Can firearms be sold online?

I know about sites such as Gunbroker that allow for selling firearms online, but their prices for doing so are pretty steep, and also seems to advertise over a wide area that would require shipping the item to a buyer which would involve complications. But if someone wanted to just sell in their local area in a face to face transaction in a state where private transfers are legal (such as Wisconsin where I live), is there a website to do it on?

I'm thinking of something similar to Craigslist (which doesn't allow for firearm listings). I've sold plenty of things on Craigslist and would like to find a similar site to advertise firearms. The closest thing I could find in my searching was one called Backpage, which is no longer around. When I did a search for similar sites to Backpage, I couldn't find any that were very active. Most had hardly any listings for anything, let alone any firearms.

Outlaw75 said:

Armslist: https://www.armslist.com/

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Oh, wow! Thank you!
I just did some quick browsing of listings in my area there and it looks extremely promising. I hope the site is easy to sign up on and use as it looks!

hso said:

Picking nits, but you advertise firearms online, but the actual sale takes place in the "real world".

Local "Thrifty Nickel" sale papers used to list firearms. Armslist is the most common firearms posting site for local transactions, but read all the warnings about meeting and handling the verification that the buyer isn't prohibited, running a scam, or looking to steal from you.

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Oh, I know. I just wanted to advertise what I have, get contacted, and then do a face to face transaction. I've always done it at my home, but I suppose that may not be the safest way to do it when firearms are involved. I don't have very much I'd want to sell, so I wouldn't be doing it very often.
Up until now, I thought the only way to sell anything I have would be to a dealer, in which case I get the least amount since they have to make a profit afterwards. Right now, I have a tactical Remington 870 shotgun I wanted to trade in towards a Ruger PC9 carbine. If I could just sell it to a private party, I'd probably get more for it than I'd get from the dealer.

hso said:

Avoid letting anyone know where you live in these sorts of dealings. Pick a local gun shop to meet or the Moose Lodge or somewhere that other folks can be expected to be present that will pay attention if something goes wrong. I know folks in small towns that meet at the Sheriff's office parking lot to make trades/sales just to have somewhere secure to go.

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That sounds like a very good idea. Though I've always wondered if doing a firearms deal with other people around who don't know what's going on would actually attract unwanted attention. I mean, someone sees a couple guys brandishing guns and then call the police who also don't know what's going on.

jmace57 said:

I have done one Armslist transaction. I was selling a guy a NIB S&W Model 915. It was Christmas-time in Houston (just before). He said he wanted to meet me in a Wal-Mart fairly close to my old house. I told him "it's not the best area...are you sure" and even after several warnings on my part, insisted that's where he wanted to meet. The guy was a lawyer. I had my wife with me (armed) and sitting in our car, while we made the transaction, which went off without a hitch.

When I contacted the guy a few days later to ask him if he liked the gun, he sheepishly told me he was robbed in the parking lot a few minutes after the sale and the gun taken. I had a bill of sale.

I highly recommend that you find a good "safe" spot to do any exchanges. Some local law enforcement have a spot designated in their parking lots meant for exchange meetings like this. If not, maybe a fire station if you clear it with them first.

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Reading your post made me kind of nervous.

Well, I made a sale a short time ago. It was rather nerve-wracking because I was trying to be so cautious and kept wondering how it would go. I met the guy at a small city park near my house. I picked that spot because the pavilion near the parking lot has a security camera. However, there were other people in the pavilion, so we ended up doing everything from the back of his pickup truck.

There were things that made me very nervous. First, he responded to my ad almost immediately and offered me the full price without even seeing the shotgun, except for the pictures I posted. After I took the gun out of the case to show him, he didn’t even inspect it for more than a few seconds, but instead just took out the full amount I asked for and gave it to me. He didn’t even try to haggle with me. I asked for $360, thinking I’d be talked down to $350, but was willing to take $320. I bought it used from a dealer for $300 7 years ago. It was a tactical style Remington 870, and I guess there’s a demand for that sort of thing right now. Maybe I didn’t ask for enough.

Also, I was going to ask him if he was a felon, just to have it on record, but I completely forgot. One thing I did do was have my smartphone on video record in my shirt pocket, although the lens was covered most of the time. At least I got all the audio. I made sure to get his license plate number at least.

What do you guys think? Did I screw up? If he commits a crime and the gun is traced back to me, am I automatically toast?