Gun Biddler

warbirdlover · September 18, 2012, 04:47 PM

Is this site for real? What's the catch? There has to be something I'm missing where you pay some hidden cost. I mean guns for under a dollar?

I smell a rat.

RamItOne · September 18, 2012, 05:14 PM

Prolly like quibids

Brian Pfleuger · September 18, 2012, 06:00 PM

Penny Auction, AKA ScamCity

RamItOne · September 18, 2012, 08:51 PM

Say what you want about penny auctions, almost $700 in gas cards and Walmart cards (which is pretty much currency) that cost about $320-350 in bids, plus it was fun

But I can see the anxiety if the site isn't mainstream.

ripnbst · September 18, 2012, 09:03 PM

Congratulations. You are the only person ive ever met who won anything on there.

FrankenMauser · September 20, 2012, 12:35 AM

Same scheme as guns4pennies.

For our previous discussion of that particular site, give this thread a read:
guns4pennies - The Firing Line

As an aside...
When I was just looking up some information on the GunBiddler site, I noticed in the "Latest Winner" section, that some one had just won a Ruger SR40 for a displayed price of $13.46. That means at least 1,345 bids had been placed. Since the cheapest price to purchase a bid is $0.60, each... that means the site took in a minimum of $807 on that auction. But, since most people buy smaller bid packages (up to $0.94 / bid), they may have taken in as much as $1,264.30 on the auction.

If you only place one bid and win... it's a good deal. But, that's usually not the case.
And, once you buy your "bid package", your money is gone. You won't be getting it back when you're outbid.

raftman · September 20, 2012, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Is this site for real? What's the catch? There has to be something I'm missing where you pay some hidden cost. I mean guns for under a dollar?

I smell a rat.

Yep. You pay for each bid you place, so you're out however much money you spent on bids even if you don't win the auction, along with everyone else who doesn't win the auction.

Stressfire · September 20, 2012, 08:37 AM

Maybe it's just what's posted today....but I didn't really see anything in the listings worth a letter home, much less the bother of shipping and transfer

GunBiddler · October 19, 2012, 04:32 PM

I am the actual manager of GunBiddler and would like to post my 2 cents about the subject, if ya'll don't mind. We are a Penny Auction, very similar to sites like Quibid and Beezid. We have a FFL. I am not running a scam like some people would say. People CAN find some great deals on penny auctions. Like anything else in life however, if people do it stupidly, they can lose a lot of money on penny auctions. We have some players who have gotten some amazing deals and other who have lost their ass. It all depends on strategy. Our top player has received over 40 Firearms from us over the past 6 months.

I'd like to answer any questions you may have about us or penny auctions in general, and clear up some misconceptions. First one being you are not always SOL if you don't win. We have a BUY IT NOW option for most things on our site. This mean if you lose, you can buy the item for the retail price. We give a discount of $0.60 for every bid you placed on the auction, off of the retail price. Second, I can assure you we are not making a "boat load" of money on any auction. We sell more Firearms from the Buy It Now option than we do in the auctions. So, If you see a gun for a ridiculous amount of bids, you can bet several of the players involved used the Buy It Now. Third, Penny Auctions are not gambling. There is no random luck involved. In General, the most persistent player wins. The only way you "lose" is by stopping and not using the Buy It Now.

On a personal note, I'm a U.S. Marine Sgt. I just finished a 6 year contract and did several tours over seas. I'm an avid hunter and fisherman. I will give you a clear and unbiased answer to any question you may have. I understand Penny Auctions aren't for everyone, but many people enjoy using them. I'll also tell you there is only one safe way to use a penny auction site. Always buy the largest Bid Pack so you get the best rate on bids. Only bid on things you are willing to pay retail for, and always Buy It Now. I have used this strategy on other penny auctions sites successfully. Thats the exact same strategy our top players use.

I'm not here to promote my site. I just want to have a voice in the conversation since it is about me and my company. I will answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.

