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MP40 on Gunbroker


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Hi, I was lurking on gunbroker a couple weeks ago and saw this cool Amnesty registered MP40 for sale. It was a cool gun but certainly not worth the almost 25K the gun brought. When I looked up who won the auction, it was some guy with no feedback. So my question is is there a lot of shill bidding going on there? I mean Frank sold an MP40 the week before for like 19.5K and it was a lot nicer than this gun. He also had one on his hot list for 18k a week or two ago. Would like to know everyone's thoughts.

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In general there appears to be less fraudulent activity on Gunbroker than there is on Armslist. GB makes at least some effort to vet their sellers and maintain reputation lists on both buyers and sellers which probably accounts for this. Armslist is knee-deep in too-good-to-be-true deals and the like.

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i think and have heard there is lots of shill bidding on GB....i think ive been the victim of it more than once...on a nazi pistol i knew the dealer who was bidding....it was 1 big dealer buying from another big ww2 dealer....why would a dealer pay full price? gotta ask yourself..i emailed the guy on the side and asked him to stop please...i have no doubts these guys are friends and help each other out.

 

ive lost an Uzi gun only to be called the next day (10 hours later) and told the buyer backed out....well isnt that odd? bid up an auction and back out that quick?

 

i recently was watching a FA that isnt overly popular get bid over and over by 2 guys..1 with 0 history and the other who hasnt had any feedback on 3-4 years....suddenly a newbie is tossing down $10k on a odd ball subgun? or a guy who has bought 0 for 3+ years is doing the same?......i suspect 1 or both were shills...i often look for the ones with 0 feedback....anyone here bought a $10k machine gun as their first gunbroker purchase? you didnt buy a pistol or something else first?

 

GB either doesnt sell items at all (95% of whats listed is 3-6 months old) or it goes ape sh*t and sells for more than its worth....good deals are rare

Edited by huggytree
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Ok, thanks for your insight because that is exactly what I was thinking. Why would a guy with 0 feedback drop 25K on a gun that is no where near as nice as one Frank had a week earlier and sold for only 19.5k? He currently has one that is listed at 18k and is VERY nice for the money. That is really odd that you would get an email 10 hours later and have it offered to you. Couldn't be shill bidding could it? Haha. Actually, every now and again I can pick up an MP40 clip or two at a decent price. A few months ago I bought a pair of slab sided mags for like $90 each and also picked up a like BRAND NEW MP41 clip for like $90. The deals are out there but few and far between but the hunt is part of the fun I think. Take care, Haenelistklasse

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There is shill bidding (including hidden reserves) that goes on everywhere including the big auction houses. A guy I know that has a very large MG collection sells on GB and has another guy shill bid until it gets to his personal reserve price and then lets it go from there. I don't think the shill bidder has ever won, someone always comes along and outbids making it a "sort of" legit auction? No one forces anyone to bid.

 

I sold a 37K gun on GB to a guy with 0 or 1 feedback.....his first MG which was a fairly rare transferable. It happens, especially these days since there are really not many stocking dealers left with much inventory? Where else are buyers to turn? Buying on there gives you some recourse and personal comm. with the seller vs. an auction house where if you get a beater or a gun missing parts, you have zero recourse. I've been down both roads.

 

The best deals I've ever done would be the ones negotiated directly between buyer and seller with no middle man or auction environment. Those seem to be getting more scarce?

 

A "good deal" is always a matter of perspective!

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i think and have heard there is lots of shill bidding on GB....i think ive been the victim of it more than once...on a nazi pistol i knew the dealer who was bidding....it was 1 big dealer buying from another big ww2 dealer....why would a dealer pay full price? gotta ask yourself..i emailed the guy on the side and asked him to stop please...i have no doubts these guys are friends and help each other out.

 

ive lost an Uzi gun only to be called the next day (10 hours later) and told the buyer backed out....well isnt that odd? bid up an auction and back out that quick?

 

i recently was watching a FA that isnt overly popular get bid over and over by 2 guys..1 with 0 history and the other who hasnt had any feedback on 3-4 years....suddenly a newbie is tossing down $10k on a odd ball subgun? or a guy who has bought 0 for 3+ years is doing the same?......i suspect 1 or both were shills...i often look for the ones with 0 feedback....anyone here bought a $10k machine gun as their first gunbroker purchase? you didnt buy a pistol or something else first?

 

GB either doesnt sell items at all (95% of whats listed is 3-6 months old) or it goes ape sh*t and sells for more than its worth....good deals are rare

I have only purchased two guns on gunbroker. Both were machineguns. Everything else has been parts for machineguns.

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That MP40 was 100% matching including the firing pin. Franks guns were not matching parts. Like Johnson stated the shill is there to just drive up the selling price not to win the auction. I suppose if the seller feels like its not being sold for the correct price he could have the shill win it. In this case the gun went for a higher than normal price from what i have seen lately so my guess is a first time buyer on GB got it.
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