I am on the soap box again....

D

Doc Hoy

New member
Just visited Gunbroker.com looking for new additions.

Guy has a revolver for sale and wants $40.00 to ship it. No FFL involved.

I would really like to know how he is going to ship it such that it costs forty dollars!

I did not ask him. I figure he knows what he is doing and does not need an inquisition from me.

I won't deal with him though.
 
Doc,
That's how much it costs a non FFL to ship a gun. They have to ship UPS 2nd day and that's how much it is. They can't use USPS which an FFL holder can.
 
SHIPPING

That is just plain silly .
Use a flat rate box from U.S.P.S and no more then ten bucks .
He man was/is going to make a good 20 dollars on shipping .
 
I should have been more specific....

This is a cap and ball revolver. No FFL required.

USPS ships to any address in the US Priority Mail. I have shipped Walkers and Dragoons for 11.00 because they fit in an 11.00 flat rate box. An 1851 will break down to fit in a 5.00 flat rate box (Actually I guess they are up to 6.00 now.)

USPS must accept a package that contains a BP revolver and consider it a Non-gun. I have had that argument with P.O. skirts locally and won.

If it costs 40.00 bucks, why are most GB.com sellers shipping for 20.00 or less?

Is there something I am missing?

I just packed up and 1860 for shipment in a flat rate box. I cut a piece of plywood to fit in the box. Cut some shims to hold the plywood in place. glued and tacked the shims to the plywood. Wrapped the pistol in bubble wrap and shrink tape. Drilled four holes in the plywood to accept cable ties. Cable tied the pistol to the plywood. Took me every bit of 25 minutes.

This seller is trying to get 50.00 an hour for his time in packing the pistol.

Bogus! I won't deal with charlatans and I don't care how good the deal is.
 
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I have shipped and bought many BP guns and shipping costs are the same as shipping anything else. Yall buy from Cabela-they don't charge 40! No one does. It appears someone is charging $30.00 to wrap it up for you.
WBH
 
Doc, you didn't specify it was black powder. In that case, he's overcharging. As for the others who chimed in thinking it was a modern handgun and it was too high....unless you have an FFL YOU CAN NOT SHIP A HANDGUN VIA USPS. That's the law, no exceptions. Many sellers on gunbroker have FFLs and charge what it costs them to ship a gun.
 
On the same vein... just "won" a nice Uberti cap and ball on Gunbroker, and the <insert invective here> insists on sending it to an FFL. I asked why... "It's a gun".. and this is from an FFL so you would think he might know better. In eny event, we are in a standoff... no cash from me if he wants me to have it sent to a FFL who will simply hand me a box and charge me $50.00

<sigh>


Any FFL's here who can help out Willie? Slap a label on the box and send it out? C&R is apparently OK for the guy too. I'll pay a reasonable handling fee...


Willie

.
 
Might quit while I'm ahead !!!

WOW !!
Recently won one and I thought the shipping was a bit high at $20.00. Guess I'll consider myself lucky. I don't like the unpublished shipping charges and along with the other hassles on GB, think I'll back off for a time. .... ;)


Be Safe !!!
 
I just received a black powder pistol via USPS. No problems at all. The private shipper notified me that he originally tryed to ship via UPS and they now have a new policy in place where they will NOT ship any type of firearm, not even black powder unless it goes directly to a FFL. I called their corporate and was told the same. It looks like USPS will have my business from here on out.
 
Willie, I got stung paying for the FFL charges once buying a Manhattan c&b deringer....ALWAYS look at the stuff in red before the description, it states if it goes by FFL or not, if the seller post's that it does then shame on me (& you) for not reading the small print.
 
Well... most dealers on GB have a standard boilerplate ad that they add a particular gun to, and in this case it says "Firearms will only be shipped to FFL Dealers".


At issue is the fact that BP replicas are not firearms by any legal definition.... but this guy will just not agree.

So... :mad:


Willie

.
 
