Buying online

R

Roland Thunder

New member
Has anyone ever bought a gun from Guns America? I saw a gun on there I have been looking for that I can't find anywhere else. The seller only takes bank checks and money orders and there are no returns. He seems to have positive feedback, 100% out of 116 transactions.
 
I have once and it went smoothly... Bought my PC9 through them. It's probably more important to pay attention to the particular seller's ratings, gunsamerica is just a matchmaking service.
 
I have bought quite a few online with no problems.... I ALWAYS use a US postal service money order when doing any transaction like that.
Why? In the event the item you purchased is never received etc they will pursue and investigate the fraud.
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Title 18, United States Code
Section 1341. Frauds & swindles
Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, or to sell, dispose of, loan, exchange, alter, give away, distribute, supply, or furnish or procure for unlawful use any counterfeit or spurious coin, obligation, security, or other article, or anything represented to be or intimated or held out to be such counterfeit or spurious article, for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice or attempting so to do, places in any post office or authorized depository for mail matter, any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by the Postal Service, or deposits or causes to be deposited any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by any private or commercial interstate carrier, or takes or receives therefrom, any such matter or thing, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail or such carrier according to the direction thereon, or at the place at which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any such matter or thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. If the violation affects a financial institution, such person shall be fined not more than $ 1 million or imprisoned not more than 30 years, or both.
 
Probably have done several 100 on line purchased and sales over the years with only one problem. Most have been Gunbroker but a couple from gunsamerica.
 
I have bought AND sold on both Gunbroker and Guns America. Guns America tends (in general) to be a bit higher in prices than Gunbroker. I have 4 guns listed on Guns America right now, and have a LARGE number of Lookee-Lou's checking them out. On Gunbroker, the 'watchers' are lower in number, but the guns listed there, seem to move a bit faster.

I have had ONE transaction fail--scam buyer-- false phone and email for contact after he did the initial buy action. No big deal, but a bother to have to relist the gun. I have had not trouble when I was the buyer.

In addition I have bought new and used guns from Bud's Gun store in Lexington, KY. Never a problem using the on-line buy process from them.
 
No, I think its way too risky ....

Using a money order gives you a little bit of protection / if you think you can depend on a postal system / that is losing record amounts of revenue to pursue the fraud...but I'd be really surprised, even if they pursue the fraud - that you'll ever get your money back - and you sure won't get the gun if the seller turns out to be a fraud.

The only time I would even consider it ...is if the seller / --- has a real brick and mortar operation somewhere ...a legitimate shop .../ so you can call and get extra photos, talk to a representative, etc -- and even then, only if it is a gun that is truly unique that you can't get thru another source.
 
I have bought quite a few online with no problems.... I ALWAYS use a US postal service money order when doing any transaction like that.
Why? In the event the item you purchased is never received etc they will pursue and investigate the fraud.
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I have bought online without issue from buds and from gun brokeR.I will only pay using my credit card. They few times I've had issues, my cc company has either taken care of it or worked with the vendor. I don't have a lot of faith in the USPS.
 
-Mr2005 said:
I have bought online without issue from buds and from gun brokeR.I will only pay using my credit card. They few times I've had issues, my cc company has either taken care of it or worked with the vendor. I don't have a lot of faith in the USPS.
Click to expand...

I was going to buy a 1911 at GunsAmerica for around $1000. The seller would not take cc's only cashiers check or money orders. I ended up not buying from him for that reason $1000 is a lot of $$$'s to be relying on USPS to protect you. I ended up buying a 1911 in my LGS
 
Batting .500!

It's been awhile, but, I have purchased one (a beautiful 1967 Colt Detective Special - LNIB) from a dealer on GunsAmerica.com. Still have that piece, one of my absolute favorites, and I hope it remains in the family well after my time here. And, one from a guy on GunBroker.com (a nice flat-latch S&W Model 36). This piece had a few cosmetic flaws that weren't mentioned in the listing. Ended up selling it on consignment at a local shop.

It's somewhat of a crap shoot. But, sometimes I see nice guns on those sites that I would be hard pressed to find locally.

If the seller has a long and reputable history on the site(s), and they have a return policy if you are not completely satisfied, I'd go for it.
 
I've bought a number of guns on Guns America, never had a bad experience. My suggestion is to look over the pics carefully, don't buy if the pics are fuzzy, ask questions about anything you are not certain about, and look at the seller's feedback.

