New Online Auction - Private Collection

[capnkirk462]

Oh the other thing on high buyers fee auctions is if there are multiple items of the same product for sale it might help. So lets say there are 3 P-38s for sale and the first one goes for $800 without all your fees. People will lose interest very quickly for the other 2 and you might be able to get them at a price that is alot cheaper. I have had this happen also.

 

[ParrotPirate]

I bid on a few items then looked it over afterwards, I just have a few observations. It looks to me like a lot of guns basically sold for what I would consider to be retail minus sales tax so I would say 5-10% off of retail was the average savings I observed. Thats not great and I bet you could have found used Glocks for less on Armslist in the time in took to bid on one here. I think a lot of people just enjoyed the convenience and novelty of bidding on a local, online auction. As always, people just love fancy Kimber 1911s. Several of those sold for maybe 10% less than it would cost to buy them brand new. A fairly used Taurus Curve sold for about $300 after fees which I thought was interesting. Might be a good piece to add to a collection of you like odd guns. There was a four-inch Colt Python that looks like it had been stripped of its finish that went for $1100 which could be an interesting project. I’m not an expert on the Colt Cobra, but if one werr knowledgeable on the models and interested in them I think they could have cleaned up on those guns. I was looking at the SW99, one of the 686s, the SW 39, the SW 59 and the 6 inch Dan Wesson revolver. The price that the first three commanded I would have paid if someone hadn’t gotten there first. The two biggest auctions I watched were the FS2000 which you knew would command a premium, but I was surprised by the amount of interest in the DW pistol pack that went for $2100 before fees. It was the nicest pistol pack I have ever seen, but that is $2625 after the fees. You wanna talk about getting burned by fees, that is the one that stuck out to me. At $2100 it is dear, but once that fee hits the buyer has massively overspent on that.

 

[SKATA]

My take of gun auctions and not an expert by any means. Having been to maybe five the last two years.
The online auctions have the highest fees. The live auctions are buyer premium plus local taxes. I am not commenting on antique, one-of-a-kind expensive guns because I don't know the values of those.

If I see something that interests me, then I will follow it to the end. But it fascinates me what people will bid for guns that you can buy at H&H, Big Boys, Academy, etc. Take those MSRP's minus the auction fee, and you have a base of cost. If it's an $800 gun at retail, and the auction fees are around+24%, why bid $650 to $700 ? That makes your cost over $800 ! I create a spreadsheet for the guns that interest me. One column is MSRP at retail and the other column is what I am willing to bid.

I was at an auction last year and watched a couple of guys bidding on three Beretta semi's. You can buy that model most anywhere for $900. These guys were at the $900 level on bidding then add the fees. I will also comment, that they start the bidding way too high. Then watch the auctioneer go backwards. Especially if there are multiple of the same gun. The first high bidder gets his choice, then if no other bidders, the price goes down. Hmmm! I did buy a shotgun that was bid up to $500, there were multiple of these, I waited and then the auctioneer finally got down to $225 before I bought.
I concede it as a game to play.