Gunbroker Unscrupulous Sellers

[Urban Coyote]

I've used Gunbroker with reasonable success but I must admit I've been burned a time or two also. I look over ads closely and ask questions. Sometimes I get a response other times none, in which case I don't bid.

Currently there is a decent looking T/C Hawken, caplock model, being advertised as having an aftermarket .54 Green Mountain barrel. It seems Green Mountain aftermarket barrels bring a premium which to many might make this gun more attractive and likely sell for more than a gun with a factory barrel. The problem with this particular gun is the barrel left Green Mountain as a .50 but has been rebored to .54. It's fairly obvious since the zero in the .50 marked on the barrel has been over stamped with a 4 and the crowning on the barrel is not correct. So, I asked the question and was told the seller doesn't know history on the gun. I had bought a very nice early T/C Hawken from this guy a few years back but he didn't photograph the butt plate or disclose it was badly corroded. I suggested to him he update the description to let potential bidders know it was a rebore. His response, I'm permanently blocked from his auctions. Like I really care. Believe me, this guy knows what he's selling.

I ran across another seller I'd never done business with over a month ago advertising a Lyman Trade Rifle assembled from a kit by a gunsmith with a starting bid of $2,500. I asked if the starting bid was a mistake and might really be $250. His response, "your blocked", that was it, the only words in his response. He's since reduced his starting bid to $1,900 and the gun is still for sale. Good luck selling that piece.

Full disclosure, I was a little rough on the guy trying to pass off the rebored Green Mountain barrel having been burned by him before.

I watch Gunbroker pretty much daily but I rarely buy anymore. It's pretty interesting to see some of the guns that are misrepresented as to condition. The one that really gets me is "unfired" or "unfired condition" when it obvious from the photographs its untrue. I guess it's just a buyer beware situation.

Use extreme caution when shopping on Gunbroker. You're likely way safer buying here.

 

[Andrewmtnman]

Lol. I have been watching that same $2500 Lyman hawken too. I was wondering what I was missing or what he was smoking. It’s a nice gun no doubt but $2500. It’s been up for weeks if not longer

 

[Urban Coyote]

Lol. I have been watching that same $2500 Lyman hawken too. I was wondering what I was missing or what he was smoking. It’s a nice gun no doubt but $2500. It’s been up for weeks if not longer

Don't ask if the pricing might be a mistake or you'll get blocked, unless the guy has figured out his price is ridiculous. LOL

 

[Andrewmtnman]

He probably bought it for $2100 and is PO he can’t sell it for $2500.

 

[Old-Duckman]

Got some fair deals there, I wouldn't call them good deals. LGS or local forums are my go to for used items. New, I just shop around on the Net, I have a couple go to places that have good prices and reasonable or free shipping. My FFL dealer is a great guy, I like doing business with him and just shooting the breeze with him too. He will list things on GB for me for 10% of the selling price. That includes taking the photos and dealing with all of the other hoops that you have to go through when selling on GB.

I'm done buying anything for now though...or so it says here.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Well, the seller who blocked me changed the description of the T/C Hawken with the Green Mountain barrel that HAS BEEN REBORED. See below, not a completely honest description but at least it now hints it could be a rebore.

"The gun is in very good condition showing light finish wear. The barrel might have been rebored from a .50."

 

[#blackpowderbill]

I use GB daily for sales. When you find a scammer report them! I get questions weekly and then a day or two later the phishing emails start.

One guy bid on five guns then when he finally contacted me he said he got confused and he couldn't remember everything he bid on and he didn't want them.
Feedback, maybe one out of 7 or 8 people will actually leave me feedback. But they'll send me an email 3 days out wanting to know if I got their money yet.
Bad addresses, arguing to ship directly after my ad states FFL only.
Complaining about shipping cost,sales tax, telling me what facts they read on a forum.
One guy asked several questions and told me he just looked at the pictures.

I have several repeat customers many watch my blog,FB and send me a text or call.
In the long run the positive outweighs the negatives

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

I, too, spend time on gunbroker. There are some real clowns as well as some solid sellers. I have found some really good deals, that is for sure.

Some folks reply to questions with, "What's the lock?" or my favorite, "I can't really see that far down the bore."

There's a good one on there right now....It's one of the 1816 Remington commemorative rifles. Basically a .50 cal Hatfield.... UNTOUCHED CONDITION! $7499

 

[William Sublette]

They're not unscrupulous....they're trolling for that one dumb bastard.


