Really? So the dealer wouldn't bear any legal liability for handing a cocked and loaded firearm to the transferee? I received a Bersa .380 a few years ago cocked with a live round in the chamber.....you are telling us I would have born no responsibility for the safety of my customer? That's absolute nonsense.
So your transfer fee includes a guarantee that the firearm you are transferring is in safe working order? I expect your working way too cheap.
As a transferee I expect the FFL to do the paperwork for me as required by law. its the service I am paying for. I do not expect any guarantee of condition of the purchased item as there was no transaction between the FFL and I for the purchased item.
That being said I'm not transferring anything special. Want to handle it? Don't care. Want to run it down to the range and put a few magazines through it? Don't care be my guest.
I highly doubt most dealers are doing the kind of volume in transfers that you are.