Bidding Frenzy

[Researcher]

For the internet impaired --

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/952204647

This gun is another with a three-digit number stamped on the left barrel flat --

194699 01 3-digit number.jpg

[edgarspencer]

Russ, I wish there was a way I could hit the 'like' button more than once.
It might be one thing, if the listing had been up a while, and was 'obscure', but posting, altruistically, well after it was bid on, by fellow members is kind of disrespectful.

[J. A. EARLY]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

Russ, I wish there was a way I could hit the 'like' button more than once.
It might be one thing, if the listing had been up a while, and was 'obscure', but posting, altruistically, well after it was bid on, by fellow members is kind of disrespectful.

Agreed. Postings of guns pending for sale other than this site, at an auction should be removed by the moderators. Best yet, not posted in the first place. If you want to let another know, PM them. It has bitten me before. I once saw a 20 Trojan that was broadcast by a Town Crier, but recognized the bidder as a member here, and although a good buy for me, I did not bid out of respect for him. He won it at a very good price.

My opinion.

[Reggie B]

I am neutral on the matter. Personally I think anyone actively looking for such a gun will find it without much issue. I saw the listing right after it came online. It is the 21st Century and millions of people have access to the internet. We always tell people to put their gun on Gunbroker and it will bring whatever its fair market value is. So to me its moot.

[B. Dudley]

Even though I have benefitted from time to time. I do completely agree with you Russ. I just dont understand it. If one does not have any dog in the fight, then why put it out there.? What does it benefit them???

I more look at it this way. Say the gun ends up being bad. Or the seller screws the buyer. Then resentment may be held towards the one who led the buyer to the gun. It just is not worth it.

[MrBojangles]

Originally Posted by Russ Jackson

I will probably get my head bit off for posting this but here goes ..... It never ceases to amaze me constantly how folks will get on a board and direct other folks to an auction with something for sale thinking they are helping everyone out by letting everyone know that there is something special up for grabs ! What about the people that are already bidding on it that are members of the board also and hoping to finally " Maybe " be able to pick something special up and actually get a decent deal on it ! After someone posts about it on the board where those items are collected by everyone on the board ,so much for that idea !!!! I understand if you have the item listed for sale here and there is no interest and you list it on an auction site then pointing everyone to your auction especially since we have to price our For Sale items here and you may have started your item at auction for a penny etc. ! I know personally ,I put a lot of time in searching guns for sale and when I was working ,I would get up an hour early every morning just to check the four or five sites that I frequent in search of guns before the crowd got out of bed and before I was tied up all day at work ! Last week I picked up on Gun Broker ,a super nice VHE 12 Gauge ,Very Late Remington era Parker built on the 1/2 Frame and I sure didn't steal it and even discussed how rare the 1/2 Frame guns are with the seller but every day the gun was on GB ,I kept checking our site and would even comment to my wife ,I wonder when this 1/2 Frame gun will be discussed on our Parker Site and still can't believe it wasn't ! I am not sour grapes and hadn't bid on this gun yet but I sure wish if folks don't own the gun or have an interest in its ending price that this would stop on our Board ! Hopefully I am not the only one that feels this way and maybe it won't ever stop but there are two sides to every story and the guy that's a member here and was already bidding ,I am sure feels beaten already ! Just My Opinion for what it's worth ! Thank You for reading !!!!

This should be addressed by those in charge of this Forum.

The policy could be that there is NO discussion, other than in generic terms, of ANY firearm soon to be auctioned or there is NO link to nor mention of ANY upcoming auction. You can certainly post a photograph of a Parker soon to be auctioned as long as the photograph does not link to an auction site or indicate the full serial number, as searching by serial number will often easily locate a Parker soon to be auctioned off. And the photograph posted gives no indication of an upcoming auction. Posted simply for informative purposes, such as “Is this correct?”, or something similar to that.

The Smith & Wesson forum does exactly that. You post a link to or discuss an upcoming auction, it gets removed from the forum and you receive an infraction. If you find such a posting before the moderator does, there are ways to inform the moderator of this.

There’s no need to “notify” others of an upcoming auction. It isn’t a public service announcement, it’s detrimental to those who diligently did their homework and found the auction on their own.

This is similar to what happened when the internet came out. I used to attend local auctions in person. Failure to get your duff out of bed meant you didn’t participate. Now, anyone with a wallet and internet connection can participate. Takes the fun out of it. The only advantage you might have over an internet bidder, other than being able to see it in person, is you don’t have to pay for shipping. Sometimes this isn’t even an advantage when the shipping destination and cost to get it there is less than what it costs you with sales tax if another bidder in a distant location has lower or no sales tax than you do.

There are few bargains on Gunbroker. Most firearms posted there bring full retail, and then some!

[Bill Murphy]

Without reviewing the rules of this forum, I have to ask, "Is this thread within the forum rules?" Thanks for an answer from someone who is familiar with the rules.

[Jim DiSpagno]

I posted a similar argument agreeing with Russ several years ago. Although not prohibited it is just discourteous to those of us who put in the time and then get shut out. Just my opinion but totally agree with Russ

[ArtS]

I find this amazing. For one thing, if you read the OP, I was one of the first bidders, and I posted. I see no difference in this than the plethora of posts about high grade guns being in an auction catalog which is weeks or months from the auction and going on for pages about its history, research etc with absolutely no negative comments about the posting. The participants even discuss their bids.

I would like to have the gun and have it restored. I won't pay a ridiculously high price that could never be recovered. If anyone thinks that in this day and age, a 32" barreled Parker 20 DHE O frame is going to go unnoticed on a major auction site, they are delusional. The only time this sort of thing happens, in my experience, is when guns are incorrectly identified, incorrectly described or there is too little information. In those cases, there is little interest because most people simply scan the titles of the listings.

I buy 2-4 guns a month on internet auctions and the really good buys are generally the result of this situation. The others I buy because I want them for a particular reason and will pay at or a little above the value to get it.

If someone thinks this thread is not under the rules, it should be deleted. If it is, then I can easily find 400-500 more that should be.

[Reggie B]

When I was a kid my grandpa would take me along with him to the weekly livestock auction in a nearby community. There was always a group of guys in the parking lot who would approach folks bringing cattle to the public auction. My grandfather called these guys “pen hookers”. He told me that their goal was to buy the livestock from folks before they went to auction for less than what they were worth, then selling them for a profit. He likened them to, well let’s just say these “hookers” weren’t highly regarded.

He said a public auction was for selling at market prices. That was a life lesson for me. Not sure if this has anything to do with Parker guns but I like the memory.