If yahoo's out there will pay $1200 dollars for $1.89 worth of molded plastic with a yeti sticker on it, why not see if you can't get some of that dumb bastard money.

 

[R Ellis]

Maybe I have been lucky but every gun that I have bought from GunBroker folks have been as good or better that they looked in the pictures .The only issue I have had is a German drilling that was listed with the wrong caliber rifle barrel I called the shop and he offered a full refund or reduced price I liked it so we agreed on a price and they sent me the agreed on amount and I am very happy with the gun and price.

 

[kh54]

I have seen some ridiculous asking prices on Gunbroker but so far I have not noticed anything I would call fraudulent. (Compare that to eBay!!) I have made perhaps a dozen or more purchases through GB and I have had only one marginal experience. The gun was nowhere close to the great condition the seller had claimed and the photos were not clear enough to tell either. But when I contacted the seller after I received the gun he went out of his way to make things right. (I kept the gun and got several good quality bullet molds out of the deal.) Unfortunately our collective mantra needs to be “caveat emptor.”

 

[dave951]

There's a reason I call it Gun Joker. There are some sellers on there that are living in a fantasy and some that are ignorant of things black powder. The ones I really don't like are those with auctions that have an insane "buy it now" price and the starting bid is $20 under that insanely high amount.

That said, buyer beware on any auction site where you can't physically handle what you're bidding on. There are some decent deals on GB, but you best stick with sellers with very high positive feedback.

 

[twines]

I used to buy and sell on GB. The fees kept getting stiffer, then sales tax. About all I use it for now the advanced search on completed items to see what some stiff sells. There are still decent sellers but read the language close and check the stats. Lock Stock and Barrel is a good outfit. Bought an 1816 Harper's Ferry. It had a duffel cut under the 2nd band. I returned the gun on there dime. They relisted it in two weeks and I bought it again at an appropriate price. Good people.

 

[Whitworth]

Years ago before the internet Shotgun News was the place to look for guns. I soon learned my idea of "Good Condition" and someone else's idea of good condition were quite different. Some err on the side of understating, others overstate condition. Way back when I was a FFL I always tried to make a gun sound worse than it was so no one was ever disappointed, can't say the same for a few I bought and sent back

 

[BillinOregon]

I have had very good luck over the years on Gunbroker. The one exception was a Remington Model 8 in .25 Remington described as having a good bore. In fact the bore was ringed, not once, but four times. I contacted the seller, a very large gun shop in San Antonio, sent a photo and they apologized and gave me a very favorable price adjustment. The only other time I have had a serious issue was with the "very good" bore in a Swedish rolling block that was a sewer pipe. Simpson Ltd. took it back for a full refund.
I do look at sellers' ratings on Gunbroker as well as other articles they have for sale to help me form an opinion. I have been tempted many times by the endless stream of percussion shotguns for sale, but for some reason I am especially leery about buying an antique muzzleloading double that I cannot handle and examine myself.

 

[Salty]

I've used Gunbroker with reasonable success but I must admit I've been burned a time or two also. I look over ads closely and ask questions. Sometimes I get a response other times none, in which case I don't bid.

Currently there is a decent looking T/C Hawken, caplock model, being advertised as having an aftermarket .54 Green Mountain barrel. It seems Green Mountain aftermarket barrels bring a premium which to many might make this gun more attractive and likely sell for more than a gun with a factory barrel. The problem with this particular gun is the barrel left Green Mountain as a .50 but has been rebored to .54. It's fairly obvious since the zero in the .50 marked on the barrel has been over stamped with a 4 and the crowning on the barrel is not correct. So, I asked the question and was told the seller doesn't know history on the gun. I had bought a very nice early T/C Hawken from this guy a few years back but he didn't photograph the butt plate or disclose it was badly corroded. I suggested to him he update the description to let potential bidders know it was a rebore. His response, I'm permanently blocked from his auctions. Like I really care. Believe me, this guy knows what he's selling.

I ran across another seller I'd never done business with over a month ago advertising a Lyman Trade Rifle assembled from a kit by a gunsmith with a starting bid of $2,500. I asked if the starting bid was a mistake and might really be $250. His response, "your blocked", that was it, the only words in his response. He's since reduced his starting bid to $1,900 and the gun is still for sale. Good luck selling that piece.

Full disclosure, I was a little rough on the guy trying to pass off the rebored Green Mountain barrel having been burned by him before.

I watch Gunbroker pretty much daily but I rarely buy anymore. It's pretty interesting to see some of the guns that are misrepresented as to condition. The one that really gets me is "unfired" or "unfired condition" when it obvious from the photographs its untrue. I guess it's just a buyer beware situation.