Thanks,
Chris,
GunBiddler Staff

GunBiddler · October 19, 2012, 04:52 PM

Forgot to answer the original question.
The way it works is like this. You purchase or win a Bid Pack. We call them "rounds". You use the "rounds" to bid on auctions. When you place a bid, one bid will be deducted from your account and the auction price will raise by one penny. When the timer is below the 20 second mark, any bid placed will cause the time to reset to 20 seconds. Giving the effect of a live auction. When the timer is allowed to expire, meaning no one bids on top of you, the auction closes. The last person to bid can then purchase the item for the final price plus shipping. We charge a flat rate of $30 shipping for Firearms. It's much lower for everything else. It's pretty much that easy. The difficult part is no one knows how many other players are watching and waiting to bid. It's impossible to predict how much an auction will go for. We have had a 1911 go for $0.09 and a MSBRG 30-06 go for over $34.00. I've seen much higher prices on other sites, but you can never tell whether or not that site is cheating. I trust The Big Sites like QuiBids, Beezid, and Skoreit, but not many others. We have a pretty large number of our players who will back us up when we say we don't use any immoral measures to influence prices. But the fact of the matter is, any penny auction can cheat at anytime. It all boils down to whether or not you trust the site you play on is being fair.

johnbt · October 19, 2012, 05:46 PM

"and clear up some misconceptions."

Thanks for the offer, but I don't have any misconceptions about penny auctions.

"I can assure you we are not making a "boat load" of money on any auction."

If the margin isn't good enough, you might consider running a traditional auction instead of a gimmick auction.

silvrjeepr · October 19, 2012, 06:13 PM

Penny auctions are what they are. Some people actually put in the time if they reaaallllyyy want something at a bargain. It's not my cup of tea, but for some it is...

Just don't expect something for nothing.

Beagle45ACP · October 24, 2012, 01:51 PM

Quote:

We have some players who have gotten some amazing deals and other who have lost their ass

Sounds a hell of a lot more like gambling instead of a legitimate auction. While I guess I can't prove that, there's one thing I can prove for certain - they'll never be getting my business (or the business of anyone I know, if I can help it). In short, seems like just one more way for gun enthusiasts to be financially persecuted, except this time it's con men doing it instead of politicians (who were the original con men, so I guess it's not that much different after all).

Brian Pfleuger · October 24, 2012, 02:00 PM

Not much gun related happening here...

September 18, 2012, 04:47 PM	#1
warbirdlover Senior Member Join Date: December 13, 2009 Location: central Wisconsin Posts: 2,324	Gun Biddler Is this site for real? What's the catch? There has to be something I'm missing where you pay some hidden cost. I mean guns for under a dollar? I smell a rat.

September 18, 2012, 06:00 PM	#3
Brian Pfleuger Moderator Emeritus Join Date: June 25, 2008 Location: Austin, CO Posts: 19,578	Penny Auction, AKA ScamCity __________________ Nobody plans to screw up their lives... ...they just don't plan not to. -Andy Stanley

September 18, 2012, 08:51 PM	#4
RamItOne Senior Member Join Date: May 24, 2011 Posts: 990	Penny auctions Say what you want about penny auctions, almost $700 in gas cards and Walmart cards (which is pretty much currency) that cost about $320-350 in bids, plus it was fun But I can see the anxiety if the site isn't mainstream.

September 20, 2012, 12:35 AM	#6
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,424	Same scheme as guns4pennies. For our previous discussion of that particular site, give this thread a read: guns4pennies - The Firing Line As an aside... When I was just looking up some information on the GunBiddler site, I noticed in the "Latest Winner" section, that some one had just won a Ruger SR40 for a displayed price of $13.46. That means at least 1,345 bids had been placed. Since the cheapest price to purchase a bid is $0.60, each... that means the site took in a minimum of $807 on that auction. But, since most people buy smaller bid packages (up to $0.94 / bid), they may have taken in as much as $1,264.30 on the auction. If you only place one bid and win... it's a good deal. But, that's usually not the case. And, once you buy your "bid package", your money is gone. You won't be getting it back when you're outbid. __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

September 20, 2012, 08:37 AM	#8
Stressfire Senior Member Join Date: June 16, 2011 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,497	Maybe it's just what's posted today....but I didn't really see anything in the listings worth a letter home, much less the bother of shipping and transfer __________________ "The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank" - Montgomery Scott

September 18, 2012, 05:14 PM	#2
RamItOne Senior Member Join Date: May 24, 2011 Posts: 990	Prolly like quibids

September 18, 2012, 09:03 PM	#5
ripnbst Senior Member Join Date: November 24, 2010 Location: Spring, TX Posts: 1,552	Congratulations. You are the only person ive ever met who won anything on there.

