord in accord, but nothing is hidden.
Huck you were lucky and smart to have him look at your 66. He is very knowledgeable on “brass” guns and like I said honest. Years ago he used to post on the Forum quite often. He used to sell on Robles’ site and at guns shows. When the internet got going he quit mailing out his catalogs.
I’ll add that Tom Burness is a real gentleman! I haven’t bought anything from him but have called with questions and he took the time to answer them. Great guy!
Online
Gunbroker has many, many shady offerings. If something is decent, you are bidding against anyone in the world with a computer and a wallet. Bargains are few and far between and even anything less than full retail, and then some, is unusual.
mrcvs said
Perhaps a link to some of his offerings?
If you go to gunsinternational they have an advanced search function at the very top of the screen. You can go by seller’s name. https://www.gunsinternational.com/advanced-search-results.cfm?cdn_bp=1
mrcvs said
Gunbroker has many, many shady offerings. If something is decent, you are bidding against anyone in the world with a computer and a wallet. Bargains are few and far between and even anything less than full retail, and then some, is unusual.
I’m no expert on this stuff, but I usually put in “Winchester 1873” and then sort by price, low to high. I keep seeing the same rifles with lots of bids but they never sell. I guess that’s because the seller has a minimum that doesn’t show? Seems like a waste of everyone’s time, including the seller. But whatever. Like I said, I’m no expert. Maybe he’s just trying test the market. Or maybe he’s praying something different will happen this week than what happened the previous umpteen weeks.
Huck Riley said
I keep seeing the same rifles with lots of bids but they never sell. I guess that’s because the seller has a minimum that doesn’t show? Seems like a waste of everyone’s time, including the seller.
Yes, but for such sellers, the great self-gratification of achieving a big killing (probably for something they have relatively little invested in) is obviously well worth the wait for the right sucker to come along. Anything half-way fairly priced sells quickly, so it is, or should be, a big red flag if it doesn’t. Problem for potential bidders is that GB makes it impossible to know how long an item has been listed, unless you watch that same listing show up week after week & month after month, as I once did when I was shopping for M. 52s. It was not uncommon for the same 52 to remain unsold for 6 mos, & I remember a couple that hung on for about a year, & were still there when I moved on to other things.
Trouble with Gunbroker is that, unless a Buy it Now, anything fairly priced quickly isn’t after multiple bidders compete. I suspect lots of shill bidding, but also some of these idiots bid up a gun like it’s the last one left in the world.
mrcvs said
I suspect lots of shill bidding, but also some of these idiots bid up a gun like it’s the last one left in the world.
They operate on the theory that the bids of others “proves” the item is worth at least that much, so feel justified in raising their own bid even higher.
clarence said
They operate on the theory that the bids of others “proves” the item is worth at least that much, so feel justified in raising their own bid even higher.
A tactic well used by some Auction houses too.
I would not hesitate to use either one to buy or sell. Sometimes I pay more for a piece than what some people believe to be the market value, and other times I might get what I consider a good deal. For example a decade or so back, I won my 1890 with the Stainless steel barrel, and had I not paid a competitive price at that time, I still would not own one even close to the condition it’s in, although one did sell at a big auction house quite sometime later at a screaming price, I missed the auction, or I would have bought it too! If I were simply buying to sell, I’d bid a lot different than I ordinarily do, but I get a great deal of enjoyment out of the hunt and winning an item. I don’t buy frequently, and I’ve only sold a few pieces during the better part of the last 20 years, so what I buy, I want to enjoy being the owner, whether they are factory original pieces or not.
James
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