If you are a registered member of Gunbroker.com, watch out. I caught them trying to sneak a $2 charge past me.

About a month ago they shut down my account, claiming that it needed to be "verified." I've been a registered member of Gunbroker.com since the site launched. I've done a bit of business through the site, I have perfect feedback, and all my fees have always been paid right away.

But for some reason, I needed to be "verified." The reasons were not explained to me, nor were the terms of what being "verified" would mean.

All they asked was for me to FAX in some address details. After I did this and they were satisfied that I was not based in Nigeria, they turned my account back on. I was able to contact sellers again and bid on items. All was fine.

Well, this week I received an email from them claiming that I owed Gunbroker.com $2. The CC# I had on file with them was expired, so they couldn't automatically process the amount they claimed I owed them.

When I looked into this, I found out that Gunbroker.com was claiming that this $2 was a fee for verifying my account. They also claimed that I had authorized this fee when I submitted to the verification process.

I found nothing when I searched Gunbroker.com for information about Verification (or Extended Verification, as they call it). Also, there are no details about this process in the "My Account" section of the site, or anywhere else that I could find.

Right now, Gunbroker.com has not resolved this issue with me. They're still claiming that I authorized the charge to my card. I have asked them to show me where & when I gave them this authorization.

You can see the back and forth I've been having with their lousy customer support in this screen shot:



Making small, automatic charges to a CC# is a common way people commit fraud on the internet. The perpetrator figures you'll never notice the amount charged, or if you do, you won't bother to follow up on it because it's too much trouble.

Gunbroker.com has added a little twist to this by added this "verification" BS. The only reason I caught it is because the CC# they have for me has expired.

Please pass this info around and post it wherever possible. I'm sure I'm not the only one they're trying to pull this on.

Thanks

OWD

I will admit that they are not the most pleasant people with whom to do business but if you change the credit card # on file or give them a new credit card # because the one on file expired there is a $2 charge, just like there was when you initially set up the account. I think, however, this is a credit against future activity.

I have gotten that notice a couple of times, as they do not have my credit card info, I just ignore them. Get a dailey or almost dailey notice for a couple of Sxss I'm looking for.

Just a thought after reading this, perhaps you should remove the "-with-doubles" from your nickname on here.

It sounds to me like your credit card expired and possibly you didn't go in and update it, and therefore the charge.

JDW,I agree with you. AuctionArms in the past has charged me $4. due to my CC expiring.
When questioned they told me that if I update the expiration date on the CC they will never charge me another penny.

I hate sh*t like this. Just petty and annoying.

LOL. That's what I was thinking too. $2 is worth this? Really?

I have bought or sold 88 items on gunbroker.com and been very pleased with this on-line service.

I have found unusual shotguns that weren't available locally, and been pleased with my purchases. Likewise, I have sold guns and gear that I no longer needed/wanted. Their fees have seemed reasonable to me (usually about 3%).

An occasional $2 fee doesn't seem worth fussing over.

JERRY

That's why they do it. It doesn't seem like it's worth fussing over.

But if you do it to 10,000 people a year, that money adds up. Scammers will steal CC #s and do it to 100,000 cards a couple time a year. Now you're talking some decent change.

BTW: GB didn't do it because the CC on file had expired, or to verify a new CC (kind of like a gas station does).

They did it for some bogus "Extended Verification" process that they forced me into. As you can see, I gave them a chance to explain this to me and come to a resolution. They didn't want to do it.

And if no one has a problem paying a $2 fee every now and then, please send me $2 every 6 months. I will be happy to take the money.

And please tell others.

If I can get a 1,000 of you to do it 2x a year, I can pay for a decent trip out west.

Thanks

OWD

They sent me the same bill for $2 (I'm not paying it).

Gunbroker caused me a REAL problem with this $1.00-$2.00? token charge to your credit card a couple of years ago. My credit card company took it as a fraud attempt and froze my card. I found this out to my embarrassment the next time I tried to use the card!
I sent them a terse email about this incident and never did get a response.
Jim

Isn't that charge reimbursable?

Reimbursable? Who knows? They never mentioned it.

All the communications I've had with them are in my first post.

There's nothing about Extended Verification on their site, either. So there's no way to look it up and check.

If it smells like scam and looks like a scam, it's probably a scam.

OWD

Interesting. After a while of not doing much on GB, I listed a few guns and sold them. Got the bill notice and went on line to pay them and they said my credit card wasn't valid. I looked and it expired this month, so I went ahead and tried to use the same credit card number. It came back as not allowable. You can't use a credit card on file that expires the same month as the bill hits. I went ahead and gave them a different credit card and I didn't receive the $2.00 fee the folks are referring to. I'm guessing the reason is because the card itself wasn't expired, it just wasn't valid to pay the current bill. Tell me if that make any sense to anyone.