October 19, 2012, 04:32 PM	#9
GunBiddler Junior Member Join Date: October 19, 2012 Posts: 2	Q&A I am the actual manager of GunBiddler and would like to post my 2 cents about the subject, if ya'll don't mind. We are a Penny Auction, very similar to sites like Quibid and Beezid. We have a FFL. I am not running a scam like some people would say. People CAN find some great deals on penny auctions. Like anything else in life however, if people do it stupidly, they can lose a lot of money on penny auctions. We have some players who have gotten some amazing deals and other who have lost their ass. It all depends on strategy. Our top player has received over 40 Firearms from us over the past 6 months. I'd like to answer any questions you may have about us or penny auctions in general, and clear up some misconceptions. First one being you are not always SOL if you don't win. We have a BUY IT NOW option for most things on our site. This mean if you lose, you can buy the item for the retail price. We give a discount of $0.60 for every bid you placed on the auction, off of the retail price. Second, I can assure you we are not making a "boat load" of money on any auction. We sell more Firearms from the Buy It Now option than we do in the auctions. So, If you see a gun for a ridiculous amount of bids, you can bet several of the players involved used the Buy It Now. Third, Penny Auctions are not gambling. There is no random luck involved. In General, the most persistent player wins. The only way you "lose" is by stopping and not using the Buy It Now. On a personal note, I'm a U.S. Marine Sgt. I just finished a 6 year contract and did several tours over seas. I'm an avid hunter and fisherman. I will give you a clear and unbiased answer to any question you may have. I understand Penny Auctions aren't for everyone, but many people enjoy using them. I'll also tell you there is only one safe way to use a penny auction site. Always buy the largest Bid Pack so you get the best rate on bids. Only bid on things you are willing to pay retail for, and always Buy It Now. I have used this strategy on other penny auctions sites successfully. Thats the exact same strategy our top players use. I'm not here to promote my site. I just want to have a voice in the conversation since it is about me and my company. I will answer any questions you have to the best of my ability. Thanks, Chris, GunBiddler Staff

October 19, 2012, 04:52 PM	#10
GunBiddler Junior Member Join Date: October 19, 2012 Posts: 2	First Question Forgot to answer the original question. The way it works is like this. You purchase or win a Bid Pack. We call them "rounds". You use the "rounds" to bid on auctions. When you place a bid, one bid will be deducted from your account and the auction price will raise by one penny. When the timer is below the 20 second mark, any bid placed will cause the time to reset to 20 seconds. Giving the effect of a live auction. When the timer is allowed to expire, meaning no one bids on top of you, the auction closes. The last person to bid can then purchase the item for the final price plus shipping. We charge a flat rate of $30 shipping for Firearms. It's much lower for everything else. It's pretty much that easy. The difficult part is no one knows how many other players are watching and waiting to bid. It's impossible to predict how much an auction will go for. We have had a 1911 go for $0.09 and a MSBRG 30-06 go for over $34.00. I've seen much higher prices on other sites, but you can never tell whether or not that site is cheating. I trust The Big Sites like QuiBids, Beezid, and Skoreit, but not many others. We have a pretty large number of our players who will back us up when we say we don't use any immoral measures to influence prices. But the fact of the matter is, any penny auction can cheat at anytime. It all boils down to whether or not you trust the site you play on is being fair.

October 19, 2012, 05:46 PM	#11
johnbt Senior Member Join Date: December 6, 1999 Location: Richmond, Virginia USA Posts: 6,004	"and clear up some misconceptions." Thanks for the offer, but I don't have any misconceptions about penny auctions. "I can assure you we are not making a "boat load" of money on any auction." If the margin isn't good enough, you might consider running a traditional auction instead of a gimmick auction.

October 19, 2012, 06:13 PM	#12
silvrjeepr Senior Member Join Date: January 6, 2009 Posts: 213	Penny auctions are what they are. Some people actually put in the time if they reaaallllyyy want something at a bargain. It's not my cup of tea, but for some it is... Just don't expect something for nothing.

October 24, 2012, 02:00 PM	#14
Brian Pfleuger Moderator Emeritus Join Date: June 25, 2008 Location: Austin, CO Posts: 19,578	Not much gun related happening here... __________________ Nobody plans to screw up their lives... ...they just don't plan not to. -Andy Stanley