Hi all and Happy Thanksgiving!!! Anyway, has anyone delt with this auction house? If so, what were your experiences with them? Are the descriptions accurate? Good to deal with?

Any info would be great!

Thanks so much!

Greg

My son bought a Mauser rifle from then last year that turned out to have a large piece broken off the bolt face. They refused to take it back or adjust his bid price. I'd say that's a good indication that they're not reliable in their descriptions or ethical in their errors.

I have bought from them on once with no problems, and had a bid submitted through Proxybid ignored. I don't know if that was RIAs's or Proxybid's fault.

They misrepresented the gauge on an old French Gun I won and received. They took it back with no hassle and refunded my money.

I bought a nice Alex Henry double rifle from them and it was as represented.

I asked their shotgun inspector if he had checked a lot with snap caps. He didn't know what snap caps were.

I asked about the bbl wall thicknesses on another lot and he said eyeballed the walls and they looked pretty good.

OWD

I bought a Ithaca mag 10 that was listed as a 4e but the picture was not . The gun in the picture was ok with me and I got what I paid for. I think they know exactly what they are selling

IMO; buying any gun from an auction house without a hands on inspection is a crap shoot. If there is a problem you're essentially at the mercy of the auction house and,as pointed out above, they may be less than agreeable to making some sort of adjustment.
Jim

Purchasing from the RIA can be a mixed experience. They "bundle" some guns into "lots". I have bid and won a "lot". Often you get stuck with a number of guns you have no use or interest in. Often the buyers present at the auction are professional dealers.

RIA often shows up at local gun shows. I was at a CADA show a while back and they were there. They brought only the best guns for that auction, over 7 tables worth. I was able to ask questions & handle any gun there. Some really nice items.

RIA does have a viewing in advance of the auction and they encourage people to attend.

There are many small auction houses here in the midwest. RIA is the largest that I am aware of.

Some the small houses will simply not respond to email or phone calls. I have had several bad experiences and tend to stay away from them now. I won an auction at one of these small houses via Proxibid. 3 months later they still had not shipped the gun, a TL Golcher 12ga. This after being assured every week that the gun was "in transit". I finally had my credit card company fix the billing. Never again with small houses. I reported them to Proxibid who did nothing.

I am not saying that RIA is perfect or always right.

I have learned with any auction house to ask many questions, ask for more pictures, etc. If they do not respond, I walk away.

Pete

"Don't Be Shy !!" Has helped in dealing w RIA. You probably know it but no harm repeating. My method. Call a week or two early and ask them to inspect the gun in-hand. Don't just call on impulse- Have ready your list of 20 or more specific questions and just go through them thoroughly to your satisfaction. Ask about EVERY part on the firearm! Ask double/triple "r u sure?!" about checking for stock cracks in the usual places. I even ask them to pull a rifle from the stock to check to see if there are any splits/fractures developing around the mag/trigger areas... Call back later if the guy can't/won't (but they ought to honor someone else to do this). Get your helper's name and write it down w the time of your call. If the guy doesn't seem to be able to answer, ask him to ask another associate to help out. If you're serious about bidding after weighing all the unknowns, send them a confirming email immediate which references every Q&A as well as documents who you spoke with and the time of your call. Now you have an argument if things weren't represented. Remember, they now made an express representation on that auction item and you've documented the explicit "condition report." I have had great success being deliberate with the questions and simply insisting they produce someone who can answer the questions. Very happy w a 7mm mauser won through them with nothing misrepresented.

I asked this very question to a local dealer who is full time in high end double guns and rifles. His answer was that there were better auction houses out there and that items weren't quite accurately described.

I asked this very question to a local dealer who is full time in high end double guns and rifles. His answer was that there were better auction houses out there and that items weren't quite accurately described.

Very reasonable way of approaching it. After all, if you intend to (or are thinking of intending to) drop serious coin on a gun, the least a seller should do is answer all your questions and be bound by their answers. None of this "I don't know nothin' about it. Figure it out yourself" that some sellers will give. (After all, if the seller don't know nothin', how did he come up with his asking price? Throwing darts at the wall?)

Compare it to buying a used car (something I did recently). The dealer was more than happy to drive the car to my mechanic for him to inspect and give me the thumbs up/down and to answer all my questions. And after my mech said OK, I felt comfortable dropping several thousand on a '96 Volvo.