GunsAmerica risks?

I'd check for positive feedback buyer, anything can be a scam of course. The more satisfied customers, the safer you are. When I'm selling guns I only accept US postal service money order. They have plenty of security features, you can call an 800 number to verify it, and you can cash it immediately at the post office. A cashiers check or any other money order has to clear just like a personal check so if you accept them be sure to wait plenty of time and be sure they're cleared. As a seller someone might try to pass off a bogus cashiers check that would bounce several days later, or they could do something like take out a money order at a bank, send it to you, and then put a stop payment on it. It looks legit but will eventually bounce too.

they've got a pretty comprehensive fraud/scam section in their faq's at http://www.gunsamerica.com/FAQ.htm#fraudscams

something that crops up regularly is the scammer who 'accidentally' sends a check for significantly more money than the item has been agreed on, and requests that you send back the difference.

As long as payment is in hand before you send and its sent to a verified FFL I dont see where you could have a problem. The FFL can give you his # and it can be checked thru the ATF as to wether its valid or not.

USPS money orders are a pretty safe payment option. You deposit/cash if it goes thru then you send items.

Fraudulent USPS money orders would be dealt with very seriously as mail fraud.

Scammers are everywhere, but GA is as safe (or safer) as any of the on line sites.

I do buy and sell on line and have done so for several years.

You deal in "payment up front" and if you want to accept personal checks, establish a good time interval to insure that the check clears. Money orders other than USPS should be treated a little more carefully, and waiting for them to clear should not be a problem to the buyer. Specify up front that your preference is USPS Money Order and then spell out the conditions you want to associate with other forms of payment (if any).

Forging a USPS Money Order is a serious Federal Offense, but so is writing a bad check, or uwing other fake methods of payments for the purchase of a fire arm. Several laws are broken when this happens.

Lastly, I would suggest that, if possible, you use a local FFL to handle the transfer for you that way the shipment is strictly between FFL's and all of the paperwork will be done. No, you don't have to use an FFL providing the receiving FFL is willing to accept a shipment from a private party, but there are getting to be fewer and fewer that will do it. Also the shipping charges are a lot higher. Figure out you costs for shipping and (if used) FFL transfer and make them a part of the listing.

After several years of doing this I've only had one person try and stiff me and that wasn't even for a firearm, it was for some parts.

Hope this helps.

The problem with GA is the sellers
There are many scams on there.

CP

I prefer http://www.gunbroker.com over GA. I've purchased one from GA without a problem, but the prices seem to be at a premium. As for scams, just watch yourself. Any online transaction can be risky.

I personally stay far away from GA.

I called a seller once and got a PORN line.

I called another and got another fishy business.

Too many phishers and scam artists at Guns America for me.


http://gunbroker.com

List them here on THR, we do a tremedous amount of selling and buying plus you will give them a "GOOD HOME".

The biggest risk of Guns America is that you will pay WAY more than a gun is worth almost 100% of the time.

Try here on THR or gunbroker.

nalioth:

Still got that porn line number?

Just kidding.

Jesse

If it's a gun store, the question would probably be answered pretty quickly by posting it here.

For instance, Roach's is a reputable store which has been in business for a long time. They even (easily) convinced me to buy my first gun.
Back when Massachusetts had a law requiring a license to carry firearms to buy an air pistol, I only wanted an air pistol at the time, so I got my license and went to Roach's. I looked at a couple air pistols and the man at the store said "why don't you just buy a real gun now that you have a license". I bought my first gun, a new Ruger mark 2 govt. model.

So thank you Roach's for pointing out the obvious logic and thank you Massachusetts for having a dumb law that got me into real guns.

I agree wholeheartedly, use Gunbroker.com or AuctionArms.com. These two sites have much better priced items. I have bought firearms trough these sites with no issues and I have been very satisfied with the results.

Selling is totally safe as long as you have safe & secure funds in your hand before you ship. That means like a US Postal Service check or a bank draft (be careful with these as there have been bogus bank drafts so deposit them into your account and wait the length of time that your bank says to wait for the check to clear. This is triple-y,quadruple-y the case for personel checks.

Buying a gun is a little more disconcerting because you are expected to give the gun owner the money and wait for the gun to appear. There are 'escrow' companies that will hold the funds - for a fee - for you until you notify them that you have your merchandise. It costs a percentage of the total but at least you wouldn't lose the entire amount and many times the seller will split the cost with you.