This post was last edited by Hohenstaufenz on 2016-8-31 20:52
Hey, fellow gun lovers. I'm taking advantage of my free time today to summarize my experience using Gun Broker over the past few years. I believe this website is familiar to most gun lovers, but if you haven't come across this website, GunBroker is still a very reliable channel for buying and selling guns.
1. Why use GunBroker.com?
1) You can find second-hand long and short guns and various gun accessories at very good prices and in very good condition almost every day. There is a sufficient supply of goods, and there are many stupid sellers, including some who are angry and want to sell their cheating husbands' collections at a low price. Of course, there are more sellers who are in urgent need of working capital and are willing to sell at a low price.
2) The website has been around for many years and has a large user system. It also has a very reliable feedback trading evaluation mechanism. It brings integrity into the auction mechanism. This is crucial because buying a gun is different from buying groceries. The legal issues involved are also more complicated and cannot be taken lightly.
3) There is a very reliable and user-friendly phone app. It makes your search or bidding very easy.
2. How to find a deal?
Strictly speaking, GunBroker.com is not a particularly suitable place to buy a new gun, because the prices here are often a little higher than other high-traffic online gun sites, and most listings do not include shipping costs. Buyers often need to spend an extra $20 for pistol shipping and $30-40 for long gun shipping. Good deals with prices far below the value of the item generally have several characteristics:
1) The listing title is not very eye-catching, such as "Glock 30s with extras", "Ruger Precision Rifle used"
2) Sellers are often individuals with very low transaction volume, rather than those sellers who ship in large quantities on GunBroker every day
3) Listings generally do not have small photos, so most people will habitually skip them when browsing search results. After all, people are visual animals.
4) Listing introductions are generally short, which means that such users are often not exposed to Internet technology. Many American rednecks cannot type, and their information sources are relatively closed.
5) There are few bidders. The more bidders there are for a listing, the closer the final price will naturally be to the Buy It Now price.
6) The best deals often do not have a reserve price, so you have a high chance of buying at a price much lower than the intrinsic value of the item, provided that the number of other bidders is not high.
7) The last one is critical. The bidding deadline is usually in the early morning or during the working hours of ordinary people. Because of GunBroker's 15 Minutes bidding rule, if you want to win an auction, you must not have anyone else raise the price within 15 minutes after you bid at the last minute. This means that if others are at work or sleeping, your chances of winning the auction at a super low price will be much higher.
So in summary, when searching for deals, you can basically just search for used guns. Most New In Box guns are priced high. After getting the search results, don't easily skip those short, inconspicuous titles.
3. I like a gun. What should I pay attention to before bidding?
1) Be sure to pay attention to the seller's feedback rating. Try not to consider those NR (no record) or those with several negative reviews in the feedback recently (of course there are exceptions).
2) Be sure to ask the seller in advance how much the shipping fee is and whether it includes insurance. Many sellers only say buyer pays actual shipping on the listing without mentioning the specific price. After you win the bid, these sellers will ask for a huge amount of money, such as $40 shipping fee + $10 packaging + $10 shipping insurance + $25 FFL fee, etc. I have encountered this before. Because of my negligence, the seller charged me $89 for "packaging fee" and "FFL shipping fee" for a $1000 deal that indicated Seller pays shipping. I felt as disgusted as if I had swallowed a fly. But fortunately, I calculated the intrinsic value of the item and it was over $1300, so I put up with it. If I had asked the price before bidding, I might have saved the $89. If you ask in advance what the total price including shipping/handling+insurance is, the seller will generally not dare to ask for such a random price before the auction ends in order to keep you. If the seller thinks the price is too low and wants to extort money from you, you at least have email exchange to deter such behavior. Remember here to send yourself a copy of the letter you sent to the seller as a backup. There is this option when sending the letter.
3) The higher the price or the larger the gun, the more you should tell the seller to buy shipping insurance before bidding. Don't let the gun be stolen during shipping or lost by UPS just to save $20. My FFL told me yesterday that his friend who works at the UPS transfer station in Chicago has been reminding him that many UPS transfer stations and airport warehouses in Chicago have long been infiltrated and controlled by various gangs in Chicago. If there are any valuable goods that need to be handled by them, they will often be "lost", especially long guns with obvious appearance. USPS 2nd Day Air is relatively reliable, but try not to take risks.
4. How should I bid?
My bidding principle is very simple: bid at the last minute. Don't expose your firepower and interest in advance. Because people have a certain tendency to gather together, the more fierce the bidding, the more people will bid; the more no one is willing to touch the listing, the more deserted it will be. The listings of sellers with NR (No record) feedback are usually deserted. Here you need to check whether the seller is reliable. So what kind of NR sellers are generally more reliable? There are three principles:
1) Know about guns. Know the performance and specs of the goods you sell very well. You can tell that he is an expert in his words and deeds. Based on my personal experience in the past few years, I found that gun lovers are rarely trash. They are often very decent and principled people, including this forum. There are exceptions, but they are very rare.
2) Will take the initiative to tell you the reason for selling guns.
3) Will not hesitate on the phone and know nothing about anything. Know the legal procedures for selling guns very well. If this seller still asks you how to sell guns or ship them, try not to take this risk.
5. If I want to sell guns, what should I pay attention to?
1) Beautiful pictures, beautiful pictures, beautiful pictures! The effectiveness of sending four beautiful pictures of guns is higher than that of writing a thousand-word sales pitch. Good-looking and new goods are more useful than anything else.
2) Your auction deadline must be set before midnight, preferably when everyone has time to bid after get off work. This way, there will be popularity to bid up the price. The final price of an auction that ends at 4 a.m. or during rush hour is generally much lower than the intrinsic value (so we, as cunning buyers, have an opportunity to take advantage). If you are a seller, you naturally hope that the price is as high as possible.
3) Clearly indicate whether you accept discreet (FRAUD ALERT) gifts. I buy and sell on GunBroker and still like (FRAUD ALERT) very much. It is very convenient and many people have it. You can accept discreet (FRAUD ALERT) gifts from very experienced buyers who have a lot of feedback and are very good, and your account will not be blocked by (FRAUD ALERT); but for NR buyers, you should not take this risk. It is most reliable to let this person send you a USPS Money Order directly. Personal check is also OK, but you need to wait until funds clear before you can ship.
4) If you encounter someone who bargains with you or even makes a low ball offer, don't sneer at them. Tell them that you are not selling guns because you are desperate and you are not in a hurry. If this person really wants to buy, they will come back to bid in a few days. Don't reply and go f*** yourself just because they low ball you...... Of course, it is also very refreshing to do it occasionally.
That's all I can think of, and I will add to it later.
I believe that you have a lot of mixed experiences and lessons learned from GunBroker, and you are welcome to add to it.
P.S. The websites I visit most often to buy new guns:
budsgunshop.com
grabagun.com
gunbuyer.com
kygunco.com
sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com
The prices of these five big companies are often the lowest on the Internet, and they have very reliable after-sales service.
