GunBroker

To tell you the truth, I have probably conducted 2 dozen transactions on GunBroker and have only been marginally dissatisfied three times... and one of those was most likely due to my miscommunication. A lot can go wrong between buyers and sellers and it doesn't take much to overturn the cart... you just have to do your homework and establish contact with the seller so they realize they are dealing with a living human being. What disturbs me about GunBroker is that the site seems to have been taken over by the greediest bastards in the hills. Things are no longer reasonable, rational or affordable on this site anymore. For example, an 1887 Winchester 12 ga sold in a range of $400 to $700 dollars in 2015. Today the sellers are demanding $1800 to $3500 for a long gun with no real demand... so where are these market forces coming from you ask... that little quadrant in the brain called "GREED". Check the firearms books... these prices a four times the actual appraised value. Same with a Colt Python or Anaconda. Selling and buying guns is unfortunately being destroyed the way Reggie Jackson, Tim Allen, Jay Leno and Barrett-Jackson have destroyed the collector car hobby. And also unfortunately, there are idiots out there that will pay these prices because they don't know what they are doing or just plain have more money than brains so they don't care. Me... I'm out... the sellers on GunBroker can stick it... I'll find my arms in other ways and keep my money to provide for my family.

I have used www.gunbroker.com dozens of times and all the transactions I have had (buying and selling) were good smooth transactions. The guys buying and selling have all been good to work with, and all have been fair and reasonable. The problems I have are with the nameless, faceless gunbroker website. Issues that I have had using the site are not addressed by anyone with there "tech support " if you want to call it that. Also when listing an item to sell, the offer the "showcase feature" for $4.95. Don't get suckered into it, it is a waste of your money. Your ad will NEVER show up where it is seen like you would think. The only ads that actually show up on the home page are the people that list and sell thousands of items. Your ad will not be there. I complained about it and was told that there are over 8000 show case ads that are randomly exposed. I check the home page more than 200 times in a week and it was never shown. In the 8000 ads, mine was a needle in a hay stack. However I did see other ads shown over and over again, just not mine. It seems to me that only the gunbroker people and their good buddies get the showcase treatment. Don't buy into it, let people do a search and they will find you. For the average gunbroker member, showcase feature is a scam.

I attempted to bid on a Star Model 28 9mm pistol. Their sign-up registry said that it would cost a dollar to "verify" any NON-SECURE e-mail address. Well, I used my State of Delaware issued job e-mail. They sent back an e-mail saying we want $3 to "verify" your e-mail. I responded that it was a government issued e-mail, as "secured" as it gets. They responded with a snotty e-mail saying they didn't care, the $3 was for registry. What happened to the claimed "free" registry? And if you're charging $3 for registering, what's with the "secure" versus "unsecure" email crap in the first place? Just say "We want your money" and be done with it. I would have been willing to paid a registration fee. I WON"T pay a scam. Some of the other reviews here mentioned falsified bidding. I have watched several items that suddenly run up in price. I watched one Colt Lawman Mk. III being sold by a vendor in Fla. Go back up AT LEAST 3 times... This site seems to be the worst combination of greedy, dishonest, and stupid!

To the fella that praised Gun Broker,,,, it is ony a matter of time, i had used GB since 2005 with almost 300 pos FB,,,, everything is fine until you have a problem, THEY WILL NOT STAND BY THEIR WORD,,, they will leave you swinging in the wind, that guy had 6 Neg FB for the identical situation i was in with him, the still allowed him not only to continue bid on auctions but neg me as a result of his dirtbaggery,,,, they never re-embursed me my final value fees,,, and flat out ignored me until i walked away and closed my account with them,,, you too will have a good experience,,, until you dont, and its only a matter of time, one thing i am certain of is sooner or later your going to post a bad review here,,,, not a question of if, just a matter of when

I won an auction for a bayonet from a guy doing business in Kansas. I bought a money order the day after the auction and sent it to him. He got pissy because he hadn't received payment barely 3 days after the auction. After numerous profanity-laden emails back and forth, he finally acknowledge payment and said he sent the package (complete with tracking number). This past Saturday, the package arrived and I noticed the box seem too small to contain a nearly foot long bayonet. I opened the package to find a plastic bag (from a grocery store in Kansas) of dog $#*! and a broken kitchen knife. I called the police and had them investigate and contacted Gunbroker. They refuse to respond to my emails about the fraud and the seller is now claiming I didn't pay and he sent the bayonet (he can't keep his $#*! straight). The police officer called the guy and the guy said he sent the bayonet. I filed a complaint with the USPS for mail fraud and will be contacting the BATF about this seller. I am out money and the item I paid for. It's great to know that Gunbroker allow sellers to commit crimes and cheat buyers. NEVER AGAIN!

