be careful on Gun Broker

[Joe in Colorado]

Hello members, just a reminder to be careful with online auctions like Gun Broker. They are a great way to learn and buy, but be careful.

Here is one sale I have been watching:
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/878099566

I will attach some screen shots and you can look at the 56 photos if you like.

I felt more clarity was needed and emailed the seller:
Hi, my name is Joe, I'm a collector in Colorado. I've been watching your Mauser and see you revised the price. I'm not the greatest expert on these but-allow me to say without implying anything-in fairness to the buying public there are some things you should make clear. For example, the pistol is a WW1 .30 caliber model-the double-sight curves and 1000m rear sight are for the .30 not 9mm round so this should be made clear in my opinion-especially when you suggest this would be a great shooter. Also, you should make clear how many items are reproductions-and include a photo of the stock lug where the sn would be found. Also one mismatched part inside. Best Wishes, Joe

His reply:

Put your reading glasses on and check out the description next time boomer. The info is all in there, I even said the barrel was milled and re-lined to 9mm. Never said the stock was original, I just said it was high quality. I made the description very clear that the gun was restored.

My reply:
Thanks for your reply, I did not intend to start an argument or get personal as you just did, you should still address the issues I mentioned, good luck, Joe.

Conclusion: I won't make any judgements but it is odd that with 56 photos none show the 1000M rear sight clearly, none of the stock lug, etc...note-sold AS IS-that much is clear.

Best Wishes, Joe

[Doubs]

"AS IS - No refund of exchange" automatically means "NO BID" from me.

Your warning is well founded IMO, especially after the snippy reply.

[Heinz]

Joe, thanks for the post. When they call me boomer I tell them I am a war baby. One of my rules of thumb is there is no reason for bad photos with today's cell phones. Bad photos and photo shopped photo are just cover-ups.

[MikeP]

I don't see why you would even make that contact in the 1st place.

[Joe in Colorado]

Hi Mike, thanks for your question/suggestion.

Perhaps I should have just left it alone, at least I hope you will agree I put the question politely, if not my apologies to the seller.

If I had to put up some reasons for emailing the seller and placing this post-which I swear came as an afterthought once I saw the rude and mistaken reply-they would include:
-I've made past posts talking up GB so I felt obliged to add this caution
-I felt a bit offended at the outrageous claims of the seller-especially since the sale is "as-is no refunds"
-claims such as "museum quality restoration", "100% matching", "commercial model from the 1920s" all these are wrong
-by the way, the seller's reply is perhaps a preview if some gullible person trusted the posting, payed way too much, proudly showed it to a collector, learns how goofed-up it is and then wants a refund.

Regardless, this is just a hobby for me, if this comes up again I will remember your advice, thank you, Joe.

[Edward Tinker]

I don't know - I have written sellers a couple of times trying to be helpful, however some respond back like a jerk - and once I had a run-in with a seller (my fault, I was being the catalyst), so generally I don't write them anymore.

I do think that if we see outrageous comments on a auction, that it is helpful to buyers to read it on the forum for discussion. The comment about boomer was very odd - why disrespect a possible buyer?

[sheepherder]

I always email the seller a question (any question) on big-buck items. It gives me an idea of how prompt I can expect the sale to be, his attitude, his helpfulness, his knowledge of the item, etc. Some sellers don't respond at all. Some are asses, some know everything there is to know about the item. Returns and inspection time are important even if I can't get to my FFL guy in time. It's the idea that counts.

And any seller in Prior Lake rarely responds.

Originally Posted by Heinz

One of my rules of thumb is there is no reason for bad photos with today's cell phones.

100% of Weimaraners surveyed agree!

[conehammer]

I often do the same for several classes of items I'm interested in, military models in scale and Mauser C96 pistols. Some sellers truly don't know and their listings and responses show it; others exhibit all the traits of a shyster who was caught prevaricating on the attributes of their item: they usually lash out as yours did, with epithets, insults and umbrage. It's actually fun to watch. Whenever the words 'Museum' 'Unique' 'Collector's' are used in an item's description I hear a little klaaxon alarm go off in the back of my pea brain like a call to battle stations...

Good job, well done!

Jerry

[Heinz]

Jerry, nice tank and spot on
Sheepherder, 100%

[gunbugs]

All my auctions are "as is, no returns", as it keeps the tire kickers away. I'm not interested in, "my wife changed my mind, I want to send it back". Or, "what? I thought 7mm rem mag could fire 7mm Mauser!" Or "I thought when you pictured "bullets", that it was loaded ammo." Or other such BS. I always respond promptly to valid questions, or requests for more detailed photos, etc. If I have actually made a serious mistake on my part, which I have done once, I'm happy to pay the refund and postage both ways. But, I always look at a sellers feedback, and if it is mostly, 99%+ good, then I don't worry much.

[Zorba]

Most of the pix are OK, although many of them would have benefited if they had been stopped down to increase the DOF. I don't know if that's possible with a cell phone or not. OTOH, they're in landscape mode, most cell phone owners don't know better and shoot everything in portrait mode whether it should be or not - usually not!