New Englander
Inactive
i have had quotes anywhere from 25 to 60 dollars i guess it depends on your area and what your dealer feels like charging you for the paperwork, its really a toss up or at least it seems to be.
$30 for gun transfer ok or a rip?
- Thread starter maznonno
- Start date
dogtown tom
New member
I'll repeat, anytime a firearm is shipped across state lines it must go to a licensed dealer (FFL). The ONLY exceptions are when you ship your gun addressed to yourself and when you ship a gun for repair...it may be returned directly to you.
No, its not.
When you ship a gun addressed to yourself (in care of the guide service), the guide service MAY NOT open the package without violating Federal law. ONLY you, can ship the package and only YOU can open it when you arrive.
No they aren't......and if they do they violate Federal law on interstate transfer of a firearm.
They can hold the package until you arrive to open it. Only YOU can open the package. They do not have legal possession.
But the friend DOES have possession. Since the OP left the gun in the possession of a friend.....the friend has possession. The OP can pick them up himself and travel to his destination or the friend can ship them to an FFL for transfer.
shooter-42
Inactive
I expect to pay anywhere between $20 to $40 for a transfer. Anything over $40 is stretching it.
What really gets me is if the transfer fee is a percentage based upon the price of the weapon. I buy some expensive guns so it that method almost feels punitive.
All that said, I do my best to buy my guns from local dealers, even if they cost a little more. My regular LGS is pretty understanding about great deals (e.g. stripped lowers for $50) and I have paid more for guns just to give them the business.
What really gets me is if the transfer fee is a percentage based upon the price of the weapon. I buy some expensive guns so it that method almost feels punitive.
All that said, I do my best to buy my guns from local dealers, even if they cost a little more. My regular LGS is pretty understanding about great deals (e.g. stripped lowers for $50) and I have paid more for guns just to give them the business.
Jbar4Ranch
New member
Many of the clubs around here have grandfathered hobbyist FFL members who will do transfers for free for club members. I know a couple others who charge $20, as well as pawn shops who charge $20. A dealer will usually charge more because he either has the gun on the rack, or can get it, and you're just slapping him in the face by coming in and asking him to do a transfer on the same gun "because I found it for a hundred bucks less online", so he makes it up on the transfer fee. You pay $30-$40 for insured shipping and the dealer hits you with a $60 or $70 transfer fee, and there goes your hundred dollar savings.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
$50 is the typical fee around here. $30 would be considered a bargain.
As others have said, it varies quite a bit by location. Here in KY, I see it everywhere from $10 to $35. I am an FFL holder and charge $15. However, I had one shipped from out of state and the guy charged me $50. Ticked me off, because I know what is involved. I paid it because I wanted the gun quick. Oh well, the free enterprise system at work.
Baylorattorney
New member
Sounds ok.
dabigguns357
New member
15-20 around here is good if you can get them to do it.
I had a big problem with this when i first started buying on-line.I tried 3 different shops and was told basicly that if i didn't buy from them they wouldn't do a transfer.To that i say good riddence and finally found a guy who does and only charges me $18,2 for $20.00.
A couple weeks ago i bought 5 guns and he tranfered them all for $50.00.
I had a dealer ask me one time if his guns weren't good enough and i told him it wasn't the guns but the prices.He was charging $500.00 for the same gun i was buying on-line for $315.00 and i told him when he could come close to matching the price on-line i would buy from him,hasn't happened yet.
I had a big problem with this when i first started buying on-line.I tried 3 different shops and was told basicly that if i didn't buy from them they wouldn't do a transfer.To that i say good riddence and finally found a guy who does and only charges me $18,2 for $20.00.
A couple weeks ago i bought 5 guns and he tranfered them all for $50.00.
I had a dealer ask me one time if his guns weren't good enough and i told him it wasn't the guns but the prices.He was charging $500.00 for the same gun i was buying on-line for $315.00 and i told him when he could come close to matching the price on-line i would buy from him,hasn't happened yet.
It's short-sighted and stubbornness on the part of these types of dealers, and bad business. Part of the point of being in business is doing anything necessary to get people in the door. Once they're in the door there's a chance they may spend some money.
If you discourage people from coming in at all, there's no chance they'll spend any money in the store. And they won't bring their friends or say good things about you.
A transfer involves sending a copy of the FFL, accepting a package, opening it, logging in some information, having a form filled out and making a phone call. That's really it. Yes, it takes a bit of time, but again- get the person in the store. Maybe he or she will look around and buy some ammo, a new holster while they're there, or something else. Maybe they'll come back again.
If someone is going to pull that line, I agree- I'll take ALL my business somewhere else.
$20-40 seems to be about normal. I have always said that someone charging more than $30 for a transfer is just ripping you off. I charge $20 per item no matter what it is, and I have gotten quite a bit of business from it. I don't mind doing it for that cheap since it really requires little on my part, and it does help supplement other sales...