I've read a lot of the reviews below about Gunbroker and they're complaining about Gunbroker as if Gunbroker was a merchant. They are not a merchant. They are not selling you anything. They are brokering (see what they did with the name there?) transactions between sellers and buyers.
I have used their services at least 20 times. Every time I get exactly what I bought.
You have to be smart about what you're buying and read each seller's fine print.
Here are some rules to follow that will make your experience more satisfactory:
1. Each seller is unique. Read their rules (they can take, or not take any payments they want and they can charger whatever they want for shipping).
2. If you don't agree with a particular seller's rules, don't buy from them.
3. If it's something you need to see before you buy, ask the seller to send pictures. If they won't, don't buy it.
4. If you think something is too expensive, don't buy it. Once again, Gunbroker isn't selling you anything. The sellers are. Complaining about the price you paid for something is like walking into a mall an complaining to the mall owner that Auntie Anne's is charging too much for pretzels.

Bought a few guns through them and never really had any issues. That was because I never really had any problems. Most of the dealers were fine to deal with when there were no issues. In my last transaction, I bought a "new" Glock. When I got it I couldn't find the extra backstraps ( I could have misplaced them) so I contacted Glock to see if I could get some replacements. No problem, except that they informed me that although I may have purchased a gun I thought was new and unfired, Glock considered it used because it had been shipped by them three (3) years earlier and was already out of warranty. When I contacted Gunbroker, the idiot that contacted me pointed out an obvious typo in the email I received from Glock and basically told me to take a walk. I then replied pointing out that the discrepancy was a typo, my communication was ignored.
Since then I have checked my local dealer prices and they're basically the same or very close.
Save yourself some grief, deal locally and ignore these scam artists.

Gunbroker site says this:

Gun Broker Fraud Protection - Buyer's Protection
The item you receive is materially different that its description, such as winning a stainless steel pistol and receiving a blued one instead.

Gun broker reality is this: I purchased a rifle that advertised a 16" barrel. When I received the rifle it had a 18.5" barrel. Seller said I was wrong. I contacted manufacturer with serial number and received email confirming 18.5" barrel on the rifle from day 1.

Made a claim with Gunbroker and they denied the claim. They said that my claim of misrepresented barrel length was not covered due to the fact that the barrel length was not "materially different" than the its description. The auction clearly stated barrel length as 16" and it was not.

The moral of the story is Gunbroker states on its website that claims are very "RARE", well of course they just deny the claims arbitrarily so not to have to pay on their advertises bogus "seller insurance/protection" How convienant.

Non responsible useless customer support. If seller f***ed you up - it is your ONLY problems. Don't go there. Many scammers there.

I bought what I thought was a Sig M400 Enhanced with a fixed front sight and a flip up Magpul back sight. What I got was a Sig M400 without sights at all. I called Sig and gave them the serial number and they said it was sold with a Romeo Red Dot sight and should have come with that brand new from the factory, which is how the rifle was listed. Lo and behold, Sportsman Supply was selling Romeo Red dot sights-wonder where they got those? Anyway, the man I talked to at Sportsman Supply tried to argue that the ad listed that no sights came on the rifle. After I said that I searched the sight extensively, and he looked, he had to admit that it did not state that. He admitted they took off the sight and didn't list it that way in the ad but said he did nothing wrong and refused to do anything. When I told him I was going to report him he said good luck with that. I guess he already knew GB would not do a thing. And he was right as they have not responded to my fraud charge and I doubt they will. I have the money to go after them, though, and am thinking about doing so out of principle. I guarantee a jury of my peers will say they are liable, and they will make it right and pay for their lawyer and mine.

Buyer beware on Gunbroker. Sellers with (A+*******) are you kidding me? THESE ARE SHILL BIDDERS! It's like kill ratio boosters on Call of Duty. Someone bids on their item and it appears the bidder might win that bid at an auction price? NOPE! A shill bidder comes in and boosts the price right to the amount of the max bid. To ensure top bidder pays his max of course, or to ensure he meets the reserve. OHH so what if you bid LOW you ask?. And you're still winning the item? Shill bidder outbids your max bid. Seller keeps the item... then re-lists it tomorrow for the next SUCKER. Each shill bid counts as a (A+*******) to the douchbag seller. Don't be a sucker guys. Gunbroker makes money off this process so they could give two $#*!s about the buyer. If you report this type of stuff to them they are rude and they blame YOU the buyer (the person with the money) As far as I'm concerned their activity is mostly dishonest "PAY ME NOW and ILL GET BACK TO YOU LATER" type of business. I have found better deals on regular gun store websites and even free shipping. I wish I had found this site first before ever messing with gunbroker. I thought they were better than that.

