Anyone subscribe to Armslist

[miamivicedade]

What is Armslist like these days? Is it a wasteland yet with the fees now? Anyone see any traffic dips or lack of interest because of the fees? Trying to gauge whether or not to join. Thanks.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I dont see many legit private sellers anymore- most who claim to be are scammers. But I still scan the local registered seller shops for interesting stuff. If I find something, I just google and call them directly. Im not going to pay for the privilege of contacting a seller throuh their internal email system.

 

[bassjam]

I was a member for about 2 months right when they started forcing a paid membership, just because I was looking for a particular gun and wanted to be able to jump on one at a good price when I found it and as soon as I bought one I cancelled with no regrets.

I still check the local listings every evening but I'd say there's about 1/3 the amount of listings now, if not less. I'm not too concerned at the moment because prices are all higher than I'm willing to pay, but it is sad Armslist has decided to alienate private sellers and buyers.

 

[captain awesome]

yeah, we really had it good with backpage, and free Armslist, I wish there was a popular viable alternative. I just signed up to try and sell some guns, (I have a home FFL) we'll see how it goes. The buyer side really needs to be free.

 

[Waveski]

Armslist is a mere shell of the valuable venue it once was.
No longer worth the trouble of visiting the site , much less paying a fee to simply "ask seller a question".

 

[potmetal]

I used Armslist for a couple years. Met some nice folks, did some trading and sold some guns at better prices then I could get at a gun store. I quit when they started the paid membership but went back recently. We used to have 5-6 pages of private sales, now there's maybe 2.
Then, I was looking at my ad at work on a computer that was not logged on to my account. All the private ads had their information blurred out. You have to be a paid member now just to read the ad. They don't do that to the FFL vendor's ads though.
I don't even see the point of a site like this if all you have is ads from FFLs. I expect private ads to continue to shrink. And I'm not sure who will use it if it's only FFL's ads on there. It's too bad, we've lost a good venue to buy and sell.

 

[Waveski]

Oh for crying out loud - Now you can't even read the item description? Why on earth would anyone pay a fee just to see if the item is one of interest?

Pathetic. Pull the plug - it would be a mercy killing.

 

[1942bull]

I have not been on Armslist. Since it went paid. I never bought anything there, but I did sell a couple guns there. I am neither busting of-r selling anymore. Just sticking with what I have so I won’t be going back. If I do decide to seek I would take the membership for a month and r then drop it.

 

[kidneyboy]

Then, I was looking at my ad at work on a computer that was not logged on to my account. All the private ads had their information blurred out. You have to be a paid member now just to read the ad.

You can be a non paid member (I am) and be able to read all the ads. You can also start and stop a paid membership, even for just a month. I still use armslist. $6.99 for a month long ad is still cheap. Spam and doorkickers have mostly gone away. Many of the private sellers now leave a phone number or email in their ads (I do) to avoid the armslist middle man.

 

[Ignition Override]

No way—.

But I made about 18 local deals (some were a 2 & 1/2 hours’ drive) before the Armslist KGB Red Tape began.

The start of their Growing series of Obstacles could be called Red Dawn.

 

[edwardware]

Yes, and sold a few there earlier this year. Put you phone or email in the advert, and it works as usual*.

* as usual, meaning: ~50% of the respondents can't read, spell, or write, and get ignored. Another 30% are too annoying to deal with, and the last 20% are why you're there.

 

[Ignition Override]

Dont they now block “free phone numbers”,

instead requiring some odd viewer verification before the “blurred” phone number ,

recently a shortcut, and item details can be read?

 

[cpoakes]

Nope. Never connected and bought anything when it was free. Why pay for such exasperation?

 

[stonebuster]

Nope. Never connected and bought anything when it was free. Why pay for such exasperation?

I bought two guns FTF before they started charging. The last time I attempted to buy there a scammer selling primers kept making excuses why he couldn't meet FTF. The price was too good and I found the same picture on GB he used but at double the price. Since they started charging our local listings have gone from 15 pages to 5-6 and not worth the bother or money. Too bad, it was good while it lasted.

 

[greyling22]

Nope. Not going to pay to browse. Might as well go to a gun show for that. Fortunately texas had an alternative, texasguntrader. Georgia has one too. Outdoor trader? Something like that. It's a void. Something will eventually fill it.

 

[Batty67]

I actually found my Ruger Deerfield, Sphinx SDP, and Galil through Armslist--all in the last 2 years. Basically, I found the firarm I was interested in, then through internet search creativity, identified the listing on a seller-local classified page. Basically, the seller used Armslist to help broaden the advertising for their local sale. I did have to join those local boards and use emails and phone calls to convice the seller to ship the guns to my FFL (so, all of the above took some work), but I did ID the prospective firearm using Armslist.

 

[Sniper66]

I tried to list some guns on AL. I fought with the registration process and could not complete it. They make it impossible to call anyone for help. I got far enough that I gave them my CC number, which is required to pay the $6.99 monthly fee for listing firearms. I checked my CC statement and found that they charged my CC twice for the same transaction, which I never finalized. After much effort I finally got my fee refunded and fired ArmsList permanently.

 

[Ignition Override]

Armslist (in west TN) has always had very limited selections of Anything, but I still had plenty of luck.

If you see that a desired item on Gunbroker is listed Buy Now for an “acceptable” ,
—current “market price”—, & you have read extensively about the ergos & quality of any Unfamiliar item-

—and the seller has tons of A Plus feedback, with clear replies to any questions (use the positive Golden Rule-and be realistic)

then why bother with the new Armslist?

My Zastava ZPAP in August via Buy Now went perfectly. If you truly Know what you want, go find it. There’s no need to play games.

 

[MikeInOr]

Pretty much every private party add on Armslist was also on a local forum when Armslist was free. Since Armslist started charging there is practically no private party adds.

If anyone is in the Northwest and interested: https://www.northwestfirearms.com/classifieds/handguns/

 

[Fastlane]

I have used Armslist in the past but after they went to paid subscription and hid the description in the add I deleted their icon shortcut and will not use them anymore.

 

[potmetal]

I checked it today and now they also blur out the asking price on private ads. They don't do any of this to vendor's ads. I looked at just private ads and 4 of the cities in my state have no active handgun ads anymore.

 

[Skeptic13]

Armslist is tanking or possibly tanked. RIP. I'm skipping the funeral.

 

[jas1776]

whats the issue with gunlistings.org?

 

[jas1776]

What classified local gun sales platform are you using?

 

[potmetal]

Gunlistings has no email system in place anymore. You can post an ad but you will not get any email from them to be able to manage your post. People will not be able to respond to your ad either. If you want to use it, you will have to include your own contact information, like an email address or phone number, to get any reply from an interested buyer. You also cannot edit or remove your post from the site. But, at least it's still free. It doesn't get anywhere near the traffic it used to get though.
I've tried to contact them many times but you will not get any replies from whoever runs gunlistings.