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View Full Version : I do NOT understand...



3006guns
10-23-2007, 10:29 PM
the "auction mentality". I'm looking to pick up some 8mm Lebel cases to form into .41 Swiss...and found some on one of the gun auction sites. The per 100 price was better than Graf's so I bid, even though I just needed a handful. The same seller had some 7.5 Swiss that I watched in astonishment as it climbed to well above the price in Graf's catalog. The buyer ended up paying about $11.00 MORE than if he had just picked up the phone and ordered them! I chuckled a bit and went back to my lot. Same thing! I've wasted several days on this nonsense, so I'm going to be the one that picks up the phone to do the ordering.
Do people simply not understand that they're NOT getting such a great deal, or is it the frenzy of winning?:roll:

Just seems like there aren't any real bargains anymore....'course, I'm cheap in the first place (part of my religeous beliefs...grin)

dubber123
10-23-2007, 11:41 PM
I see the same thing all the time, and have even been guilty of it a time or two.... If you keep to your self imposed spending limits, you can still get some good deals. I have gotten a bunch of moulds off E-bay, but none in quite a while. I keep watching, and the prices keep climbing. I watched a single cavity .358" Lyman mould go well over 100$ recently. I just got the same one at a gunshop NIB for 25$. Sometimes I don't get it either.

Mk42gunner
10-24-2007, 10:57 AM
For prices to go out of sight at an auction requires two or more people to want the item. Sometimes they have no idea what the item they are bidding on is worth, they just want it.

I have seen an H&R 410 sell at a farm auction for $142 when you could buy one at Walmart for $88.

I have seen bidders run the price up just because they do not want somebody to get a good deal, or because they don't like the other bidder.

It really pays to know the current value of what you are bidding on; last month I watced a Savage model 24 22/410 sell for $485. I couldn't believe the price it went for, 25 years ago my best friend and I bought one brand new for his dad to hunt rabbits with for something like ninety bucks.

When sentimental values are involved all bets are off.


Robert

Pilgrim
10-24-2007, 11:24 AM
The last few gunshows I attended had a number of the 24's on the tables for sale. I don't usually see them, but this time there were quite a few. They were in most of the cartridges available or usta be available anyway). Asking prices ranged from a low of $350 for a .22/.410 in 75% condition to ~$550 IIRC for a .30-30/20 ga in like new condition. I've thought about getting one for many years, but can't quite muster that much interest. Pilgrim

montana_charlie
10-24-2007, 12:25 PM
That auction mentality which makes people bid incredible amounts is what makes me a 'sniper'.

If you place a bid on an item which has (so far) been ignored, it seems to alert others to the fact that it exists. Then they fall all over each other running the price up.

I don't say 'squat' until the last quarter-minute. If the bidding has reached the unbelievable, I just stay out. If it is still reasonable, I drop a bid which is the full amount I am willing to pay...and let the 'automatic bid machine' take over from there.

Another thing to watch is the ending time of individual sales.
If a sale ends during the Super Bowl, or on the Fourth of July, or anytime when people can be expected to be doing 'something special'...they often forget to bid on auctions.

I missed out on an exceptional deal back on Nine-Eleven...because I forgot all about bidding on auctions.
CM

Ricochet
10-24-2007, 02:01 PM
For those who've learned the advantages of last-minute sniping on eBay, here's something that makes it easier: http://gixen.com/

Scrounger
10-24-2007, 02:30 PM
Here's another one, Esnipe. They charge 1-1/2% which isn't very much: http://www.esnipe.com/

MT Gianni
10-24-2007, 10:32 PM
I see the same thing all the time, and have even been guilty of it a time or two.... If you keep to your self imposed spending limits, you can still get some good deals. I have gotten a bunch of moulds off E-bay, but none in quite a while. I keep watching, and the prices keep climbing. I watched a single cavity .358" Lyman mould go well over 100$ recently. I just got the same one at a gunshop NIB for 25$. Sometimes I don't get it either.

If that was the 3589 I was watching you got yourself a steal. That 280 grainer has been out of manufacture for almost 10 years. Gianni

dubber123
10-25-2007, 01:08 AM
If that was the 3589 I was watching you got yourself a steal. That 280 grainer has been out of manufacture for almost 10 years. Gianni

Nope, the # escapes me right now, but it's the very pointy 130 grain gas check .358 cal pistol mould. I think this ones also out of print, but certainly not that rare.

jonk
10-26-2007, 02:16 PM
They probably have no idea who Grafs is. I know shooters who still say, "I won't get a Swiss rifle because there is no ammo available for it." Because he can't get it at Wal-Mart. Saying Wolf, PRVI, Grafs, Hornady, RUAG, NORMA, Hotshot, etc. did nothing to phase him- because he KNOWS no one loads it.

So they see something that out of lack of research they think is rare and bid away!