Buying on the internet...
I want to add a recent Gunbroker experience so that perhaps a few others can learn from my mistake, or perhaps improve your process of dealing with online sellers and transactions.
I recently picked up a Manhattan Arms 16ga off Gunbroker. If you aren't familiar, Manhattan Arms was one of the trade branded guns that were actually The Fulton by Hunter Arms. None of the Hunter Arms trade branded guns turn up very often in 16ga, so I was excited to see one.
The gun looked good on the internet, with nice colors but the pictures were a bit blurry. Listing promised EXCELLENT. At $430 I purchased with assurance that the listed 26" barrels were uncut. So the EXCELLENT condition gun arrives with the minor handling marks promised in the wood and metal, but also with about a dozen Abe Lincoln sized areas of pitting up and down the exterior of the barrels. I don't know about you, but I don't consider rust to be a "minor handling mark". The pits had been covered over with cold blue so that they wouldn't show in the blurry pictures. Naturally, the seller claimed to have missed those imperfections. Uncut barrels show up with a small gap between the barrels and measuring 26-3/8" instead of the listed 26". Obviously shortened. The auction was AS-IS, which I hadn't worried about since the seller on Gunbroker: Freeman_Arms in Drexel, Mo., had promised the gun in excellent condition.
So we start going back and forth, politely even though this person starts saying they didn't see those items, isn't very knowledgeable on vintage guns, etc - basically claiming ignorance. We haggled back and forth about either returning or a significant refund but my fairness was always met with another attempt to nickle and dime. The gun was carefully packaged and upon receipt the seller says, "Well I got the gun back but you aren't going to be happy. The forearm got loose and chattered along the barrel, getting in to the blue. I see the package was insured. You should file a claim with insurance."
Surprised? Yes, I was, but I shouldn't have been surprised at all given the earlier misrepresentations.
I asked for pictures of the new "damage", which I was fortunately able to match up with my own pictures I had taken of the gun, and with the sellers own pictures. If I wouldn't have had the pictures then I am confident the dealer would have continued down the path of claiming the gun had been ruined by the forearm. I was incredulous that they would claim a tiny scratch to the blue had basically ruined the value of a gun that had rust pits and shortened barrels, but there you go. Fortunately, I had evidence that the damage was already present. DOCUMENT. DOCUMENT. DOCUMENT.
I was FINALLY able to get a refund, but this charade continued until I assured the seller that I intended file a fraud claim with Gunbroker and also to sing about their behavior on the internet. That is one seller whom I will never do business with again in the future.
Why am I telling this story? Naturally, this gun is now for sale again on Gunbroker, only now at a higher price after I convinced the seller these are really, really rare - but incredibly - still no mention of the rust pits, cold blue, and the barrels are still misrepresented as being 26" in length. Go figure.
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Will makes some excellent points and I agree with all of them. - Dean Romig 03-13-2013
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