doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Internet auctions

I'm amazed that auction companies who list their sales on Proxibid so often fail to give any information about bore condition in their descriptions. Rock Island and Little John's are the worst offenders in my opinion since they're the largest operations. How can they expect internet bidders to participate without the most basic information? Yes, you can call for the information, but why should you have to? In a large auction there mat be 30-40 items a potential bidder would want to know about in order to pare that number down to actual bids. Unless companies are willing to do what they can to put internet bidders on an equal footing with on-site bidders. they ought not list their sales at all.

I see your point but to be honest I have been buying more guns at auction with little info on them. Why? because at times I have been buying really right. The more info, the more people bid, the higher the price. I just found a small auction with a few guns I am interested in and I am going to take a risk on them and see....

"Unless companies are willing to do what they can to put internet bidders on an equal footing with on-site bidders. they ought not list their sales at all."

Or internet bidders should simply not partake in the auction. No rule requires that I bid unless I choose to do so. One can simply ignore them.

cpa, you're point is clear, but those of us with a serious interest in unusual firearms would otherwise have extremely limited access to them. I find SKB's point more persuasive, possibly because it aligns with my own behavior even while it runs a bit contrary to my better sense. Over the long haul I've done well, but there have been some notable lapses.

Bill, I agree with SKB and definitely agree with your second post. I live in Eastern New Mexico and any show of size is a 4+ hour drive. GB and other auction sites along with the Proxibid (in my case) access to large auction houses around the country opens up a whole world of accessibility to firearms I would never see, much less have the opportunity to buy. There have been a few times I was disappointed, and even burned once. But in all, if I temper my bids with a bit of "possible reality", I find I am quite happy with what I get. If it goes for more than my max, then I just hope the other bidder gets what he wanted.

We all know that a fair bore may or may not be reasonably accurate and for the most part, I won't be putting that many rounds through the majority of these. Having several to pick from allows me more freedom of choice in which gun I might use and I wouldn't have or be able to afford the "several" if I had to pay premium for all of them.

It would be nice if all aspects were addressed in descriptions but that will increase interest and therefore price. I have managed to acquire some nice additions at reasonable prices going off of a couple or solo picture and meager description.

Thaine

Think of what might happen if they listed bore condition and the buyer disagreed with their estimate? The addition of a bore evaluation is always going to be different by each person. 1-10 scales are even worse than NRA way of listing them as good, very good, excellent, etc.
The addition of a bore description adds another problem for the auction house, and another loophole for buyer's remorse if they got caught up in the bidding, and want a way out later. I doubt they want to open that can of worms.

Vall, This seems to be the auction houses' point of view. I would reply that bore condition, to someone who knows what to look for, is no more subjective than another part of a description. And, if the catalogers don't know what to look for, they could either be trained or replaced. If a company wants internet bidders, they should do what they reasonably can to give them information comparable to what on site bidders can see for themselves.

I like to see pictures of the bore and of the crown. And I avoid, like the plague, sellers who say something to the effect, "... should clean up nicely..."

Or even worse "In great shape considering its age".

How about bright and shiny with some pitting?