I recently sold a rifle and shipped the rifle. It was my first time doing it and had posted a "how to" question and received a lot of great answers. Here's what I ended up doing so you can use the info as needed.
This was an F-open rifle, so it was heavy. The shipped weight was 26 pounds.
First, the legal stuff:
1. Trust but Verify:
Ship it and you’re done. Hope this helps other inquiring minds in the future.
This was an F-open rifle, so it was heavy. The shipped weight was 26 pounds.
First, the legal stuff:
- For internet sales like those on this forum, you need to ship to an FFL of the buyers selection. You do not have to ship FFL to FFL according to the ATF website if you are selling a long arm such as a rifle or shotgun. Other rules apply to handguns and regulated long arms so check into those before you ship. You can, of course, ship using your FFL if preferred, but it is not a legal requirement.
- Always check current rules as they do change.
1. Trust but Verify:
- You need to receive a copy of the receiving FFL's, FFL. This is for verification that you are, in fact, shipping to an FFL and the address of the FFL matches the address the buyer provided.
- Preferably, this would be a copy received by mail or fax. Some will only email it. There are reports that USPS will not accept a printed email copy, but it did work out just fine for me in my recent transaction.
- You should validate the license at the ATF eZCheck at: https://www.atfonline.gov/fflezcheck/ .
- Ensure the ship to address is the same address listed on the FFL. If not, it is a red flag. Only ship to the address listed on the verified FFL.
- Verify your buyer (or seller)
- The vast majority of transactions on this site seem to go without any issues from what I can see, but there are always bad actors out there as we all know.
- Check to be sure that the buyer or seller has used the site for a while actively. See if they have purchased items on this site and what their selling and buying feedback looks like.
- Look at them on social media and a general google search.
- If you know a home address, look up the property records on their county website.
- Let’s face it. If you sell something for hundreds or thousands of dollars, this small amount of time and effort is worth it.
- No personal checks (unless you don’t care if there is an issue)
- Cash person to person, face to face
- Cashier’s check or money order from a major bank. If the bank is not in the top 10, require them to get it from one.
- US Postal Service Money Order(s). $1000 per MO limit, $10,000 per day, paperwork for MO's totaling between $3K and $10k.
- PayPal or Credit card if you have an account and are OK with the fees. The only issues are that someone can put a hold on the payment from the processing company and screw you out of your money. It is part of the agreement you sign with the processing companies to receive payment from them as a business or person selling. Second, PayPal may cancel a transaction if it knows it is for a firearm sale so PayPal might be a safer form for non-gun transactions here.
Everyone will have preferences based on access and other issues, but here's what I did and the reason for doing so. The shipping and insurance cost was more than I expected given the weight and package size (26 pounds and 60"x14"x6") and the declared value.
- United States Postal Service
- Seemed to be the least expensive for my rifle shipment
- Their insurance was strait forward and easily understood
- They require you to declare it is a firearm and show the FFL (controversial point).
- USPS ground ship includes tracking and signature confirmation
- This is the rout I took
- Fed-x
- Was $5 more for Fed-x ground.
- They were nebulous about insuring something as valuable as an F-class rifle. I could not get a good answer from their representatives. They ask you to put down a declared value, but they don’t tell you exactly what you are insured for. I’m not that interested in digging for the information, so walked by them.
- Their time to delivery for ground ship was faster than USPS
- UPS
- The most expensive and had the same issues with insurance info as Fed-x
- I did talk with my local store and they would sell me the required insurance at about double the rate of USPS.
- They required me to have them package it and at least 2" of packaging thickness around the item being shipped in order to insure it. If there is an issue and investigation finds the packaging was not exactly to spec, they would deny payment.
- You have to ship from a hub station. The stores cannot accept a firearm. A long drive for many people. I did not inquire about pick up since the price was double the cost of USPS.
- I like communication, so I called the FFL directly and asked them what they needed from me and what I needed to send along with the rifle. They simply wanted a letter authorizing them to transfer the gun to the buyer with as much info as I could give about the buyer and a description of the rifle. I included buyer’s name, address, email and phone and my information as well. I emailed it to the FFL and included it in the packaging. I also put a copy of my driver’s license into the packaging, but they did not ask for that.
- All of it went into a file in my office for future reference if needed.
- I was super worried about damage so I ended up wrapping the rifle in cloth and bubble wrap, putting it in a hard case sealed with banding tape, then putting the case in a box with more bubble wrap.
- Put required paperwork into box.
- Package the bolt separately outside of the hard case in a separate box or wrap.
- Seal the box with strapping tape along all seams, edges and sides.
- If anything moves when you shake the box or move it, start over.
- Stamp/label the packaging "Fragile" and "Handle with care", etc.
- See pics attached.
Ship it and you’re done. Hope this helps other inquiring minds in the future.
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this is one instance where more is better......