If GunBroker.com had a decent customer service department it might be a good company, but it doesn’t. I wanted to bid on a Springfield M1A, so I registered. It was approved, and then it was disapproved. My contact information was “invalid.” I rechecked what I had entered and it was correct, so I sent a note to customer service asking for assistance. Nine hours later they replied that my contact information was “invalid.” With only three hours left for the auction I replied again that my info was correct and provided address and phone number. 24 hours later I sent another note. Three days later they replied that “General Delivery” was not a valid address. I notified customer service that “General Delivery” was the only mail service available for my area. There is no delivery to houses for thousands of people here and the wait list for PO Boxes is more than a year. My driver's license shows General Delivery, my credit cards are registered here, and my eBay and PayPal are registered here. Their next reply was that they can’t verify my address and Hawaii is not a gun friendly state. And if I can get a gun dealer to vouch for me and provide their license number, then GunBroker won’t report me to BATFE to investigate. All the other companies I deal with verified my address, including GunsAmerica, so I’m keeping my business there.

Watch Out!
I started out looking at merchandise on this site. Saw some deals I might be interested in, and thought I should get registered.
Here begins the process. You fill out some info, agree to pay applicable fees, (you assume if and when you buy something). Then, you are informed that you need to enter credit card and gunbroker.com will charge the card $1 for verification of your email address.

So here I stop and conclude this is not legit, but prior to this, I've agreed to all applicable fees. I don't want to do business with this company. A month later I get an email with a bill for $1. I ask for the account to be closed but they will not close it until the $1 is paid.
AND GET THIS... THEY WILL NOT ACCEPT $1 TO ANYONE VIAL MAIL. THEY DEMAND YOUR CREDIT CARD #.
I'm not sure how far these nuts will go to collect the $1 or how much the intend to increase the "Balance' if I don't give them my card to run.
Just beware... I'll forward this on to my State AG office if they persist, but save yourself the grief... STAY AWAY

Gunbroker.com does not respond to claims status, even after months of a submitted claims. No help, buyers beware!

Gun Broker Site is not a Reputable Business. The Site does not provide any Customer Service regarding issues concerning your purchases or Seller's who have sold you items that were mis-represented.
There is no way to contact Gun Broker directly # No Phone number # No Way To Speak To Someone other then via email and hope they respond to your concern. I doubt they will.
If you leave NEGATIVE feedback regarding a Seller who wronged you on Gun Broker. Be advised if the seller is a dealer the comment will eventually be DELETED or REMOVED and you will be given negative feedback in return. Its a Complete JOKE how this INTERNET SITE OPERATES. Your better off going to your local gun store where you can see the item / items your buying so you know exactly what your getting. IMOP there is no Deals on Gun Broker if you can get beat out of your hard earned money.
With the RISK involved with purchasing an item online through Gun Broker and no REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE/SUPPORT don't Risk purchasing on the site.
If you read the other Negative Feedback comments from consumer's who have purchased on Gun Broker. It's already VALIDATED.

The site Gunbroker.com has many items that may be hard to find or difficult to get in local shops. So it is good to have an expanded shopping available. I have been on GB for over a decade +, and over the years, especially the last year, the site has begun to deteriorate.

There is no customer service for buyers, very little for sellers. And there is no protection for buyers, sellers at least are only out listing fees (if that). As for buyers, there in a buyer protection that covers a maximum $500 (regardless of how much you spend) and out of that $500 GB take $100 as a fee, so max would be $400. I say would be, because they are slow in response, and the responses are boiler plate and they actually never provide a refund, they go around and around.

Now lately with all the changes in the world, the sellers charge fees, pass on the credit card fees, many charge 1.5 times to 3 times the actual shipping costs and about 40-50% of the time you can actually find better deals on other reputable companies websites.

As the the exponential rise of scammers. From sellers performing bait and switch to sellers who are selling using non-reversible forms of payment (i. E. Zelle, cash apps, requesting money orders personal checks, etc).

Overall it is a great site to window shop and to find items that may not be available locally.

As for bottom line advice, I have learned the hard way! 1 - Shop around and find the lowest price on shipping and fees, 2 - I would say not to buy from any sellers who state buyer to pay actual shipping after they have purchased it (get cost prior to bidding) as they tend to charge 2-3 times the actual amount. 3 - using any form of payment that can not be reversed or disputed, i. E. credit card, I would strongly recommend not using personal checks, money orders, cashiers checks, because as soon as you send those forms the money is gone and the seller can not send the item, claim no payment was sent, and so on. Lots of shady folks and scammers on there. And again no buyer support or service.

Only use then if you absolutely can not find the item at any of the 100 other actual businesses that have actual buildings, inventories and websites.