Safe way to buy firearm?

[Hoyte]

Someone from armslist has a firearm I want to purchase. They say that they can’t do face to face sales and will transfer it to an ffl. They want me to pay online first then it gets shipped. I can understand doing this on gunbroker, but not armslist. Seems like a scam. Is there any safe way to go about buying this or other private sale firearms not ftf on armslist?

 

[kscharlie]

Walk away. There was more than one gun of the one you want.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Yep. Arms list is not the venue to be doing transactions like that.

 

[TomJ]

I've had those offers before. They're scams. I've only bought or sold face to face on Armslist.

 

[warnerwh]

That's a common scam.

 

[SharpDog]

I pay by credit card. If they don't ship my bank gives me my money back and goes after the seller. I don't have a problem paying a few percent extra for this service. One seller of a 6.5G upper was brought up on fraud charges after one of these investigations. It has saved me many times. If they don't take credit cards I'm out of there. Did that the other day when the seller of a firearm I wanted stated explicitely he would not do business that way.

 

[sisyphus]

scam

 

[George P]

No FTF on Armslist? Walk, no run, away

 

[Elkins45]

100% scam. 100%.

 

[guyfromohio]

Scam...always a scam. If no FTF on Armslist, it’s a scam every time.

 

[The_Next_Generation]

I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with what most other folks are saying...not every non-FTF transaction on Armslist is a scam.

The biggest red flag is that they said they CANNOT do a FTF sale...how is that possible even with COVID? Absolutely sounds scammy!

In your case, I would be extremely cautious. Ask for his FFL's information, then call the FFL and confirm that they'll be sending it out. Call the seller and have a conversation. Get a feel for who they are. Don't be afraid to ask prying questions about exactly what they plan to do, and why. After all, they're asking you for money up front.

If everything checks out, the FFL says "Yep, Joe is a good dude, we'll be taking care of shipping the firearm." And then you have a pleasant 5min phone conversation with Joe about guns and his last hunting trip, you'll probably be fine. If you get a weird feeling during any part of the deal, and the seller can't or won't do anything to fix it, just back out. No harm no foul.

I've sold a couple guns on armslist this way. Guy emailed asking if I would ship, I responded with my phone number and we came to an agreement over the phone after bs-ing and feeling eachother out.

Good luck!

 

[wiscoaster]

IF they take a credit card as payment you have some insurance. There's always some risk on any sale of a used item. Any used item. Even face-to-face, or at a gun show, or at a garage sale. If you can pay by credit card, the risk is more or less balanced between seller and buyer. When I shop on Gunbroker, I favor sellers who take credit cards, even though now it's the norm to pay a processing fee / surcharge for doing that.

 

[Ignition Override]

An Armslist ammo seller told me days ago, that he lives in another state.

Instead of suggesting that it looks like fraud, I simply reminded him that shipping is not the purpose of Armslist .

The other odd thing is that he never stated anything about my request for discounted 7.62x39 ammo at .35/round., the brand (I stated “modern name-brand Russian”), nor how much he had available.

 

[hso]

If he has to ship to an FFL then ask what FFL he's going to ship from. Tell him to call you from that FFL when he's ready to ship an you'll happily pay then once the FFL confirms that they have confirmed the firearms and readiness to ship.

 

[Hoyte]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I’ll pass on this one.

 

[Riomouse911]

IF they take a credit card as payment you have some insurance. There's always some risk on any sale of a used item. Any used item. Even face-to-face, or at a gun show, or at a garage sale. If you can pay by credit card, the risk is more or less balanced between seller and buyer. When I shop on Gunbroker, I favor sellers who take credit cards, even though now it's the norm to pay a processing fee / surcharge for doing that.

BUT... if you’re giving an unknown person (not a retailer) all of your cc info (number, name, expiration, CCV number) it’ll take a schnook 39 seconds to take your accurate card info and charge up a storm.

If it’s a business I’ll do cc business on the phone, if it’s a person I want a FTF cash sale so I’m not giving an unknown my info. Cleaning up a bunch of bogus charges is a royal pita...

Always trust your lizard brain... it’s been around and keeping humans from danger since caveman times: If it just doesn’t look/feel/smell right, it probably isn’t.

Stay safe.

 

[Theohazard]

The biggest red flag is that they said they CANNOT do a FTF sale...how is that possible even with COVID?

If the seller lives in a different state then legally it has to go through an FFL. That could be the reason. I agree it may be a scam, though. A large percentage of people on Armslist wanting you to ship are scammers.

 

[jbm]

If he has to ship to an FFL then ask what FFL he's going to ship from. Tell him to call you from that FFL when he's ready to ship an you'll happily pay then once the FFL confirms that they have confirmed the firearms and readiness to ship.

Why would he ship from an FFL if he is shipping to an FFL. Last time I checked there is no requirement for a gun to come from an FFL - was this changed recently?

 

[Hoyte]

As an update he is an hour away in state and I offered to drive to him and pay for the ffl transfer at a local gun shop, which he said he couldn’t/wouldn’t do.

 

[Elkins45]

As an update he is an hour away in state and I offered to drive to him and pay for the ffl transfer at a local gun shop, which he said he couldn’t/wouldn’t do.

Oh yeah, that’s definitely a scam.

 

[hso]

As an update he is an hour away in state and I offered to drive to him and pay for the ffl transfer at a local gun shop, which he said he couldn’t/wouldn’t do.

Yeah, that's a clear warning sign.

 

[hso]

Why would he ship from an FFL if he is shipping to an FFL. Last time I checked there is no requirement for a gun to come from an FFL - was this changed recently?

Nothing's changed, but if he wants to make the deal by shipping to an FFL he can add the assurance to the buyer by engaging and FFL on his end to assure the deal is legitimate.

 

[FROGO207]

He might be a fellon and not want to be seen in a gunshop with a gun. Might even be stolen. I would not be making this deal as it smells bad to me. Cavet emptor.

 

[Hokkmike]

Listen to your gut....

 

[Theohazard]

Why would he ship from an FFL if he is shipping to an FFL. Last time I checked there is no requirement for a gun to come from an FFL - was this changed recently?

You're right, but many dealers have a policy of not accepting firearms shipped to them by non-FFLs. So even though it’s not a law, having to ship FFL-to-FFL is the only option in a lot of places.