New to buying guns since I just moved to Texas. It seems that there are better deals online than local dealers. I see people buy gums online and have them shipped to local FFLs. But what is everyone's experience with the dealer in these situations? I suspect they would not be happy since they don't get your business so what would motivate them to cooperate to call you to transfer your gun on time or if at all? Are their transfer fees greater than the profit they make from a gun sale?
Buying guns online
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i was only buying guns online saved about 150 on my last gun that way. most dealers around here will only let you ship it there if they can't beat or match the price. my old dealer was charging 25 for the transfer. best part about it was not having to pay the taxes on the firearm itself. i always go into the dealer first and ask what their price on that particular firearm is and if its way more then ill ask to ship it there. i don't mind paying a little more to support a local business.
that dealer must have been losing money on that though because they raised their transfer fee 10 bucks and you can only ship it there if they can't get one for you at all, regardless of price. thats why i won't go back there again.
that dealer must have been losing money on that though because they raised their transfer fee 10 bucks and you can only ship it there if they can't get one for you at all, regardless of price. thats why i won't go back there again.
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Nine out of ten 01-FFL dealers are small businesses. Sometimes only a single person that sells a few guns but enjoys doing it. They hold the same license as any of the big box stores and are usually happy to transfer a firearm for a nominal fee and no hassle.
You can look them up according to proximity of your zip code. There are FFL finders on Gun Broker and Guns America. A lot of on-line dealers also have FFL finder databases built in to their website.
Here are a few:
Find an FFL | NSSF's FFL Locator Tool
https://www.ffldealerlocator.com/
https://fflgundealers.net/
FFL Finder: Find an FFL Dealer In Your Area at GunBroker.com
Once you find one or two, give them a call. Ask if they will accept the transfer and what their fees are.
On the website you are buying from, get instructions from them as to how they will proceed using the FFL you have selected.
The FFL I use would be referred to as a "Kitchen Table" FFL. He's a HVAC technician by trade, and works out of his home to do his FFL transfers part-time. He only charges me $20.00. As I am a CPL holder, the transaction takes all of 5 minutes. I believe that a lot of the FFL's that do transfers are like mine, working part-time out of their homes. His FFL is registered with the major online gun retailers that I use like Bud's and Grab-A-Gun, so placing orders is really simple.
A local place opened up here a while back and offered transfer services for $25, about half of what all other non-private FFL's (store-fronts) do them for. Many people have taken advantage of it. They get customers in their place, and these people often buy other goods while they're there. Win-win.
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3,236 Posts
My local GS charges $25 to handle a transfer shipment. He doesn't charge anything for gum though.
Cabelas charges $25 to ship a gun from one state to another within their store network so you can pick it up
at your local store. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than driving across 3 or 4 states to buy it at the origin store.
But $25 seems to be the going rate these days. I'm seriously considering having a Model 36 shipped from another state
Cabelas to my local store.
Cabelas charges $25 to ship a gun from one state to another within their store network so you can pick it up
at your local store. That's a heck of a lot cheaper than driving across 3 or 4 states to buy it at the origin store.
But $25 seems to be the going rate these days. I'm seriously considering having a Model 36 shipped from another state
Cabelas to my local store.
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Our local stores charge $25 - and the background call fee, whatever that is in your state. Our preferred lgs shows us his cost as he looks up guns to order for us. He's not making much more than $25 on most normally priced guns. His special order retail gun prices are $30 to $40 lower than the "other" place we also do business with. He has ordered a few guns for us. If he can't get it for us and we really want it and we find it at a good price on line, we buy it on line. His store square footage is mostly outdoor clothing and footwear and fancy coolers, etc. so he doesn't stock tons of guns or ammo either, but has a decent selection for someone who is looking for a first gun to own. And he has his own loyal customers, some of whom love to trade guns. It's worth stopping in every so often to see what came in lately from one of those folks.
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Clear as mud, Doogie ! :smile: You like supporting your FFL (the Vietnam Vet) but you only buy online ?
I ain't the sharpest tack in the box, Doogie and I simply don't get it.
Wanna 'splain that ?
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4,673 Posts
My FFL works out of his house. So, all of my firearms get shipped to his house. He is semi-retired. He was grandfathered in by the ATF when they stopped allowing people to work from home. So he lives about 2 miles away.Clear as mud, Doogie ! :smile: You like supporting your FFL (the Vietnam Vet) but you only buy online ?
I ain't the sharpest tack in the box, Doogie and I simply don't get it.
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437 Posts
I use a shop that charges $30. Most gun dealers have very small mark ups on firearms to stay competitive, so $20 for 10 minutes work can be pretty good. If I was ordering a gun that they sold, I'd probably just talk to them first and see if they'd price match or if there was some way to make a deal that was good for both of us. But if generally if I'm buying online they're guns that I don't see in shops or any place outside of a gun show.
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237 Posts
The transfer fee is published by ATF for each FFL so you can look it up. Running the FBI NICS test is now possible by an authorized FFL using a secure Internet connection so the process is now extremely fast and efficient. The problem that can occur is if the buyer does no pass the NICS background check at the destination FFL when the buyer goes to pick up the weapon. If this happens, the FFL embargoes the weapon and the failure to pass the FBI NICS is flagged to a local ATF field agent to investigate and advise the destination FFL what to do with the weapon (this is what I would do). I have not had this happen in my business but an FFL I know who specializes in custom rifles had it happen during an interstate transfer and the rifle is still embargoed sitting in his inventory.
Update: Asked ATF field agent about this yesterday. His response if buyer NICS fails very few options. If ATF says allow return to sender and shipper will accept, only possibility is the buyer pays for shipment back to sender.
I buy 90% of my guns on line, from Bud's. Of course I have the benefit of picking up the gun's with no additional transfer fee since Bud's retail store only a few miles from my home. But I don't do it because of price. I just hate shopping and the on line inventory offers more variety.
I have also purchased from Gunbroker and taken delivery at Buds when Bud's didn't have what I wanted. Only bought 2 guns in retail stores, a 10/22 at Sportsman's Warehouse in town, and a Sig P938 at a Cabelas in Louisville, again because I wanted a specific model. Never had a problem buying on line.
I have also purchased from Gunbroker and taken delivery at Buds when Bud's didn't have what I wanted. Only bought 2 guns in retail stores, a 10/22 at Sportsman's Warehouse in town, and a Sig P938 at a Cabelas in Louisville, again because I wanted a specific model. Never had a problem buying on line.
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