Washington Need advice, I've never sold a firearm before

No_Regerts · Mar 5, 2017

Glock Jock said:
He wanted to immediately send me a money order. I said I wanted PayPal for the protections and FFL info first.

Remember that Paypal will freeze your account and funds if they find out you are moving firearms with that account. I have the buyer send me a copy of the FFL and a USPS MO. It clears, I ship.

jbett98 · Mar 5, 2017

What he said above.

Glock Jock · Mar 5, 2017

Wasn't aware PayPal would do that. I don't "move" firearms though, just this one. I would prefer to do it locally anyway.

Alexx1401 · Mar 5, 2017

jbett98 said:
The UPS stores are a sub contractor and won't ship your firearm. You must go to a UPS hub customer center.

Most will not if you tell them that is what you're doing. Even at one of the main UPS shipping you are often going to run into problems. Many freak out when you say "gun". Once again if you tell them and finally get someone who does know they do this it's stupid expensive. Something like $50 to ship one handgun IIRC. There is no Federal Law that the gun has to be shipped this way, over night. Many of them will tell you that it is Federal Law. A lot of them may even believe that since they are told that by the management. It's why I tell people who feel they "have" to tell the person taking the package they are trying to ship a gun they would be better off to ask a local dealer to do it for them. You could most likely find a dealer to do it for you for less than the cost of over night shipping at FedEx or UPS.

Alexx1401 · Mar 5, 2017

Glock Jock said:
He wanted to immediately send me a money order. I said I wanted PayPal for the protections and FFL info first.

Be careful here. Unless things have changed PayPal does not like their service use for anything firearm. Remember they are not a bank so they are not held to the same laws as banks. If someone uses them for a gun and it goes south, not sure what they will do when you tell them it was a gun. They may well point you to the terms of service you agreed to when you used them and say pound sand.

Alexx1401 · Mar 5, 2017

Glock Jock said:
He wanted to immediately send me a money order. I said I wanted PayPal for the protections and FFL info first.

Another thing to watch out for anyone who does take a M/O. Unless it's a Postal M/O you can cash at the P.O. AVOID it. If you have to deposit it in your bank to cash it you are risking the money. It is very common for these to be fraud. They often run these things through a web of banks just for this reason. It can take weeks for your bank you find out the M/O was no good. Then they just take the money back from you. You end up out of luck.

jbett98 · Mar 6, 2017

Alexx1401 said:
Most will not if you tell them that is what you're doing. Even at one of the main UPS shipping you are often going to run into problems. Many freak out when you say "gun". Once again if you tell them and finally get someone who does know they do this it's stupid expensive. Something like $50 to ship one handgun IIRC. There is no Federal Law that the gun has to be shipped this way, over night. Many of them will tell you that it is Federal Law. A lot of them may even believe that since they are told that by the management. It's why I tell people who feel they "have" to tell the person taking the package they are trying to ship a gun they would be better off to ask a local dealer to do it for them. You could most likely find a dealer to do it for you for less than the cost of over night shipping at FedEx or UPS.

As soon as you give the address to the UPS hub clerk, they know it's going to an FFL.
The person who's buying the firearm is paying for the shipping.

Alexx1401 · Mar 6, 2017

jbett98 said:
As soon as you give the address to the UPS hub clerk, they know it's going to an FFL.
The person who's buying the firearm is paying for the shipping.

I must have missed something here. I thought someone was asking how to legally ship a gun. If you are selling a gun you can tell the buyer you want them to pay. This does not magically make that overnight shipping charge vanish. Someone is paying. Last time I shipped one it was to Springfield. I did not use the main warehouse for FedEx as it's a bit of a drive. I used one of the contract places. I abbreviated the address so as not to make it easy for the steal me crowd. Somewhere along the line I have no doubt the address would tell the system this was Springfield Armory. I can't remember what I wrote on the bill saying I was shipping. Did not use the magic words gun or firearm. Only "problem" was when SA sent it back to me. They put a huge sticker on it saying adult signature, ID required and sent it back UPS. The driver tossed it on my porch and drove off. I thought about calling them the next day and asking where it was to see what they would say since I'm sure SA did tell them it was a gun.
Bottom line is as I have said. If you want to ship a hand gun and you don't want to pay $50 or so for overnight you are not legally required to. If the gun is going for a sale probably best to pay an FFL on your end to do it. They can use USPS far cheaper. Or don't tell the "common carrier" you are shipping a gun. Now some just freak out about this. For them they can use the next day air but be prepared when you get to the shipper. As with flying with a firearm it is legal. Many will tell you about the time they did it and it all went so smooth. That's nice. Be prepared as you may very well run into some drone who is going to tell you no. If you are at one of the common carrier's warehouse centers you should be able to find someone there with a brain who will tell the drone that yes you can ship the gun. Don't run in there while at lunch though thinking it's a snap because someone told you it was. There is often a hassle if you are not an FFL.

Alexx1401 · Mar 6, 2017

Glock Jock said:
Wasn't aware PayPal would do that. I don't "move" firearms though, just this one. I would prefer to do it locally anyway.

I don't know PayPal will, assuming you are talking about the caution I gave. I still have a PP account but have not used it in a long time. I know they used to be very anti using them for firearms. This may well have changed, too lazy to look. I don't use PP any more because they are not a bank so they are not governed by the same laws as banks. Because of that I would not be willing to risk the kind of money a gun would sell for. Kind of a moot point for your question here as it sure sounds like someone was just trying to scam you anyway. As I mentioned I fully expect that if he had sent you a M/O it would have been returned by your bank and you would be out.