Confused by auction economics

[Wooglinite]

Hi guys,

Pardon the interruption. I've been lurking and learning for a while and am interested in a nice service grade M1 Garand that I can shoot and enjoy. I must admit still being really confused by the prices on some of these rifles going at auction. It seems in many cases the rifles sold on the auction site go for 50% to 100% more than similar rifles available on gunbroker, or if you visit one of the CMP stores in person.

I realize every rifle has a unique history but can someone help me understand this? Is my data set too small? Are only the most "correct" (and hence more valuable) rifles listed online at the CMP auction? Or some other factor? Auction 893264716 on GB is a good example of this I think.

I just want something that looks nice and shoots well.

Thanks in advance,

Chuck

[Jakeroub]

This is a common question. See below:

http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=275397

[weimar_police]

I've heard every excuse / reason and it makes no sense to me either.
I guess the 'coming' from CMP auction gives it a provenance. Sure, I understand that, but the possibility of getting a return on the items 5-10 yrs later seem unlikely to me...

[MajDave]

Chuck,
If you want something that looks nice and shoots well, you won't go wrong ordering a CMP Service Grade through mail order. I have bought Garands from both North and South Stores and by mail order and have to say that I have never been disappointed when I opened that box delivered by FedEx. Some of my nicest M1s were ones received from mailing in an order.

[Wooglinite]

Gentlemen, thanks for the feedback! I’m only about 2 hrs from the Port Clinton store so I may schedule a road trip. Does anyone know how the inventory selection is there?

[Shomway]

Originally Posted by Wooglinite

Gentlemen, thanks for the feedback! I’m only about 2 hrs from the Port Clinton store so I may schedule a road trip. Does anyone know how the inventory selection is there?

Currently doesn't sound to good......
http://forums.thecmp.org/showthread.php?t=277145

[krdomingue]

I am not going to defend auction prices, but you can get a lot of the more rare birds on it. The same ones will still turn up in luck of the draw purchases or in store finds, but not all of us live in driving distance of a store and luck of the draw will most likely not provide me the plugged M1C, or IHC with an original SA barrel. The likelihood of me drawing a 6 mil SA by mail order is next to nil. (When you consider the tax you pay in the store, my auction 6 mil rifle was about $20 more.)

I have made 8 purchases from the Auction in the last 6ish years. (I have bided on 40+ auctions that I lost and a couple hundred that I didn't bother because they had already gone past my strike price.) Six I got what I want at what still feels like a reasonable price and two I paid too much for. A Winchester mixmaster that was nothing special and a 50 Cal USMC Urtel scope. The scope was a decent price at the time, but 50 cal prices have come down a lot since then. In my defense of the Winchester, the CMP was not offering any for sale at the time and there were not that many showing up for sale at all. The Philippine returns seems to have plus sized the available supply.

[rickgman]

The laws of economics do not apply to auctions.

[Ohio Don]

Originally Posted by rickgman

The laws of economics do not apply to auctions.

The only thing that applies is what a bidder is willing to pay. Some of us are too far from the South store to make it cost effective to go there. So the auction gives us the chance at something we might want. It is a shorter drive from our place in Ohio to Anniston than it is to go from here in Florida to our neighboring State. So we'd have to factor in the cost of the trip ( meals, gas, lodging, and time spent ) vs what the item goes for on the auction where we know what we are getting.

[sajeantet]

That GB gun is not worthy of an auction, it's just one of the regular Winnies that were shipping out long ago. The Auction guns will be more valuable than your regular mail in or store pick up. This wasn't always the case though. 8 years or more ago almost complete HRAs and Tractor guns were being shipped out. I got one of each and a simple part swap or stock swap made it complete.