What is your experience with Armslist

S

stephen426

New member
I have been looking to purchase a Sig MCX with an 8 inch barrel. Since the 8 inch barrel had been discontinued, they have become pretty difficult/expensive to find. I saw a few deals on Armslist.com and contacted a few sellers, but the “good deals” have been asking for payment like Zelle and CashApp which have no consumer protections. Do I just try and win an auction at Gunbroker or take the chance on one of these guys on Armslist? Gunbroker is more like eBay to me since there is a feedback system for buyers and sellers. With Armslist, it is more like Craigslist, which can work if it is a face to face deal. Thanks for your feedback!
 
PayPal or credit card would be the only forms of payment I would do for the reason you state, buyer protection. I've only bought two items from sellers at Armslist. A set of reloading dies for $20 that I paid with a money order. Only $20 so if I got burnt I can survive. The other was a Ruger MkII pistol from a pawn shop in an adjoining state. Paid with a Credit Card over the phone. It just so happens I have an Uncle that lives in the same town as that pawn shop, so I felt a bit more at ease knowing I had someone close that could follow up if things went south. Both of my Armslist buys went great. Actually, the Ruger was in better condition than described. Maybe I got lucky?
 
ONLY face-to-face when you're talking about Armslist unless you're buying from an FFL. Plenty of scams on Armslist too, so buyer beware.
 
Agree with face-to-face ONLY with Armslist. I've bought a couple and sold several on Armslist but always FTF. Generally good process but sometimes you have to weed out the flakes. I always accomplish that before the meeting and I make sure they know that we'll meet only in a police department parking lot.
 
As others have said, FTF only unless seller is FFL. If seller is FFL, google the business and call the published business number to discuss the transaction - not the number provided by the seller. Armslist works face to face with normal safety precautions. If you find a deal that seems to be a little too good to be true, copy/paste the wording of the ad into Google. You will often find the exact ad and photos elsewhere at a higher price which is a great indication of scam. The scammers love to steal photos and ad wording from legit postings elsewhere. I had this happen last week with a Dan Wesson in Alabama for a price that was a little too good to be true. After some research, the real pistol was for sale in Oregon for $700 over the Armslist price :)
 
Be careful on Armslist.
The first gun I responded to was a scam.
The next couple were in retrospect very misleading.
Free might seem like a deal but I’m very wary of this site.
 
Approx. 16-18 successful, simple deals made on Armslist.

Always Cash.
Always in Person.
Never respond to people (one or two people tried this) who want you to accept Any form of non-cash payment, then ship your gun.

One person who contacted me via e-mail had no questions about the WW2 handgun gun (really odd), and asked for no extra photo. His e-mail 'writing' style seemed Very impatient.

Only Cash, only in Person is just common sense, and the * foundation of transactions on Armslist.

Use your intuition and --pause-- to think about any odd wording used in a text or phone call.
If it is not as straight-forward as it would be when dealing with a friend, forget it.
 
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I should just follow the “if it sounds too good to be true” rule. Some guy had the Sig MPX with an EOTech sight listed for $1400. I almost jumped on it till there were too many red flags to ignore.

One guy said to send a 50% deposit and he would ship it out. That way I only lose half my money! LOL He also said he would send a pic of his license, like those have never been faked before. Not even worth pursuing legally if it was a real license.

My issue is the 8 inch MPX has been discontinued so I’m stuck with the secondary market. I want the 8 inch barrel for the slightly higher velocity (since I’m going with 9mm rather than .223/5.56). The 4.5” is just an oversized and overweight pistol in my opinion. Thoughts?
 
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Always face to face with Armslist and even then be very careful to meet in public.

The last deal I did was a trade involving an obscure revolver for an obscure black powder combination rifle and once we got talking on the phone about early metallic cartridge reloading I was fairly certain this was a like minded collector.

If a person can't be bothered to have a long conversation about what they have, it's history, why they want to sell and in general chew the fat about gun stuff- I can't be bothered to take the risk.

If someone is text and email only and wants money sent and shipping- nope. They should be on Gunbroker.
 
I tried to buy a gun on Armslist,,,
The seller would meet me face to face,,,
But never would agree to do it in a safe public setting.

I know there are legitimate buyers and sellers on Armslist,,,
I'm just not willing to take a chance on them.

Aarond
 
And NEVER use Paypal for gun-related items as they are very anti-gun and will lock your account and freeze your funds
 
Assume that ANY listing on Armslist is a scam, and prove to yourself through a lot of hard work and diligence that it is not.

I just did a quick search for the gun you are interested in on AL, and found one for $1000. I then found the exact same gun, same pictures, description, etc. on GB, currently at $2225. So obviously a scammer copied the GB listing and placed it on AL, trying to lure people with a really cheap price. For many specific guns, you will see this ALL the time. I found this scam in about 1 minute.

David
 
alot of what i see on armslist NOW, after a quick look. is really just small gunstores selling used guns at new msrp or higher...

10 years ago, it was ok, lot of underhand stuff going on. visibly damaged guns being sold as new with price to match. alot of people using misinfromation to sell damaged guns as something they werent.
 
I was looking at Glock parts kits on Armslist, when no one had them in stock, and there were a bunch, and at cut rate prices to boot. I insisted on using PayPal, the guy said he couldn't figure out how to do PayPal, so I told him forget it. Then at 3:30 AM, I got a phone call from a man with an African accent, saying he was the guy selling Glock parts and wanting me to use some method of payment he suggested. I told him no and do not call me. I'd say if you buy something there you are going to send money and never see a product.
 
I got a few emails from Armslist telling me that some of the ads I responded to were flagged as scams. I told the sellers that they could pick the escrow service and I would pay the fees. When they refused, I just said, “thanks, but no thanks”. I even mentioned that Armslist recommended that all purchases be made through and escrow service.
 
I won’t shop there due to scammers. They are also annoying in that they never remove sold guns and they pop up in search results.
 
I only look at dealer listings on Armslist. Anything else is ignored, no matter how much I want it, how hard it is to find, or how good of a deal it is.

For private party sales, it is too difficult to avoid the scammers, unless you live close enough for a FTF meet. (No, I have not been scammed. But I have had my time wasted. And that is bad enough.)

I do personally know at least three people that have been scammed on Armslist, and two of them are very internet savvy and generally good at spotting scams. But, as with all things, they let their emotions override logic. One of them lost over $4,500 in a deal for a rare shotgun (the photos for which were later found to have been taken from a closed German auction listing). Another ended up getting phone calls from a few law enforcement agencies across the country, because the scammer used his information for future scams. ...Aside from the loss of, I believe, $800.
 
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