FFL Transfer Fees

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Phaethon

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My local gunshop has an FFL and they're asking for 60$ in transfer fees, or 10% of the weapon's value, whichever is more.

I'll be honest in saying that I've never bought a weapon through an FFL transfer before, so is this average? Personally it sounds like a lot.
 
He has the right to charge whatever he wants, you have the right to go elsewhere if you feel it's too high. I can't speak to what's common in your area, but locally the fees are generally $20-$30.
 
Getting ripped off

The highest around me is $40. I even sometimes use the expensive one cause the guys are good to me. $25 to $30 is average.
 
I live in Florida too, albeit in Miami-Dade county. It's far more liberal here, so I imagine that I might have some difficulty finding good deals. They even pulled the gunshows out of Southern Florida for the next half year, much to my dismay. I remember hearing from someone that an FFL transfer could be done for 25$, so I was shocked to hear that they charge 60.

Could someone direct me to this gunbroker FFL finder? I can't seem to find it on their site.
 
That is high. The two places I've used here charge $25 and $35. Some business' don't like to do transfers, there is a gun shop in my town that charges $100 for a transfer. His way of saying he doesn't want to do it.
 
cheapest around for me is 15 bucks. most expensive is 50 bucks, and as others have said, it is his way of saying "if you don't buy it from me i don't want you getting it through my shop."
 
I think $25 is closure to the norm. I've found that some shops charge very high fees, and even charge sales tax, to discourage buying on line. Find an independent FFL, they offer the best deals.
 
If I had a gunshop, I would certainly discourage non-regular customers from buying on-line with a higher fee unless it is a collector grade gun. But for regulars, I would charge just enough-$20. You can't live on transfer fees.
 
My local guy charges $20 plus the cost of the background check. Whenever this topic comes up it seems the average runs around $20-25 for most with $30-35 being on the high end. I've never heard of anybody charging $60 "or 10% of the cost of the gun" before. That is truely redonkulis. He's wanting to charge $200 to transfer a $2000 gun. That kind of fee is unheard of.

It sounds like he doesn't want to mess with the hassle of doing transfers and has priced them in such a way as to discourage people from using the service.

I'd look around for another shop. To be honest I'd be a little leary of buying anything from a store that priced like that. It might be a great store, I don't know. But before buying anything there I'd be more apt to look around and check a few other places just to make sure I was getting a decent deal.
 
If I had a gunshop, I would certainly discourage non-regular customers from buying on-line with a higher fee unless it is a collector grade gun. But for regulars, I would charge just enough-$20. You can't live on transfer fees.
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I don't know if that would be such a great idea in practice. No, you can't live on transfer fees. But transfer fees get people in your shop. They give you the chance to sell other things like ammo, holsters, magazines, nreplacement stocks, and other extras. They give people the chance to look at YOUR guns and maybe buy one, or keep it in mind for later.

It's like when the big stores offer a couple of items really cheap. They aren't living off of $1 strings of christmas lights and $5 dvds. They are getting foot traffic in their store so people can buy some of their other, full priced merchandise.

And since the transfer costs the shop nothing except a few minutes it's essentially pure profit. When I asked my local guy he said if I bought anything on line he'd, "be happy to do transfers for anything you buy." Because every time I step into his store it increases my chances of buying SOMETHING. Maybe not this visit, but eventually.
 
I pay the background check fee.
And I always buy some ammo or something with it, so he makes SOMETHING.
 
Does it actually cost money for an FFL to call in a background check? I keep hearing about local stores charging a fee to do the check, on top of the price of the gun or the transfer fee. Academy and other big stores don't do this, though. Are the big stores swallowing the cost every time they call it in, or are the smaller stores just using it as one more reason to tack on a fee?
 
SpaceFrank said:
Does it actually cost money for an FFL to call in a background check?
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It depends. In California, the state does the background checks and charges the dealer $25. Also in CA it is very difficult to have a home FFL and many municipalities have driven gunstores out of business. This means that the transfer business gets driven to fewer and fewer places so the gunstores have to charge more or get swamped with transfer business.
 
I believe in TN, the state charges the FFL dealer who requests the NICS check $10. That is usually added to the transfer fee. Sportsman Warehouse does not charge a transfer fee, only the NICS check fee on gun sales.
 
In TN the state charges $10 for a NICS check which is required by law for any transfer. That is charged per check, not per gun. So if I buy three guns at one time the state still only charges $10 since they all go on one form. But if I buy one a day for three days, or if I buy them at different times or at different stores on the same day, I'll have to pay for three separate checks.

So buy your guns in bulk, it saves money! : D

Around here the fee gets passed on to the buyer. I don't know anybody willing to eat the cost of transfers.
 
I pay $30 at a mom and pop store. I like them, and transfers are a pain.
I would not pay a penny more.

Go to gunbroker.com and look for the list of FFL's in your area. They are all over, you just never noticed them.
I think Bud's Gun Shop also has a list, I don't even have to send in the FFL info, because they already have it.

I once had a LGS tell me if I didn't buy the gun from him (he didn't have one) the fee was $100. I ran out.

$60? No.
Could someone direct me to this gunbroker FFL finder? I can't seem to find it on their site.
Click to expand...

go to: http://gunbroker.com

on the top click on "For buyers"

In the second box click "Find a Transfer Dealer."

it takes you to a page that asks for your zip code and you're on your way.
 
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I pay $15.00.
Once they start trying to go over $25.00 I find someone else.
 
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