[Feldscher]

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=78429668

Does anyone have any experience of dealing with this seller from Florida (GunBroker nick "geranimo")?
I won 1881 Berdan II rifle form the same seller on 9/04/07 ($695.00, good deal IMO).
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=78841788
The rifle was listed as fair condition, no pictures posted (however, the seller promised to provide photos at later time).
Here comes the good part, the seller calls me and says that the rifle will not be available for a week. OK, I am willing to wait. Two weeks, 4 e-mails and 2 phone calls later, the seller e-mails me some pictures. The rifle is in fair condition; BUT, all small parts (cleaning rod, front sight, bolt screws, sling swivels) were removed. We are talking about over $150.00 worth of parts. From the following e-mails I learned that it was his way of "adjusting the price".
Naturally, I asked the seller to provide the parts or to decrease the final cost since there was no mention of missing parts in the description and photos were not provided till after the end of the auction. He ignored my request; the rifle "grew" most of missing parts overnight and was re-listed at starting price of $795.00.
Result: no money lost; mutual negative feedbacks.
Do you think I was wrong?

 

[USMCsean]

I think he is the only one wrong. However, I would not bid on a rifle without pictures, no matter how rare and no matter how "legitimate" the guarantee.

 

[jp]

I was watching the two Berdan auctions from this seller....
Without pics it was impossible to tell, but.... Keith Doyon of Militaryrifles.com just sold two very rough Berdan IIs and geranimo just listed two of the same. Hmmmm.... I saw pics of the two Keith sold and they were rough. The final pics from geranimo were similar... and this seller often buys for immediate resale. Were they the same? Unknown, but I was leery without pics. I have looked at this seller's feedback and he seems pretty OK so I don't know what to tell you other than you may have jumped the gun by bidding without pics. After all, it was listed as "fair condition" which sets off warning bells with me, at least. Yeah, his pics and descriptions suck, but that is where "ask the seller a question" comes in.
Did your scathing auction listing criticizing the guy cause the neg feedback, or was it your backing out of the deal???? You had every right to decline the auction once pics were provided and it should have rested there.

 

[DocDog2007]

Feldscher,
We all know you are top drawer, a person of high quality in all your dealings. The person you were attempting to deal with is a plain old crook and welcher from your description of his shennanigans, period. One does not do business with such people, one washes the filth off their hands and flushes the memory of such scum down the toilet. SHUN such swine aka, "SSS"!
Regards,
---DD

 

[Feldscher]

The seller and I exchanged few e-mails and phone calls priot to the conflict.
He claimed that the rifle was on its way from Afganistan. We agreed on no payment till I see some photos.
I had no intentions of submitting a negative feedback till I saw relisted rifle and questioned him about it. He responded that my rifle was adjusted to the price of $695.00 accordingly.

 

[Radom]

I think what you did in the end was the best thing to do at that point. But, man! I sure never would have bid on that weak, pictureless description from a seller stating "No Refund, All Sales Final"!

 

[jp]

This seller has a bunch of "cool" stuff on my want list but his pics and descriptions have been a strong negative so far.
Sounds like he should be on my feces sheet for additional reasons also.
Thanks for the further info!

 

[Spetznatz]

I think what you did in the end was the best thing to do at that point. But, man! I sure never would have bid on that weak, pictureless description from a seller stating "No Refund, All Sales Final"!

I agree 100% with this statement and I also agree that in the end you did the right thing.

 

[Mongo4567]

I've been hesitant myself to leave bad feedback in the past. I've had very few bad experiences and only a handful of less than pleasant ones out of hundreds of online transactions. Based on your descriptions I would have left negative feedback as well. I would contact the auction site if you still have the emails showing his dishonesty in the feedback. He has a lot of good feedback which will help his case. They may not do anything for you alone, but after several complaints they may take action.

 

[Nick]

I sent two e-mails to this guy asking for pictures and a detailed description. No such thing during the several weeks the auction(s) lasted. That's way south of fishy! I know there are deals on Gunbroker, but they don't usually come from guys with bunch of transactions like him. The price was too good to be true. I was tempted, but a brief search on the credibility of this seller indicated that the deal will probably turn bad.

Feldscher, didn't you read what several Russian dealers had to say about this particular guy on guns.ru? You should start frequenting these forums, especially with your background.

 

[Feldscher]

Nick,
I could not resist this opportunity of getting Berdan for $695.00. I am glad I did not send any money (even though, I had MO ready from day one). Positive feedback was the only thing I was risking.
I registered with guns.ru after your link in original Berdan carbine thread (Thank You). It has been very informative so far. You saw my post on Early Russian Revolvers. I got more information from that thread than I was ever hoping for.

 

[Nick]

.. You saw my post on Early Russian Revolvers. I got more information from that thread than I was ever hoping for.

I'm glad I could help, Dima. Mower man is the one who warned me about "your" seller from FL. He is very helpful and extremely knowledgeable. If you have any tricky & delicate questions, send him a PM and he will help you.

 

[Bucko]

You did the right thing!

 

[XF2]

Sounds like the acts of Dana The Cockroach from FL

 

[biggs1deer]

Scum dealer, maybe he has some of the "Kremlin Rifles " for sale too. He would be a big cross off on my list to deal with.

 

[JacobCR03]

I've seen his auctions for a few years now, and I've learned to skip over the things he sells--usually overpriced and pretty low on the condition scale with fuzzy pictures. I've also seen him buy some lower condition rifles on the cheap, then re-list them later at a high price after the rust was scraped off. I followed the Berdan auctions, though, (and was tempted to bid), just because I haven't seen many up for auction.

 

[Caribou]

Fake is right.
If he had published pix, you could easily see that the trigger guard, trigger, butt plate and the rear sight are all wrong, definitly a cut down rifle, no mistaking that.
My Sestroretsk 1876 berdan II carbine is an accurate shooting little thumper, gotta love 'em!

Im sure he knew.

Dang, boys, if my "Joined" date is true, Ive been a member since I was 9 months old..............

 

[SlimTim]

Sounds like the acts of Dana The Cockroach from FL

Think this is a different cockroach, also from Florida. Hialeah vs. Tampa.

SlimTim

 

[Radom]

Does this seller have a store/business? Name would be helpful to us all.

 

[Nick]

The lack of good pictures and detailed information especially when coming from a large volume seller is a strong indicator that they are hiding something bad.

Recent example - a guy posted three blurry pictures of a Mannlicher M.90 carbine, but with the note "No more pictures available". No $#it? How come they are not available, why? So I am asking several very specific questions - on the bolt, on the magazine, on the bore condition. Never got an answer - never bid on that gun either. Why fool yourselves? If there was anything unusual or positive in a gun, these guys would have extolled its virtues. But no, all they post is blurry pictures with disclaimers like "no pictures available" and "no returns".