Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds Defective firearm purchased here

What is the procedure for settling a dispute for a defective firearm purchased from the classified section of this site? I purchased two from an individual here a few weeks ago. First one (12 ga. pump) wouldn't fire because the trigger was rusted & frozen, but soaked it in Kroil overnight and broke it loose. Second one is a break open single shot 12 ga. (with auto ejector) that won't eject a fired hull, which has to be pushed out with a cleaning rod. Tried soaking overnight but didn't help. This seller obviously listed & sold two firearms without checking them for proper function. I contacted the seller, he said to return it to him after he sent me the receiving FFL name & address. He never did this, has now removed himself from the conservation in the PM section, won't answer a phone call, or reply to a text message, but shows up on this site daily. I explained this to RickBin but he didn't reply.

Sounds like a poor-quality seller if he won't honestly try to make it right. Mistakes happen, but communication and willingness to fix things (within reason) are important if you want a decent reputation as a seller. Stuff like this also has a propensity to happen with older, lower-priced firearms in low-grade condition, and similar events might unfold in buying such items at a gunshow or pawnshop.

Edited to add that my mention of "within reason" above is often the sticking point in situations like this. Perhaps a local gunsmith could get the auto-ejector working for cheap? In such instances, I've seen seller refund a portion of the sales price to cover something like that. Make it simple. Along those lines, if a seller hasn't test-fired anything, they should likely say so in the advertisement. That's the fair thing to do.

See the " Buyer Beware" sticky

Were they misrepresented in for sale ad? We all know there is some risk in buying anything used. Curious if advertised as known good condition or some such?
If so and seller non responsive I’d say let all know who the offender is. If not misrepresented and sold used as is sometimes we take an L and make best of it

Honestly not much you can do if the seller is not open with his dealings. The best is to mention the seller so that we can all be aware not to deal with such a guy. I for one would like to know because I buy occasionally here.
Good Luck to you.

Thanks Portside, I have placed USER on ignor list

There is no procedure for this site or quite frankly any other site that is not a commercial site for the sales of goods. Sites like Ebay, or Gunbroker, or Guns International might have guidelines for settling a dispute. This sites classified are nothing more than an electronic version of a newspaper's Classifieds. You are responsible for your pre-purchase due diligence and resolving any disputes thru your own process.

Give a negative review so we can beware.
Based on his profile and join date, he should be legit, over 4000 posts and 2009 join date if I read it right.
Hope it works out.

What I would do........just find a gunsmith and get them repaired. IMO, you got them both fairly reasonable, not a steal but fair. Its pretty obvious the seller isn't gonna be any help. May as well suck it up and get them fixed and just live with it. Don't mean to sound like a jerk but you don't have a lot of options.

Seems like this one is on the buyer. Seller's ad seems to indicate he had no knowledge of condition or operation since they came from wife's grandfather's estate. He didn't represent them to be anything other than make/model. To me, they were purchased 'as is'.

I was surprised at how little is at stake. I would not have had high hopes.

In all fairness, the first at $165 shipped is like $130 price, and the second at $235 shipped is like $200 price, and he practically offered to take less.

"This seller obviously listed & sold two firearms without checking them for proper function."

He never said he did? He did say they weren't his and alluded he didn't know much about them?...Tom

Let the buyer beware.....
A little more work and they'll be fine.
Put the seller on ignore......

^^^Seconded

Are you sure the Steven's has an ejector and not an extractor?
If you had to push the empty out with a cleaning rod, is the chamber rusty/gunked up?
Does the "ejector" function properly when dry fired?
165.00 I, myself wouldn't expect much of a gun......
Good luck
Ed

There are always multiple takes on a story. I know this seller (Winchester88) and have let him know what's going on here. He's a good guy so if everyone would not hop on the pile and give him a chance to make this right or deal with/get in touch with the buyer I'm sure it will get sorted out.

The tough part about selling guns unknown to me, etc. I inspect them as if I was buying them, but at that price range, not every seller is going to do that.

$200 is a lot to some folks and ashtray change to others.

No good deed and all that….

I don’t see malice here.

Seems like the seller could have put a disclaimer on the ad stating he had no direct knowledge of the functioning of the firearms. I certainly wouldn't ever post something that had a trigger so rusty that it wouldn't work unless I mentioned that in the ad.

I would have to agree with this question. No mention is made in the ad as to ejector, and alot of what I have seen are extractors. A sticking case could very well be a gummed up chamber. My guess is, they were utilitarian guns that grandad had in the closet that just didn't see much use. It is clearly stated in the ad that he really knew nothing about them and was just pushing them down the road.

I don't recall having bought anything from winchester88, but I do know he's a regular around here. If he had something up for grabs, I wouldn't be afraid to go on it. My take is, mossberg is now up and rolling with a little soaking. The single, I question it being an auto eject, but I don't know what any pm conversations were. It certainly wasn't advertised as such. With the prices, and costs of shipping anymore, id rather do a little work than go through the pia of sending it back, but thats just me maybe.

Look at the sellers history.
A real Classified Cowbow.

Paged through over a dozen pages of his history going way back.
Not a single post outside the classifieds, not even his first.


That's not reason for a noose, but It carries a certain smell.