Actual GunBroker scams: With and without GunTab

GunBroker and GunTab are very different tools.

GunBroker is a tool for increasing sales.  It helps buyers and sellers find each other, and agree on a price.  Although GunBroker doesn't want fraud to occur, it has little power to protect you.  That's why so many people still get scammed on GunBroker.

GunTab is a tool for protecting against fraud.  GunTab helps buyers and sellers solve the trust problem, enabling strangers to do business safely together.  When you use GunTab, you can't get scammed, because GunTab is escrow.  And you can use GunTab for any online transaction, including GunBroker transactions.

GunBroker transactions with and without GunTab are very different, and now we have the perfect case study to showcase the difference.  There was one scammer and two unrelated buyers, each "buying" a different item from the scammer.  One lost money, the other didn't.  The lesson is clear – only GunTab can protect you.

The backstory

In June 2021, a scammer named Tucjud45 posted two guns for sale on GunBroker.  Each sold to a different buyer.  But things turned out very differently for these two buyers.  One chose to rely on the GunBroker Buyer's Protection Program, and paid the seller directly.  The other chose to pay through GunTab.  Let's look at each of their stories.

Buyer #1: without GunTab

A buyer named Tasinater won the auction for a CZ Bren2 MS Pistol for $612.  It's not clear how he paid (probably Venmo), but he didn't use GunTab.  His feedback on the transaction was clear:

Scammer. Took my money and gunbroker will not reimburse me. Stay away!

Tasinator is referring to the GunBroker Buyer's Protection Program, which "will cover up to $500.00 on an item" after you pay a $100 deductible.  But that is subject to GunBroker's review and approval.  Apparently GunBroker decided Tasinator did not qualify for protection.  So Tasinator lost his entire $612 to this blatant scammer.

Even if GunBroker had approved his request, Tasinator would have lost hundreds of dollars.  After paying the $100 deductible to GunBroker, he would have netted $400 from the Buyer's Protection Program.  After paying the scammer $612, that's a loss of $212 even with GunBroker's "protection".

By the way, if Tasinator did use Venmo, they won't help him either.  Venmo prohibits firearm transactions (just like PayPal and all other payment platforms).  He's completely out of luck here.

Buyer #2: with GunTab

A buyer named Martyemiller won the auction for a Beretta shotgun for $2.700.  He paid the scammer through GunTab.  Although the scammer provided a real tracking code for a shipment in transit, GunTab detected the transaction was likely fraudulent.  Because GunTab is escrow, the buyer's funds remained safe.

After confirming the tracking code was falsified, GunTab refunded the buyer's full payment of $2,700 and suspended the fraudster's GunTab account.  The buyer lost nothing because he was fully protected.  He shared this message with us:

Thanks again for all your help....you were amazing.  I will be using you guys for all my future online or remote gun purchases.

Protect yourself

The GunBroker Buyer's Protection Program offers some protection, some of the time.  But you can't recover more than $400, and there are many cases where GunBroker considers you ineligible for the program.  If you want total protection on your GunBroker purchases, all of the time,  simply use GunTab.  You can open a free account right now.

P.S. We now automatically collect GunBroker sales tax and compliance fee, so you don't need to worry about that either.