Any Home Based FFL dealers here?

[Werewolf]

...Your also going to have fun finding a bank that will set you up to take credit cards, most won't mess with firearms sales...

Cite...

Every gunstore and pawnshop in OKC (and there's quite a few) takes credit cards. My experience with banks is they do business with qualified customers. For businesses that means a good business plan, assets, etc. Banks are looking for business customers that will make them money. Just getting an FFL doesn't mean one has any business savy (and if the local mom and pops around here are any indication the average FFL doesn't have any of that [though there are 3 shops in OKC that are definitely run by business savy guys and it shows]).

 

[waterhouse]

I've been doing it for a little over a year now. It took 3-4 months from the time I sent in my application to the time I had a license, which I consider to be pretty quick by government standards.

Some distrubutors require that you already have accounts set up with 2 or 3 other distributors. Some don't care. It's not difficult to set up accounts with the ones that don't care and then use them as references for the ones that do care.

From the extra paperwork I had to submit, I gather the BATFE is very concerned about your local (all the way down to a neighborhood level) retrictions. If there aren't any and you have a clean record, and you can convince them you are running a for profit business (and not just building a personal collection) you should be fine.

As for accepting credit cards and banks not wanting to deal with guns, I probably got 20 phone calls (this really isn't an exageration) in the first week from companies wanting me to use their credit card system. Not one hung up the phone when we got to the fact that I was going to be selling guns.

 

[TIMC]

As for accepting credit cards and banks not wanting to deal with guns, I probably got 20 phone calls (this really isn't an exageration) in the first week from companies wanting me to use their credit card system. Not one hung up the phone when we got to the fact that I was going to be selling guns.

The problem I had was not just accepting credit cards it was the internet sales part. Credit card companies mainly did not want "Card not present" sales over $500. I sold a lot of upper end guns over the web. A lot of people like to buy upper end guns out of state to avoid sales tax. I would make them a good deal and take a less but nice quick profit, ship to their FFL and log it out, simple task for an easy sale. The credit card companies just don't like seeing 2-3K sales without the card being present.

 

[Jack Baur]

Not true. They do care where you sell from. On the application and during the interview they ask whether you will be doing most of your business at gun shows. If you answer yes, no FFL for you. Also, you can only transfer a firearm at your licensed premises address or at a recognized gun show. Anywhere else is a violation of the Gun Control Act. What they DON'T care about is wheter or not you make a profit. Only that you are actively in the business of dealing firearms.

I was refering to home based operations.

Thanks tho.

 

[jbeni96]

I had my FFL in the mail exactly 5 working days after my inspection. I guess the BATF office in Tucson Arizona works pretty fast.

 

[wyocarp]

I had my FFL in the mail exactly 5 working days after my inspection.

That was much quicker than mine but not as bad as others I have heard of.