My opinion? A seller with 100% feedback on 116 transactions is legitimate, and should be OK. Now, if he had 3 transactions, well.......

The MO option is OK in my opinion. CC generally costs the seller around 3% which can add up on a high-dollar gun, and there's always the possibility of the buyer saying the purchase was not his and the seller loses everything. I had that happen to me one time when the CC company called me up and disputed a pretty good charge. Turned out the guy's wife saw the CC statement and didn't know her husband had bought another gun. Oops. It all came out in the wash.

If a MO is stolen, and that's what happens if the deal is a fraud, you can file with the PO and get a full refund. They will investigate and charge back the account that cashed the MO.
 
Bought two in July. One CZ 97B in poly and one in glossy blue. One from GB and one from Guns. Both where great finds $ wise and very nice guns. One new and one barely used.
 
Rmart30 I have bought quite a few online with no problems.... I ALWAYS use a US postal service money order when doing any transaction like that.
Why? In the event the item you purchased is never received etc they will pursue and investigate the fraud.
Click to expand...
Paying with a USPS Money Order offers no more protection than any other method whether cash, check, WalMart, 7-11 or anyone elses money orders.

The "protection" doesn't come from the fact that you used a USPS money order, but because you MAILED the payment. Mail fraud is mail fraud no matter what was used for payment.

BigJimP No, I think its way too risky ....

Using a money order gives you a little bit of protection / if you think you can depend on a postal system / that is losing record amounts of revenue to pursue the fraud
Click to expand...
Whether the USPS is losing revenue has nothing to do with its authority to investigate mail fraud....the inspectors are getting paid either way.;)
 
If a MO is stolen, and that's what happens if the deal is a fraud, you can file with the PO and get a full refund. They will investigate and charge back the account that cashed the MO.
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Well, let me tell you what happened to me.
I had $3K worth of postal M.O.'s go missing after they were mailed.
The post office said there is no way to put a stop payment on them and when I called the US postal inspector he stated it's only fraud if the person who cashes them is not the person they were made out to.
It cost me almost $50 to put a trace on them ($16 per M.O.) and all that gets you is a photo copy of them when/if they are cashed. If after 60 days they are not cashed then they will reimburse you. If they are cashed by someone other then who they were made out to then the postal inspectors office will investigate. If they were cashed by the person they were made out to then you are SOL. It becomes a civil mater.

It was eventually found. It had been misrouted to a P.O. about a 1000 miles from it's correct destination were it sat for a while before someone noticed it.

Jim
 
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I would buy online from a recognized gun shop. Otherwise, I would buy that way ONLY if I wanted that specific gun and there was no other way to get it. I like to see what I am buying before I hand over my money, and I have seen several online transactions that went very bad, including one where fake pictures showed a 100% gun when the reality was a scratched up mess with a different serial number. The seller vanished.

The fakers and crooks count on the fact that getting your money back is a civil matter, and not many transactions involve enough money to pay an out-of-state attorney thousands of dollars to bring a civil case, then have to appear in court at considerable expense, etc. And the result will only be to get your money back; to send the bad guy to jail, you would have to prove fraud in a criminal trial, even harder to do.

Jim
 
Done several of them, no problems so far. If you don't like the feel of a deal, don't do it. Call up the seller if you can, talk to him, see how things sound, there's more than one gun on the internet to buy, you can wait a bit.
 
I bought a police trade in Glock 21 from Buds awhile back. Great experience. Haven't bought a gun listed online from a private seller yet, that I'm kind of wary of.
 
I have purchased about 10 firearms online and so far, everything has been 100%. Through summitgunbroker, j&gsales, samcoglobal, gunbroker, etc.
 
I've bought a few firearms on both gunbroker and gunsamerica with no problems. Just have to judge by their feedback if you want to do business with the seller.
I don't know what you were looking for but have you tried Davidson's Gallery of Guns? I've had great service from them. Just order and they ship it to a dealer near you. I just bought a pistol Monday afternoon and picked it up the next afternon.
 
I have bought several items on Gunbroker, although always from brick and mortar stores operating there, not individuals.....there is no way to predict the reliability of individuals...
 
Ive bought from Guns America twice, But they are like a broker, they sent me to someone else who actually had the firearm. Thats where you want to see thier feedback. Its a lot of money to send out on trust, but all of my online deals have been smooth. Good luck.
 
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