Use extreme caution when shopping on Gunbroker. You're likely way safer buying here.

I don’t buy anything on GB anymore. Got burned on a Hawken. After 11 shots the hammer would not stay in full cock. I removed the lock and found how worn out it was. Asked the seller to pay half cost of new parts. He refused. Filed complaint with GB which they denied since I had removed the lock. Spent about 100 bucks on new lock. Now it works fine.
Never again.
Buyer beware of GunBroker.

 

[jdw276]

Tow bad buys on GB. Looking for a 54 bp pistol to match my rifle. Found one got it, was a 45. Called him and he said send it back, only had $125 in it and bot worth the trouble. Figured human error. Other double barrel bp shotgun. Seller claimed to have lost the nipples but had shot it prior week to listing. No way. Had not been shot in long time plus he hid the cracked wrist that made the gun unsafe. Got my money bsck but took over 90 days.....otherwise I prefer to buy stuff here.

 

[wiscoaster]

...

Use extreme caution when shopping on Gunbroker. You're likely way safer buying here.

You may be right, but I've bought 60+ guns on GB and never been burned. I'm careful - I have my screening criteria; I use credit cards when possible; I buy from established sellers with good ratings; my gun is shipped to an FFL.

I think there's an added element of risk when the firearm involved isn't a firearm in the BATF legal sense - ie it's not serialized and it's shipped to your doorstep without an FFL involved. There's little recourse if it gets "lost" enroute other than an insurance claim if it was insured. Whereas it's a whole different scenario if a serialized firearm gets "lost" enroute shipping from an FFL to an FFL. I did have a BP revolver get "lost" once by the PO because it didn't get scanned at the origin and it spent almost two weeks apparently wandering about the country without anything anybody could do, though it eventually turned up.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've used Gunbroker with reasonable success but I must admit I've been burned a time or two also. I look over ads closely and ask questions. Sometimes I get a response other times none, in which case I don't bid.

Currently there is a decent looking T/C Hawken, caplock model, being advertised as having an aftermarket .54 Green Mountain barrel. It seems Green Mountain aftermarket barrels bring a premium which to many might make this gun more attractive and likely sell for more than a gun with a factory barrel. The problem with this particular gun is the barrel left Green Mountain as a .50 but has been rebored to .54. It's fairly obvious since the zero in the .50 marked on the barrel has been over stamped with a 4 and the crowning on the barrel is not correct. So, I asked the question and was told the seller doesn't know history on the gun. I had bought a very nice early T/C Hawken from this guy a few years back but he didn't photograph the butt plate or disclose it was badly corroded. I suggested to him he update the description to let potential bidders know it was a rebore. His response, I'm permanently blocked from his auctions. Like I really care. Believe me, this guy knows what he's selling.

I ran across another seller I'd never done business with over a month ago advertising a Lyman Trade Rifle assembled from a kit by a gunsmith with a starting bid of $2,500. I asked if the starting bid was a mistake and might really be $250. His response, "your blocked", that was it, the only words in his response. He's since reduced his starting bid to $1,900 and the gun is still for sale. Good luck selling that piece.

Full disclosure, I was a little rough on the guy trying to pass off the rebored Green Mountain barrel having been burned by him before.

I watch Gunbroker pretty much daily but I rarely buy anymore. It's pretty interesting to see some of the guns that are misrepresented as to condition. The one that really gets me is "unfired" or "unfired condition" when it obvious from the photographs its untrue. I guess it's just a buyer beware situation.

Use extreme caution when shopping on Gunbroker. You're likely way safer buying here.

In the case of the TC with the rebored GM barrel,..., I cannot remember such a lengthy "additional terms of sale" on a firearm or black powder repro, that was not on a very expensive collector's piece. When stuff gets that lengthy, it throws up a red flag for me for making a purchase. Especially the portion where he uses "his" grading system, which you would miss if you don't read the whole agreement, AND where he whines about feedback.... tells me there have been problems in the past.

Flag on the Play.... the call is "Chicanery"

Of course, this is just my opinion

LD

 

[ernbar]

There was one seller posting a Beals Remington a while back on GB.
Pictures of the supposed pistol looked decent but no description of mechanical function. I asked him as to the functioning condition, timing and lockup. His answer was what was I expecting from a gun 160+ years old? and it wasn’t a gun meant for me.
Didn’t bother responding to his smart ass response.