Sent check and c&r copy to a dealer... lost in the mail?

Can't do much about a lost piece of mail. Call your bank and tell them that you lost a check and need to cancel it.

In the future, email the dealer a copy of your FFL instead of sending it in the mail. It'll get there faster and be more secure.

greenr18 I sent a check and c&r to a gunbroker FFL for an old .410 and it's been a couple weeks and he still doesn't have it. Check isn't cashed but I'm more worried about a lost copy of my c&r, what should I do? What CAN I do?

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Cancel check, send him another copy of your C&R FFL.

I'd like to add I had a similar situation forever ago and called the ATF to inquire and was told there was no procedure for a lost or stolen FFL / C&R and just to write down what I knew about how it got lost or something like that.

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An FFL is just a piece of paper, nothing to get excited about when it gets lost.

greenr18 said:

what about id theft and potentially using false or modified information to have a firearm transferred to whoever gets a hold of it illegally?

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1-800-not your problem

Someone would have to be pretty slick and forge a new address onto your FFL (has to ship to the address on it) so I wouldn't worry about it much. It's not comforting but I don't see the risk being real high. Also, it is they which are breaking the law, not you.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Mail gets lost every now and then. I prefer to do all my online gun-buying by emailing a scanned copy of my C&R to the seller and paying with PayPal if possible. That way, everything is instant and I have documentation via email and PayPal leger that everything is paid.

And before anyone chimes in about how PayPal does not allow gun buying, yes that is the case, but as long as you don't mention anything about buying guns, then PayPal won't do anything. And should someone take your money via PayPal and not send you your item, you have proof of payment and can report it to the police/file a lawsuit against your seller.

On the other hand, when I sell something, I also prefer PayPal so nobody can say that they sent money and that I took their money but didn't send the item. With PayPal, you have proof. And when I send something in the mail, I get tracking so that I have confirmation that it arrived at its destination.

I've bought/sold hundreds if not thousands of items online and have had 4 incidents. 2 were people who won items I sold on eBay, but failed to pay. I just used the eBay resolution center and got the seller fees removed. One time, I shipped 12 ammo cans to someone and USPS damaged the package and lost one of the cans. I gave the guy a refund for the lost can (he didn't expect any refund, but I did so anyways because it was the right thing to do and not his fault that he paid for 12 and only got 11). The last incident was when I was stupid and sent a paracord bracelet in a regular envelope and the USPS sorter tore up the envelope and lost the bracelet. I simply sent the seller another bracelet.

As for your C&R, if someone gets a hold of your C&R and forges it for their own use, more power to them. The chances of that are remote and a lot of things would have to align for that criminal for it to work out... the wrong person would have to get a hold of your C&R, the wrong person would have to be savvy enough to know what a C&R is and how to use it, the wrong person would have to forge the address and use it to get guns shipped to him. Very unlikely. With Christmas just having finished and snow pounding the country, your check/C&R is probably either severely delayed or lost and I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

greenr18 ....What about ID theft and potentially using false or modified information to have a firearm transferred to whoever gets a hold of it illegally?

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Even if a criminal stole your FFL and photoshopped his address onto your FFL......it's not your problem.

The shipper has the responsibility to verify that the FFL is valid as well as the shipping address. For dealers and manufacturers this is easily done through https://www.atfonline.gov/fflezcheck/
Other types of FFL's require you to call the ATF Federal Firearm Licensing Center (866) 662-2750 to verify.

It will probably turn up eventually. In my opinion, the mail has gotten noticeably slower since before the holidays. A couple of weeks ago, I sent a check priority mail with an estimated 3 day delivery time from Alaska to Texas. It took 8 days and the check was torn in half, even though it was in a large priority mail envelope. It seems like everything I have mailed since November has taken at least twice as long as the published delivery time.

I'm getting my mail on time as usual. But I agree, that lost copy of the FFL 03 is not anything to worry about. Had 2 go astray in 10 years and nothing went awry.

I also don't see it as a problem. Send him another copy and stop payment on the check. I always note on the copy I sign and mail that it is a file copy only for the specific gun I am buying. If from Gunbroker I also note the GB number.

Items of importance that we mail, we spend the extra and get a tracking number. May or may not help with an actual lost item but does provide delivery confirmation.

As for electronic copies of important documents, the simple solution is store them on a removable drive, ie: a thumb drive. It can be easily accessed without the potential danger of online unauthorized access.