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I've been doing the same thing. Selling locally has fallen off a cliff with all the anti-gun activism. Things sell better out of state. I don't have a C&R license but nearly everything I've sold lately hasn't been C&R eligible. Handgun sales all go through a local FFL, he charges me $20 to run it through his books, plus he does the packing and shipping. Costs me about $45 for a handgun. Sounds like a lot but when I sell a handgun on Gunbroker, I charge $40 for shipping which covers most of it. Then there is the GB fee, but that's just the cost of doing business and I usually get more for the item on auction venue anyway.
Long guns, you can ship those yourself, don't need to go through an FFL dealer. Don't need the C&R for this either. You have to ship to an FFL and get a copy of their license. Make sure with your buyer that their FFL takes shipments from private individuals, some won't. Problem with shipping them is this. If you use a container large enough to ensure survival, it increases the size. And all shippers now figure cubage into their rates. They charge for volume of container. Anything over a cubic foot incurs steeper rates. You find a nice, long shipping carton for a rifle, the muzzle ends consumes a lot of wasted space. Guns that have two piece stocks (lever gun, Remington pump guns, etc) so long as the buyer is okay with it, remove the butt stock and the result is a much shorter container. Which costs less to ship.
Where to get packing supplies. For rifles, go to a gun store, they throw away rifle and shotgun shipping boxes all the time. I've made my own with larger pieces of corrugated cardboard but I've got lots of experience. For cushioning long guns, use waste bubble wrap. Like the kind used for shipping some furniture, cabinets, counter tops, etc. It's tougher than commercially sold bubble wrap and it's free. Be imaginative.
This gets a paragraph of its own. INSURE EVERYTHING. I've shipped thousands of parcels, never yet had to file a claim. Because of luck, or maybe because I paid for insurance. That's Murphy's law in action, the first thing you don't insure will be the one that goes missing. Just another cost of doing business.
Unless priced right, common guns don't do well on Gunbroker, just too much competition. Long guns, the shipping issues. So I try to peddle these locally unless it's something high value.
You can try Armslist for out of state sales, no fee. It can be flakey. You have to be patient and careful. But it can work. There are some good people looking on Armslist. I've had some successes. Take nothing less that cash in person (in front of a gun store) or a USPS money order from Armslist customers.
Long guns, you can ship those yourself, don't need to go through an FFL dealer. Don't need the C&R for this either. You have to ship to an FFL and get a copy of their license. Make sure with your buyer that their FFL takes shipments from private individuals, some won't. Problem with shipping them is this. If you use a container large enough to ensure survival, it increases the size. And all shippers now figure cubage into their rates. They charge for volume of container. Anything over a cubic foot incurs steeper rates. You find a nice, long shipping carton for a rifle, the muzzle ends consumes a lot of wasted space. Guns that have two piece stocks (lever gun, Remington pump guns, etc) so long as the buyer is okay with it, remove the butt stock and the result is a much shorter container. Which costs less to ship.
Where to get packing supplies. For rifles, go to a gun store, they throw away rifle and shotgun shipping boxes all the time. I've made my own with larger pieces of corrugated cardboard but I've got lots of experience. For cushioning long guns, use waste bubble wrap. Like the kind used for shipping some furniture, cabinets, counter tops, etc. It's tougher than commercially sold bubble wrap and it's free. Be imaginative.
This gets a paragraph of its own. INSURE EVERYTHING. I've shipped thousands of parcels, never yet had to file a claim. Because of luck, or maybe because I paid for insurance. That's Murphy's law in action, the first thing you don't insure will be the one that goes missing. Just another cost of doing business.
Unless priced right, common guns don't do well on Gunbroker, just too much competition. Long guns, the shipping issues. So I try to peddle these locally unless it's something high value.
You can try Armslist for out of state sales, no fee. It can be flakey. You have to be patient and careful. But it can work. There are some good people looking on Armslist. I've had some successes. Take nothing less that cash in person (in front of a gun store) or a USPS money order from Armslist customers.
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