Selling or auctioning guns online

[wingnutx]

Anyone have experience with this?

I need to sell a few and am looking for the best way to go about it.

[Brad Johnson]

Used Auction Arms once to sell a shotty.  Went acceptably well.

Brad

[The Rabbi]

Ach.  Its terrible.  You need to send your guns to me. I'll pay top dollar for them

Actually I do this all the time.  It works fine, in my experience.  Of course you are gettting bottom feeding bargain hunters for the most part.
I have an auction going now for a CZ 75 compact.  It is in good shape and all and I want 299 for it.  One guy emails me to ask about some scratches on the metal he has seen in the pics.  I assure him there really arent any and send 3 additional pics.  Now he emails me whether there is any grease or discoloration on the gun.  I remind him the CZ 75 is a current production gun and if he wants a perfect finish any dealer can order him a new one.
But overall all of my sales have gone well.  Little annoyances but generally I've been happy and so have my buyers/sellers.

[wingnutx]

What site do you use?

[Monkeyleg]

I've sold a few guns on Gunbroker, and bought a couple. And that's a problem, as I don't have the number of positive buyer/seller comments that someone like The Rabbi would have.

To offset that problem, I posted detail photos of the guns on my own website, showing any defect whatsoever. The guy who bought the last gun from me said that he trusted me because I went to such lengths to document everything.

When you set your reserve price, set it as low as you possibly can while still being comfortable. If people bid a couple of times at what they think is a "fair" price, and don't meet your reserve, they'll stop bidding.

Oddly enough, once the reserve is met, the number of bids just seems to grow. I don't know why. I've had that experience with the couple of guns I've sold, as well as other items I've sold on Ebay. When the auction was finished, I was pleasantly surprised at the selling price.

Also, time your auction so that it will end at a time when people are likely to be able to watch. If what you're selling is desireable, you could see a buyer's war break out in the last fifteen minutes.

[The Rabbi]

What site do you use?

I've used both Auction Arms and Gunbroker.  GB is by far the largest site and you'll get the most exposure.
Depending on the gun, the best strategy really is to just offer a true auction, no reserve, 1 penny start.  Take great pics, describe as much as possible and run it for 9 days.  People really get into the 1 penny thing and will start bidding it up.  You might be surprised what it sells for.  I realize its a risk but the truth is that GB is closest thing around to a true market place and whatever price you get (depending on the gun) will honestly be the market price for it.  I personally don't bother with auctions with a reserve.

[Monkeyleg]

A penny and no reserve? What do you do for fun, Rabbi? Play Russian Roulette?

[The Rabbi]

You only stand to lose massively if no one looks at the auction.  But they have I cant remember how many users so that isnt likely.  And the pennies attract the most attention.
Of course if you were dishonest (and none of us here is), you could arrange with a friend to "shill" your auction to make sure it doesnt sell below a certain amount.  Most you would be out would be your fee for listing.  But that never happens.