Gun Broker starting bid

[dbarry1]

I understand reserves, I just think reserve and starting price should be set the same so a buyer knows if he is interested or not. Thanks for the replies.

Completely agree. Reserve auctions = waste of time. I always click "no reserve" on my searches. I wish GB would allow that as default.

[Mr_Sheesh]

On White Eagle's point - I can understand the fear of that, but if the auction is long enough and posted in the right category, almost always a bunch of people glom onto the auction & bid on it, it's human psychology... We humans are weird

[rockrat]

Just like "Plate Plinker", I have bid on items and finally let the other person have it, only to have the seller contact me telling me the other guy backed out and did I want it for my high bid. I get suspicious and usually tell them I will take it for the price I could have had it for had the other person not bid.
Never hear from them again. Figure just someone just running up the bid, either at the behest of the owner, or just someone trying to make someone else pay more money, as a joke.

[justashooter]

but sell it with no reserve and a low .01c starting bid you take the chance of selling it for .02c

if you are selling a single item, you are at risk. if you are selling 20-30 items in the same week, with sale closings at about the same time, you get lots of competition in your penny sales from buyers who found you items by looking at your "other auctions" when finding a penny start in their keyword search for something else that you had listed.

when a seller has penny starts everybody looks to see what else is on the block with. for this reason, lots of sellers that are serious about moving the stuff quickly put "penny start" in the auction title so that it comes up in searches using that term. try using "penny start" in a gunbroker search and you will see what I mean. this has worked very well for me wiht run of the mill guns.

I did have an extroardinarily rare and fine condition low production 7X57 Commission Model'88 Carbine that was produced by L&L in 1907, and prolly the nicest remaining of the 400 or so that Bannermans imported in 1914. Obviously, I put a $1400 opener on that gun, adn gave it away at that price, to someone who was thrilled to get it. I posted photos of it on Gunboards a year or so ago for the record, as it was a rarely seen variant made for speculation in Arab States sales, that never delivered in quantity and was pulled out of the warehouse and surped as-new to raise cash in 1914 when the world went to hell.

[bkbville]

GB recently started charging a premium for reserve auctions because they are so unpopular.

What I've never been able to do is bring myself to go with a $1 or .01 starting price - yet those seem to move up pretty quickly in price, I'm always afraid I'd end up selling something way below value.

[Soundguy]

i have also seen where a difference in reserve and starting price can be used as a 2nd chance offer.

i have been in a few auctions where 2 things have happened.

1, the high bidder failed to complete the transaction, and the seller went to other bidders to see if they wanted it.

or

2, and this one is what I think applies here, the seller set a starting bid price of say.. 100$ on a turk mauser, but had his reserve set at 180$ I found out. I bid it up to 150$ and bowed out, knowing I was under the reserve. It was a typical piece maybee better bore than many.. but still a turk and I didn't really need it.. so felt fine staying at 150. auction ended. The same gun had been up before, and I bid the same amount each time. seller contacted me and asked about a 2nd chance offer ( done thru gunbroker ), and we settled on a mid way of 165$ and both were happy.

[justashooter]

GB recently started charging a premium for reserve auctions because they are so unpopular.

great news. gunbroker has to host all of the auction listings, including photos (lots of drive space), annd is not selling the vast majority of reserves, so getting no cut. in addition. lots of people just don't bother to wade through all of the retail and higher than retail price bullcrap auto-relisting junk auctions that aren't really auctions, just advertisements at unreasonable prices. i suggested to them years ago that overall sales volume will go up if they don;t let people list a bunch of **** at unreasonable reserves and people know that their time is not wasted hunting through listings for something that they can get a decent deal on.

[oscarflytyer]

agree. ticks me. gotten so I flat out won't even look at reserve auctions, espec if they start out at a penny

[kmw1954]

I have purchased 5 pistols on Gun Broker in the past 2 yrs. and not one was a reserve auction. I look at them as opening bid is the reserve price and if there is a BIN offer that I feel is reasonable and in my price range I will use it. I do not waste my time on reserve auctions as those same items can be found in non-reserve auctions that are usually ending within the same time frame.

Last auction won for me was just this week, a S&W Shield 380 EZ. Auction closed at the sweet price of just $290.00 +$25.00 shipping. I was very happy, can't say whether the seller was or not.

[AkMtnRunner]

I'm okay with it, as I see these auction sites as not 'just' an auction site. I see it as an intelligent seller tactic to build interest yet still have protection from being locked into selling for a lower amount than I would sell for.

On the other hand, there will always be sellers looking for emotional suckers, thus the absurdly high reserve prices. These sellers don't really want to sell but are just bored and want to feel powerful by taking advantage of someone.