How to find "sold" prices on Gunbroker

[Major Tom]

I have a Ruger Vaquero in 45 colt that I need to value. Looking at Gunbroker I can find no way to find what these guns have sold for.
Can you help?
Thanks,
Major Tom

[togor]

Only active auctions are returned in the search function. Ended auctions stay on the system for a few months before their individual pages disappear. So one way to do it is to just add these auctions to your watch list and accumulate the information over time going forward. If you're wanting to start cold today and go back 3-4 years in GB auctions, forget it. Their system is in fact designed to make that impossible.

[Sunray]

I don't think Gunbroker publishes that info. Listings 'expire' after 90 days from the start date too.
"...have a..." Look for the same thing you have in the same condition. Barrel length, chambering, SS or not, grips, etc. Give you a ball park figure at least.

[Herschel]

Finding completed auctions is not difficult. Steps are as follows.

Go to gunbroker auction.
In the upper right side of the screen just to the right of the green search block is the small work "advanced". Click on it.
Then on the left side of the screen are two squares labeled current and completed. Click on completed.
Then type in the search description of the type item you are looking for.
Scroll down to a list showing how far back you want to search. The you can click on 30 days etc.
When the list comes up you just click on the item you want to see.
The item that come up will be labeled "sold" or "item has ended".

The "item has ended" will be on most auctions but the sold items gives you solid pricing information.

[Sandpebble]

Read Herschels post above. It will bring you to what has sold in the past for a reasonable amount of time. Someting that has sold a lot will drop off the radar more quickly.

However.... you need to have a Gun Broker account { registration is free } to be able to access the advanced section to look at past auctions

[dryheat]

Gunbroker;

Watch what items you have, have sold for lately. Mostly, you will see exorbitantly priced items that don't sell. Those ads are good for education. If you want to sell something, price it at .01 and let the market determine it's value. It helps to take some good pics(get a IPhone) and intelligently describe what you are selling(no BS). If you expect to make a fortune on your one rifle/pistol you're in for a disappointment.

[clintonhater]

Mostly, you will see exorbitantly priced items that don't sell. Those ads are good for education.

They're good for mis-education, & distortion of the market, because simple-minded folk with a similar gun will jump to the false conclusion that their gun, too, must be worth as much--not knowing that the "exorbitantly priced item" has been sitting there for a year, maybe longer, with no takers. Any half-way reasonably priced item will sell quickly.

Unfortunately, unless one watches the same category month after month, seeing the same items re-listed again & again with no bids, there's no way to know how long it's been listed--that's one piece of info GB forbids bidders to know, because it might show up the cheating dealer for the thief he is.

In ordinary commerce, a merchant can't overprice his goods too outrageously, because he requires the income derived from their sale. But antique & collector gun-dealing is NOT ordinary commerce--far from it! To many of these dealers, it's merely a lucrative hobby, not a livelihood, which explains why they can afford to post sucker prices, then sit back & wait as long as it takes for the sucker to bite.

[barretcreek]

In the 'completed listings', scroll down to the menu which provides 'highest number of bids first'. That is what I use as it gives an idea of how much interest there is in an item.

[clintonhater]

In the 'completed listings', scroll down to the menu which provides 'highest number of bids first'. That is what I use as it gives an idea of how much interest there is in an item.

But not necessarily how much serious interest when bidding begins at a ridiculously low level, like one dollar. Do the cheapskates who bid as "much" as, let's say, $100 on what's obviously, at a minimum, a $1000 gun REALLY think they have a chance of a snowball in hell of winning it?

[dryheat]

I start all of my auctions a .01 But I also often bid $25-200 for stuff I want on my "buying" list just so it stays on my screen after the auction ends. I've also bid up Reserve auctions just to see where the end figure is. It's kind of reckless,but I think it's fun. So far I haven't gotten stuck. The reserves are so silly I know I'll never hit it.

[lyman]

They're good for mis-education, & distortion of the market, because simple-minded folk with a similar gun will jump to the false conclusion that their gun, too, must be worth as much--not knowing that the "exorbitantly priced item" has been sitting there for a year, maybe longer, with no takers. Any half-way reasonably priced item will sell quickly.

Unfortunately, unless one watches the same category month after month, seeing the same items re-listed again & again with no bids, there's no way to know how long it's been listed--that's one piece of info GB forbids bidders to know, because it might show up the cheating dealer for the thief he is.

In ordinary commerce, a merchant can't overprice his goods too outrageously, because he requires the income derived from their sale. But antique & collector gun-dealing is NOT ordinary commerce--far from it! To many of these dealers, it's merely a lucrative hobby, not a livelihood, which explains why they can afford to post sucker prices, then sit back & wait as long as it takes for the sucker to bite.

actually,

completed auctions show just that , completed auctions,
some will have bids, some not, and lots of relists,
meaning GB does not forbid it,,

it will also show you, when someone had a high reserve, what folks are willing to bid up to,


I use it almost every day for appraisals and buys (I am in the business), and it is good accurate data once you know how to use it,
and it is national data, not regional (regional prices do vary a bit)

- - - Updated - - -

I start all of my auctions a .01 But I also often bid $25-200 for stuff I want on my "buying" list just so it stays on my screen after the auction ends. I've also bid up Reserve auctions just to see where the end figure is. It's kind of reckless,but I think it's fun. So far I haven't gotten stuck. The reserves are so silly I know I'll never hit it.

I've had people bid on my auctions random numbers, (one guy always bid 7.77) until I blocked him,
got tired of trying to amend a description to add some requested info, or change the listing to add a BIN for a sale,, which means I would have to end the auction and then relist,

as far as reserves, GB now charges 2% to use a reserve, thinking most will not want to pay that price, so the start price may be high instead