On line gun purchasing.

K

keithdog

New member
There are a lot of on line gun dealers now days, Like Buds and Gun Broker and so on. I was wanting to ask if there are some in particular which you would find trust worthy and reliable?
 
Gunbroker is not a dealer. They are an on-line auction site. The firearms offered on Gunbroker are each being offered by other parties, who may be large gun dealers, who may be small gun shops, or who may be individual sellers. If you are interested in a firearm being offered on Gunbroker, it is up to you as a buyer to decide whether or not the seller is trustworthy. The same applies to similar sites, such as Auction Arms.
 
You're going to have to have the firearm shipped to an FFL dealer near you anyway so maybe check with them ahead of time to see who they favor and have dealt with in the past.

There was a thread here, not too long ago, about fraudulent online dealers. IIRC those dealers didn't have much of a history and wanted payment in some strange ways, not credit cards.

Stay with the established, well-known dealers with an established history and you'll probably be fine.

I'll mention a couple of the big dealers here but these are famous and you probably already know about them. Midway, Brownells, Palmetto State. There are many, many others...too many to mention of course...I'd say go with the criteria above and then ask about a specific dealer when you have one in mind.
 
I've use Gallery of Guns a few times, but not in the last few years. They have a list of local FFLs they have relationships with, so you pick one and they just ship it there for pick up. I've also used Midway and Wilson Combat once each with good results.
 
Do beware of anyone who does not accept the usual major credit cards, or US postal money orders, and requests payment in some form of "crypto-currency" or other means.

Also, check the return policy of who ever it is you are dealing with, and ALWAYS, ALWAYS inspect the gun BEFORE you take possession of it from your dealer on your end.

IF the gun isn't what was advertised (in any way) DON'T TAKE DELIVERY.

Get this all worked out with the FFL you are using, make sure they're onboard.
If all the FFL is doing is handling the transfer for you, that's all they should do.

I heard of one case were a guy bought a collectible revolver, "new in the box", but when he picked it up, it had a turn ring on the cylinder, which materially affected the value of the gun.

After some back and forth with the seller and the dealer, it turned out that one of the clerks in the dealer's shop had "played with it" in the few days between it being received and the buyer picking it up.

In the old days (80s-ish) it was common to have an "inspection period" (usually 3 days) for high end guns, agreed to in advance by both parties, no idea if they still do this kind of thing, or not.

Good Luck!
 
Any reputable seller will allow a 3-day non-firing inspection period from when it hits your FFL
There have been a huge increase in scam sites that look VERY real and authentic. What gives them away is no credit cards taken, only Zelle, Venmo, or similar. RUN AWAY and do not look back. On another site, a person got scammed for some serious money on a shotgun from one of these sites. Same goes for reloading supplies - if they say they items in stock that no one else can get and at pre-panic pricing and want electronic payment only, RUN AWAY
 
For online shops, only use places that are known to you, or for which you can find multiple positive reviews in multiple places.

For auctions: If you are not on Gunbroker or Gunauction.com, where feedback can be checked and assessed, it can be range from easy to fairly difficult to figure out whether or not you're going to have a rough time. Hibid, auctionzip, etc., are not the auction companies, they are just the bidding platform. Each individual auction house is different, and some are dirty, inept, and/or unprepared to handle firearms properly. (Many hibid auctions also have hidden fees for firearms. I have seen a $450 rifle have as much as $250 in hidden processing, transfer, packing, and shipping fees - beyond the buyer's premium and auction fees.)

Any reputable seller will allow a 3-day non-firing inspection period from when it hits your FFL
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Perhaps that is the expectation, but quite a few reputable, high-volume sellers on Gunbroker don't offer anything beyond the transfer. You may have 2, 3, or 5 days for "inspection" before the transfer. But after the transfer, they offer nothing.
To me, that doesn't count as an inspection. It is more of a cursory glance.

Most gun shops are too busy and too limited on counter space for me to detail strip a firearm for what I consider a full inspection. --Especially when all they're getting from me that day is a transfer fee.

That whole "before transferred" concept just grates me, anyway.
I have seen firearms arrive with internal parts missing that had to have been present when the item was photographed. But the recipient couldn't really find the parts missing until they got it home for a cleaning and deeper inspection. And, because the item was transferred, the seller would do nothing for the purchaser.

I have also seen many, many bolt action rifles arrive with stocks broken in half. The buyers, knowing it isn't the receiving FFL's fault, take the parts home, contact the seller, and get told to eat it. 'Inspection and return period ends when transferred.'

That being said;
I have had the majority of auction sellers work with me after the transfer, if I noticed a problem - be it a shotgun fore stock that was held on by magnets, sights that went missing during shipment, a rifle that arrived in the left hand of the mail carrier with a chunk of cardboard box (w/ shipping label) and a bag of parts in their right hand, or a rifle that arrived with 12" of barrel hanging out of the box, with 16-grit drag marks across the muzzle.

I have had them offer returns, replacement parts, partial refunds, and even full refunds.
Most sellers will work with you, if a problem arises.

In two instances, they tried to get me to exchange the firearms for something of roughly equal value. But, of course, I wanted *that* firearm and had to either settle for a partial refund (rather than an unobtainable replacement part), or take the hit because my own stubbornness meant that the seller could not remedy the situation (my fault for being unwilling to move, not theirs for wanting a damaged firearm back in their hands for inspection/repair/disposal).
 
I've used Grabagun and Kentucky gun company in the past with success. Grabagun had exceptionally fast shipping.
 
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