Question on shipping

[QB]

Well I don't know about FedEx but UPS doesn't deliver on Saturday (under normal circumstances although I think you can pay a premium to have Saturday delivery I think) so a gun shipped overnight on Friday wouldn't be delivered until Monday.

I have my FFL ship my handguns and even with the $20 tranfer fee it's certainly cheaper than $87 (although I have had some high shipping charges due to insurance on expensive guns).

I feel better using an FFL because they have a record of receiving the gun from me and then shipping it. Of course we always get signature receipt. And then it's up to the other FFL to have the proper paperwork, NIC check (if applicable) etc completed.

Just within the last couple of weeks I got an email from a buyer that purchased a rifle from me. His FFL had signed for the gun but when he went to pick it up it had "disappeared". They needed the serial number in order to fill out the ATF paperwork (they hadn't even opened the box and logged in the rifle). Story from the dealer was that it was "thrown out" with a ton of trash/boxes........hard to believe since it was quite HEAVY!!!! But whatever.....both myself and my FFL were off the hook.

Only issue with selling on GunBroker (and I do that a lot) is to make sure that you list the states, cities/states that you will NOT ship to. This comes into play with guns that have magazines that may restrict who you ship to. The gun may be legal to own but maybe not with high capacity mags in which case the person either couldn't buy it the gun or would have to buy it without magazines. If you sell very often, it helps to have a current listing of states and cities/states that have magazine restrictions (which can be different for handguns versus rifles). Omitting California is a must for me as well as a few other states or city/states that I just don't want to mess with.

Another thing you may run into is buyers who send payment by some other means than what you asked for. Even though I always stated that method of payment is a USPS Money Order, I have received cashier's checks, WalMart money order, Western Union, personal checks, etc. So I now state that if the buyer is not willing to send a USPS Money Order that they should NOT bid on my auctions. This isn't to say that I haven't received an email prior to a person bidding, requesting a different form of payment that I agreed to but it's just sometimes a problem. I've delayed shipments waiting for "unauthorized" forms of payment to clear but it's not something I like to do.....I like to ship promptly!!!!

Anyway, you won't believe what some people try to pull. Just last week a buyer won one on my auctions for some high capacity rifle magazines and I specifically stated that I would not ship to NJ (among other states). Guess what? The winning bidder was from NJ. I sent him an email stating I would NOT ship to NJ and only then did he respond by saying he "thought" his police chief would sign off and let him buy high capacity mags but that he then changed his mind. He asked that I don't leave negative feedback for him. Of course this cost me an auction fee and although you can get it back for a non-payer it takes time. I told the buyer that at the very least he should have contacted me first prior to bidding because even with a "letter from his chief" I wouldn't have shipped to NJ!!!!!

And then there's the real "jerks" you have to deal with.....but anyway......enough of my rant. It's been a bad month for me on GunBroker but normally it's a great experience.

[KaiserB]

if thats the case why would the ATF lie to us when we called to find out

Why would the ATF lie? Good question... per ATF Website

"A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by a common or contract carrier to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun. In addition, Federal law requires that the carrier be notified that the shipment contains a firearm and prohibits common or contract carriers from requiring or causing any label to be placed on any package indicating that it contains a firearm."

"nonlicensee" - that's you
"common carrier" - that's UPS
"licensee in any State" - that's an FFL where you're sending it

ATF also states that "handguns are not mailable"

This is similar to TSA (another fine Govt Agency) The rules from airport to airport are sometimes different, because the TSA agents were trained differently. I wish the Govt. would train all of their people thoroughly, and consistently. However, this would lead to efficiency, which I am sure the agencies are trying to avoid.

[Mike1951]

You should be aware that Fedex offers Standard Overnight and UPS offers Next Day Air Saver.

Using Fedex Priority Overnight, Fedex First Overnight, UPS Next Day Air, or UPS Next Day Air Early AM is just wasting money.

And always check how much it would cost to use FFL's on both ends so that they can use U.S. Mail.

[anygunanywhere]

This needs to be a sticky.

Anygunanywhere