Riddle me this one???

[beachbumwithagun]

What makes one of these rifles worth more then the other?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=280538317
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=280509380

[Jeff2/142]

Besides the darker stock on the more expensive one.....I have no idea.

Seems like quite the price spike.

[fastwest433]

I may be mistaken, but didn't the mag not match on the first one?

[scarymike23]

I may be mistaken, but didn't the mag not match on the first one?

+1 - and the $700 gun billed itself explicitly as a non-refurb, which probably helped move things along. Also it could be that two very stubborn people decided to get in a bidding war over it. 

[Greatguns]

The presentation of the listing I think is what brought more money along with timing and luck. Other than that I would say the $700 one does look a tad nicer.


EDIT: Or the listing was Shilled. 

[Drago]

The presentation of the listing I think is what brought more money along with timing and luck. Other than that I would say the $700 one does look a tad nicer.


EDIT: Or the listing was Shilled. 

GG, I personally know the seller of the $700 gun and it wasn't shilled. The seller of the $440 gun said he thought maybe the carbine had been rebarreled, based on a number he saw, but we all know that number isn't a serial number, so placing that in his comments wasn't particularly a good thing. I'm not sure that, that swayed people, but you never know.

The seller of $700 carbine is as surprised as we are and just as dumbfounded. Like I stated in another thread, there's a seriously lack of understanding going on with these SKS's. I also think there's a good case against penny auctions with no reserve. Sometimes it works and in the case of the $440 gun, it doesn't. I'm not a fan of penny auctions with no reserve and the one time I did it that way, I barely made my costs on the rifle back. Every other time, I set a fair starting bid and watched as my auctions rocked!

[Greatguns]

Well Drago, that was meant to be more of a joke than anything since we have heard much lately to do with the subject of shilling on Ebay and GB so, no personal attack intended of course.(thus the laughing smiley behind the comment)
The rest of your comment goes in line with what I said about the listing. To elaborate, the quality  of pics, preciseness of wording, and accuracy of information goes a long way in the sale of an item.
Yeah, I agree with you on the ignorance level of some of the bidders. I think too, a lot of guys coming late into collecting the SKS are not seeing the availability of the collectible SKSs that were more common in years past so they are willing to spend more to get what is there now plus, if they are younger I tend to think they just have a different view of finances than some of us older folk. It's that instant gratification thing.(no offense to you young folk here who are more frugal minded)

[Yugofan85]

what is shilling?

[Greatguns]

shilling is when someone connected to an auction listing bids on it in order to jack the price up. I have been involved in local auctions where the auctioneer and his 'people' have gotten caught doing the same thing. They move and talk real fast and it is almost impossible to keep up with it.

[Drago]

Yeah, I agree with you on the ignorance level of some of the bidders. I think too, a lot of guys coming late into collecting the SKS are not seeing the availability of the collectible SKSs that were more common in years past so they are willing to spend more to get what is there now plus, if they are younger I tend to think they just have a different view of finances than some of us older folk. It's that instant gratification thing.(no offense to you young folk here who are more frugal minded)

GG, I think this is the case a lot of the time. However, in the two examples that BB showed, they were within an hour of each other. If someone were willing to spend $700, then why didn't they spend it on the $440 gun? I'd have bought the $440 before I'd have bought the $700, mainly due to the color and condition (Sorry rocketman, yours was a nice one too!)

This is the fun of trying to figure out the buying psychology and why I track this crap everyday. After 16-18 months of doing it, I still really don't know why some guns sell for what they do and why other's don't. Sometimes you can tell, but other times it's a head scratcher. It is possible that some of the watcher's on the first rifle ($440 one) let it go in favor of the darker red ($700 gun) and since one non-refurb was gone, they were left with no more options, thus the heftier price tag. I did notice that the bidders were completely different between the two guns.

I'm going to slap someone if they start saying the market price for a '54 non-refurb is now $700 (Couldn't be happier for Rocketman, though. He's a great guy!).

[Yugofan85]

shilling is when someone connected to an auction listing bids on it in order to jack the price up. I have been involved in local auctions where the auctioneer and his 'people' have gotten caught doing the same thing. They move and talk real fast and it is almost impossible to keep up with it.

oh thats dirty! sound illegal

[Greatguns]

Hey Drago, you think we can convince some of these people to just send their money to us instead since they tend to want to throw it away anyway?    I doubt it will happen but it might be worth a shot.

Yes YF85 it is dirty. I even had one construction auction where me and another guy were bidding on some pre-finished hardwood. Well I had quit bidding and it had been just the two of us in it, but the bidding was still rising. I looked around because the auctioneer kept pointing in my general direction and the bid would go up. Well I lloked at the guy and mouthed to him I was not bidding so we both hollered out to stop the auction. I asked the guy who was currently in the bid with the other guy and he said I was the one who had been bidding. Well long story shorty I called BS, told him I had stopped bidding at $2.30/ft where the last bid was at $3.55/ft. Needless to say the other guy and I both got what we wanted in quantity at $2.30/ft loaded out stuff and walked out. I have never gone back. I really hate auctions.

[TXSailor]

Yeah, I agree with you on the ignorance level of some of the bidders. I think too, a lot of guys coming late into collecting the SKS are not seeing the availability of the collectible SKSs that were more common in years past so they are willing to spend more to get what is there now plus, if they are younger I tend to think they just have a different view of finances than some of us older folk. It's that instant gratification thing.(no offense to you young folk here who are more frugal minded)

This is a big part of it. I'm in that younger crowd, and while I do understand the value of money (I work my a%$ off every day to pay for my own expenses) I know what's out there is only getting more expensive and harder to come by. I'm a cheapskate when it comes to anything in production. I'll look around and bide my time, and pay as little as possible. Show me some MilSurp that hasn't been made in decades, and I'll call in to work and see if I can pick up some extra shifts in a heart-beat.

[Drago]

I was in a gun store yesterday talking with the owner. He said that he's got tons of orders out with different manufacturer's and EVERYONE is back ordered weeks if not months. Someone told me some DPMS stuff will be 3-4 months. Everyone is stocking up, buying up and getting ready for another 4 years of the monkey-in-charge and his ilk. I know I am. While I may not pay a $200 premium on an SKS, I certainly will pay a premium to get primers, bullets, cases and powder on every caliber I ever intend on reloading for. In the past two months, I've spent twice what my gun budget allows and I'll continue to do so until I'm so in the red, I'll bleed.

It's because I think we are at the end of the run boys.

[Oldcarjunkie]

I may be mistaken, but didn't the mag not match on the first one?

+1 - and the $700 gun billed itself explicitly as a non-refurb, which probably helped move things along. Also it could be that two very stubborn people decided to get in a bidding war over it. 

I agree with both of these and the fact that there was many pics of the second gun and it showed the cond much much better. The second gun he made sure to take pics of everything important and as a buyer thats what i want to see.