This will seem like thread veer, but it really isn't, trust me...
... but a decade or so ago, I decided to take advantage of a buying program for deployed US servicemembers, and bought a Harley Softail Deuce through the military sales program.
At the time, I was based in the Seattle area. Plan was to pick up the bike at the nearest participating Harley Davidson dealer when I got home, or shortly thereafter.
Thing was, the dealers in the Seattle area wanted nothing to do with the program. They didn't like the prices (I paid $16,750 or so, I think, for the bike with factory alarm/security system - which was MSRP - but the same model was selling at that time for around $20k in Seattle), and so they were opting out of the program.
I had to get a buddy to drive me up north to Burlington, WA, to pick up my bike. That dealer made no money from the sale of the bike, itself. He made a healthy chunk, though, on the Stage I Screaming Eagle performance upgrade, leather saddlebags, low backrest (the military sales program did not allow upgrades to be ordered via the program - those were reserved as local dealer perks), and also on a full set of rain gear.
In other words, without having ever tied up his showroom space, he made between $2k and $3k on accessories and installations. Bike may have been on his property for two days, tops. (Edit: It arrived at the shop after I had returned home; I would have picked it up the same day, but it took a day or two for them to install the upgrades. It never tied up his display or inventory areas. I picked it up the same day the work was finished.)
That dealer got the majority of the military sales business from NAS Whidbey Island, NS Everett, and the Fort Lewis - McChord AFB - Gray AAF market.
I have to wonder if the Seattle area dealers ever realized just how much money they may have lost in accessories and upgrades sales.
Similarly, I have to wonder about LGS owners who overcharge for transfers. (I don't think $30 is unreasonable; $75 is; $125 is outrageous.) I have to wonder how many potential sales they lose for holsters, magazines, speedloaders, and all the other gear people will often buy to go with their new gun. Or, for that matter, lost potential range fees for those LGS owners who have their own ranges.
... but a decade or so ago, I decided to take advantage of a buying program for deployed US servicemembers, and bought a Harley Softail Deuce through the military sales program.
At the time, I was based in the Seattle area. Plan was to pick up the bike at the nearest participating Harley Davidson dealer when I got home, or shortly thereafter.
Thing was, the dealers in the Seattle area wanted nothing to do with the program. They didn't like the prices (I paid $16,750 or so, I think, for the bike with factory alarm/security system - which was MSRP - but the same model was selling at that time for around $20k in Seattle), and so they were opting out of the program.
I had to get a buddy to drive me up north to Burlington, WA, to pick up my bike. That dealer made no money from the sale of the bike, itself. He made a healthy chunk, though, on the Stage I Screaming Eagle performance upgrade, leather saddlebags, low backrest (the military sales program did not allow upgrades to be ordered via the program - those were reserved as local dealer perks), and also on a full set of rain gear.
In other words, without having ever tied up his showroom space, he made between $2k and $3k on accessories and installations. Bike may have been on his property for two days, tops. (Edit: It arrived at the shop after I had returned home; I would have picked it up the same day, but it took a day or two for them to install the upgrades. It never tied up his display or inventory areas. I picked it up the same day the work was finished.)
That dealer got the majority of the military sales business from NAS Whidbey Island, NS Everett, and the Fort Lewis - McChord AFB - Gray AAF market.
I have to wonder if the Seattle area dealers ever realized just how much money they may have lost in accessories and upgrades sales.
Similarly, I have to wonder about LGS owners who overcharge for transfers. (I don't think $30 is unreasonable; $75 is; $125 is outrageous.) I have to wonder how many potential sales they lose for holsters, magazines, speedloaders, and all the other gear people will often buy to go with their new gun. Or, for that matter, lost potential range fees for those LGS owners who have their own ranges.
m&p45acp10+1
New member
Around here the regular average is about $25, some places charge up to $35. The LGS does mine for $25 up to 3 guns. $5 for each gun after that.
I have only had them do two transfers. Both were rare items that they do not carry, and would be hard pressed to find. Offers of well over what I paid were made for them.
This was many a moon ago. Though the price is still the same.
I have only had them do two transfers. Both were rare items that they do not carry, and would be hard pressed to find. Offers of well over what I paid were made for them.
This was many a moon ago. Though the price is still the same.Vt.birdhunter
New member
$100 transfer fee (most stores) for any new gun. Im near NYC.
$50 for a used transfer.
You guys have it made at $30
$50 for a used transfer.
You guys have it made at $30
Mike Irwin
Staff
The gunshop I normally use in Northern Virginia charges either $30 or $35, can't remember which.
Another local gunshop used to charge $50 PLUS 10% of the sale price of the gun, and they wouldn't do it for new guns, only ones that were out of production.
Another local gunshop used to charge $50 PLUS 10% of the sale price of the gun, and they wouldn't do it for new guns, only ones that were out of production.