I generally don't worry about the shipping costs as long as the cost is clearly posted. I consider the shipping cost to really mean "shipping AND handling". I don't like to think I know everything that does into their shipping AND handling process. Could be that shipping materials to pack it proper are expensive for the guy. Perhaps he has to really go out of his way to make the shipment happen. Long drive? Lost work time? I don't know....This is why it is a non-issue for me. I suppose it isn't much different than to add $40 to the cost of the gun then ship it for free. See what I mean...it's a TOTAL COST thing for me.

I'm much more likely to get bent outta shape for being charged $12 to ship me a $3 coffee cup (other other piddly item) I buy online when the place I'm buying from is a big outfit that is already set up to ship these items in mass quantity.
 
I agree with Clem, it's a total cost. If it's 40 bucks shipping and 150 bucks for a 250 dollar gun I'm not gonna let the 40 shipping dissuade me cuz I'm still only giving 190 for it.

NoSecondBest, this IS the black powder forum.:p
 
Clem and Hawg

Respectfully...(And you know I mean that)

The logical practical person in me agrees with you two guys 100%. But the emotional inner child declares that there is indeed a difference. It is a principle thing. (I told you I was on a soap box.)

Any seller who would tack forty dollars onto the end of an auction and call it shipping is being (IMHO) dishonest. And if he would be dishonest about shipping he would be dishonest about other aspects of the sale, like misrepresenting the condition and then not honoring the return policy.

The USPS will deliver empty flat rate boxes and then pick them up if you make the right arrangements.

Miss work? Drive a long way to the P.O.? Sorry guys but I don't buy it.

I have been doing eBay for a long time as a non-business person, just a simple buyer and seller. I just got my 609th feedback yeasterday and they are all positive. That is because I try to treat folks the way I want them to treat me. I pay quickly with exactly the payment method the seller specifies. I tolerate a lot of shenangans from buyers (Like not paying with Paypal when all of my listings clearly state that is the way I want to be paid.) I ship quickly and mostly with a flat rate box and I add only a buck or two for materials and other costs.

Gunbroker is a little different from eBay for many reasons. One of those reasons is that it is not quite as commercialized. This means there is a higher percentage of people selling to people, rather than businesses selling to people. This means that a person has a right to expect that the environment will be more "up-front".

I have some rules which I apply on GB and I like to think that I apply them more or less universally.

1. I don't bid on auctions in which the shipping is more than 25.00 (I know that this means I will miss some good deals by standing on my "principles" soap box.

2. I don't bid on BP auctions in which the seller insists upon FFL involvement. (I think this most often happens because the seller is an FFL holder. 2 reasons for this which I am happy to discuss separately.)

3. If the seller advertises "buyer pays actual shipping costs" and I am really interested, I try to pin the seller down. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.

I don't get emotional about much stuff, but this is one of those issues that bugs me.
 
Recently I was planning to ship 2 BP revolvers to a member on this forum for some smithing work. USPS was my preference. I'm in VA and he's in the middle of TX. The guns wouldn't fit in a flat rate box so I packed them up in a box I had. The USPS cost would have been about $50 so I didn't ship them. Just for comparison, I calculated how much the same package would cost USPS to New York. Was about $17. So, I guess sellers have to figure on the worse case scenario. Just sayin'
 
Noelf

Thanks for the insight and of course you are correct.

However, this auction was for a pistol which would easily fit in a flat rate box.

Obviously I am thinking, maybe the seller wants to make more money on an auction than the item is eventually worth and he hides that additional cost calling it shipping, or shipping and handling, or shipping and processing, etc.

If I were to meet this guy face to face, I would very likely find him to be a nice, honorable, devoted patriot. But right now he is operating from a credibility deficit.

I can be a pretty quirky guy, a little odd and sometimes stubborn.

I am sticking to my guns. Had I bought this item and paid the forty bucks for shipping I could easily have been told, I had more money than brains. (Even after I sent the payment.)

I am not really certain why I made this most recent post to this thread. I respect all of you and all of your opinions.

I truly am cognizant the validity of each of y'all's inputs.

I am beating a dead horse.
 
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