Gunbroker shill bidders

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diggler1833

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I ran into a shill bidding process with Tin Star Range (from Oklahoma) on Gunbroker about a year and a half ago.

They listed a Pulsar Trail XP50 at a starting bid if only $4K (it is a MAP price of $5K at every dealer). So I excitedly put a bid on it for $4,500. They only listed one, which is probably all they had in stock. Two minutes before the auction ended I was outbid. I had 15 more minutes to place a competing bid, but I passed.

The "winner/buyer" had a feedback rating of (1). Oh well, win some lose some.

Two days later, same Pulsar Trail add to the "T", same seller, same asking price. For those wondering, thermals aren't always in stock as there is a pretty big demand with limited supply...this was especially true in 2020 with COVID. There might have been 2-3 Pulsar Trail XP50s on all of Gunbroker for sale at that time...and you'll certainly not see a dealer willing to take a $1K bath.

So I bid $4,500 again on a starting bid for $4K. Same thing happened; was outbid within 10 minutes of auction close by a buyer with a rating of (1).

This happened again two days later. Same scenario with same add, opening bid, my bid, and being outbid with less than 10 minutes by a buyer with a (1) rating. However this time I was taking screen shots with my phone.

After the third time I was extremely suspicious, so I went into my lost auctions and did some checking...

...all three bidders of (1) received positive feedback from Tin Star Range within minutes of auction close. These auctions ended late in the evening, well past most business hours (around 9PM).

I took more screen shots, and simply sent a message to Tin Star Range through their "contact us" on their website. I said I believed that someone running their Gunbroker auctions was involved in shill bidding, summarized what I said here, stated that I had screen shots, and finally stated that I was looking for an answer or I would be sending my complaint and information to Gunbroker.

Tin Star Range never responded...but the Pulsar Trail never came back up for sale.

Amazingly, one of my buddies, (HuntTXHogs on YouTube) had a negative experience with them regarding a bad Pulsar Thermion.
 

turkeyrun

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I ran into a shill bidding process with Tin Star Range (from Oklahoma) on Gunbroker about a year and a half ago.

They listed a Pulsar Trail XP50 at a starting bid if only $4K (it is a MAP price of $5K at every dealer). So I excitedly put a bid on it for $4,500. They only listed one, which is probably all they had in stock. Two minutes before the auction ended I was outbid. I had 15 more minutes to place a competing bid, but I passed.

The "winner/buyer" had a feedback rating of (1). Oh well, win some lose some.

Two days later, same Pulsar Trail add to the "T", same seller, same asking price. For those wondering, thermals aren't always in stock as there is a pretty big demand with limited supply...this was especially true in 2020 with COVID. There might have been 2-3 Pulsar Trail XP50s on all of Gunbroker for sale at that time...and you'll certainly not see a dealer willing to take a $1K bath.

So I bid $4,500 again on a starting bid for $4K. Same thing happened; was outbid within 10 minutes of auction close by a buyer with a rating of (1).

This happened again two days later. Same scenario with same add, opening bid, my bid, and being outbid with less than 10 minutes by a buyer with a (1) rating. However this time I was taking screen shots with my phone.

After the third time I was extremely suspicious, so I went into my lost auctions and did some checking...

...all three bidders of (1) received positive feedback from Tin Star Range within minutes of auction close. These auctions ended late in the evening, well past most business hours (around 9PM).

I took more screen shots, and simply sent a message to Tin Star Range through their "contact us" on their website. I said I believed that someone running their Gunbroker auctions was involved in shill bidding, summarized what I said here, stated that I had screen shots, and finally stated that I was looking for an answer or I would be sending my complaint and information to Gunbroker.

Tin Star Range never responded...but the Pulsar Trail never came back up for sale.

Amazingly, one of my buddies, (HuntTXHogs on YouTube) had a negative experience with them regarding a bad Pulsar Thermion.


Out bid by ????

3rd time you should have opened at $4000.
Let them bid and waited 4:45 to over bid. They MIGHT have let it slip.

I done that on a holster, cowboy rig.
Bid $45, got over bid at least second.
Week later, same thing
Week later, I bid $25. They bid $30. I immediately bid $35. They bid $40. I immediately bid $45. They bid $46.
I waited until the last second and bid $48.
Watched it count down 15 minutes and son the bed.
They shipped with a note that the holster was a $175 unit and my sneaky bidding practice was not appreciated.
I sent them letter to GunBroker.
That vendor disappeared a week later.

It is just part of them game.

I don't buy off of GB, unless I can "BuyItNow"
 

RLSanders

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You can’t bid at the last moment “snipe” on GB. After each last minute bid, 15 minutes is added.
But yeah, there are probably shills there. I’m pretty sure I’ve encountered at least one fishy auction but I’ll spare the details.
 

AKguy1985

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I've been shill bid on several guns on gunbroker. The most glaringly obvious was a shop in Missouri where the shill bid on 10 guns and won 8 of them and got A+ feedback within three days. Then, another shill ran a Glock 19 Gen4 up to $700+ and never paid for it.
 

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