doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Selling on the internet

I have several shotguns I want to sell online and I have several questions. I was planning on asking for payment via USPS money order - okay? I want to only ship them to an FFL - should I ask for a copy of the FFL before I send the gun? I do not have a fax machine, so can I have them e-mail me a copy? How do you guys ship guns? Several of them are worth $4 to $6K and I would like to insure them, but I believe this will cost more than $35 which seems to be a standard shipping price. What is the best way to post photos? Any help you can give would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff, here's what I do when I sell and ship a gun. I request a signed copy of the FFL when the buyer sends me his payment or you can have the FFL e-mail you a copy, either way will work. As far as payment, I accept either a USPS MO or Certified Bank Check. If you do go with a Bank Check you can always verify with the Bank if the Check is legit (there are fake Checks out there...Surprise!)it's easy to find out from the bank where the check was drawn from. As far as a shipper goes, up to you, USPS, UPS, Fedex, they all have there pros and cons. I've used them all and all with the same results, no problems so far. USPS has a crappy Tracking System IMO, but can be the best if you have a claim. The insurance will cost you. I have a Firearms Insurance Policy that covers any loss, damage or whatever. The deductible I have is $250.00 so I insure for that amount. Shipping/Insurance costs will of course depend on the weight, size and value, best bet is to call and find out from the carrier what the best way is to go. As far as photos are concerned, I use photobucket. Just follow the instructions.

One or two suggestions, when posting a gun for sale, get good clear pictures (and lots of them), post all the info you can think of about the gun; weight, chokes, LOP, DAC, DAH any cast, condition of the stock and any dings, dents, condition of the bbls inside and out, any blueing wear, any damage or problems with the gun, in short be as honest as you can. It's better to under rate your gun than over rate it.

I also like to talk to the buyer to get a feel for the him, some guys are great others are a PITA and some I hate to say are down right crooks. Use your gut feeling.

Hope this helped some, if I forgot anything, I hope someone else will chime in.

Best of Luck to you!!!!

Greg

Offer to get insurance only if the buyer pays. I would stick with a USPS money order. ALWAYS get an FFL copy before shipping to the FFL dealer on the license. For any sizeable amount of money I need to speak personally to each buyer. Always have pics ready to post or send via email at least...

I've sold a number of guns on this web site. As far as using the USPS, a lot depends on the post office. When I lived in Naperville IL they refused to ship a gun for me for any reason, even when I brought in copies of USPS rules and regs. I finally gave up and would ship from the USPS at the neighboring community of Lisle IL.
As for selling a gun, I pretty much do what Greg recommends. The last thing I want is for someone to feel that I lied or misled them on anything. Over the last 10 years I've sold maybe 7-8 guns and so far I've had no complaints. It's nice to find a good home for a gun after I've gotten tired of it, or have needed money.
Steve

A couple of points:
Why not post your shotguns here for sale as the $10 donation benefits this site?

If the shotguns are at least 50 years old they are C&R eligible and they can be shipped directly to anyone who has a FFL C&R license.
Many members here do have C&R licenses.
01(Regular) FFL Holders will NOT tell you this is perfectly legal for obvious reasons.

Rockdoc: That is certainly one of the reasons the last time I saw Naperville IL in my rearview mirror was a happy day in my life.
Jim
As an aside: I would report this location to the US Postmaster General's Office. Never mind I see you moved as well!

All good point's mentioned above & I'll add this.

Make sure the FFL you are sending the gun to will accept a gun from a private individual. Also ask what personal information he will want from you for his records.

Some dealers are getting really cautious about protecting their license & as a matter of policy won't accept guns shipped from private sellers.

Be sure to insure them. I've had two friends have guns damaged in shipment lately. You being the shipper & owner of the gun will be the one out the money if the gun is lost or damaged without insurance.

Excellent point about the FFL accepting from a private party. I did forget to mention that I've sent the FFL a copy of my Drivers License for his records. I've also had one FFL who would only accept from another FFL. So good advise to double check with the FFL. Thanks dogon

FYI:
Insurance- if UPS or FEDEX is chosen, neither will pay more than 1000 dollars on a claim for a used firearm; regardless of what you paid for insurance or the amount you have it insured for. You can go to their websites to confirm if you don't believe me. And I can personally attest to it based on several "events" that didn't turn out well.

You want to make sure the parcel is insured when you ship it. make it part of the deal. otherwise, if its damaged, you are SOL. USPS Registered mail is way cheaper to insure than Parcel Post or Priority. Takes longer but the package is signed for every time it changes hands in the system.
I personally have used USPS for more than 10 years and have not lost a gun or had one damaged. I cannot say tat for UPS or FEDEX. besides, with USPS, any fraud by the buyer comes under federal law and Postal Inspectors don't fool around. good protection for seller.

3 day. offer 3 day non shooting inspection. that means three business days from the time its delivered to the FFL. not 3 days after he takes it home from FFL.
packing: ship all double guns broken down. even if you only have a long gun case and box. less chance for damage if the barrels and butt are separated. use good boxes and pack tight and secure. no movement in the box.

Also, if a buyer wants to return make sure you talk to them. In more than 15 years of internet sales, I have had maybe 3 guns returned. and they were not because of poor description but because the customer didn't like the gun. I took both back and refunded their money less shipping. One was a Browning BAR 30-06 Belgian, that was listed with a factory replacement stock. the customer called me, fuming about the replacement stock. He wasn't made aware of it etc. I calmly asked him to pull the auction up on his computer. Then I had him read the first sentence. when he came to "with factory replacement butt stock" he became very apologetic. was there in the first sentence and he still didn't pay attention. My point is, don't hide or obfuscate any issues. tell them straight up. Better to slightly underestimate % of case color or blue than to over estimate.

hope this helps.

GJW,

Just a question.

You say your firearms policy has a $250 deductible so that's all you insure for but technically once you cash the buyers check and ship it's no longer your gun. Ever had a problem getting paid or have you not yet tried to make a claim?


thanks,

Rob

Any expensive firearms should be shipped USPS REGISTERED, the speed of delivery, priority, express mail etc doesn't matter. Registered takes longer becuase the package needs to be locked in a separate location by the postmaster at each stop. You can insure very expensive guns for not a lot of money because the chance of it being lost or stolen is serverly reduced this way. No one is going to mess with the registered stuff. One caveat, the pakage needs to have all the seams covered in brown PAPER tape. This is so they can stamp each seam to show it hasn't been tampered with. The ink won't stick to regular tape so they won't accept it.

Would I ship an 870 this way? No, but my high end SxS's will go no other way.