Gun Transfer Charges

[Chuck Perry]

I used my local dealer today for a transfer on an internet purchased used pistol. I was shocked when he wanted $40. To me, 5 minutes of paperwork is not worth $40. I understand you gotta keep the lights on, but...wow. I hadn't done one of these with him for awhile. Last time I did it was $25. I sold two pistols locally in the past month, and used him for the transfer. Cost? $25. He stated that since he was cut out of the loop ($) on internet deals, he charges $40 for the transfer as opposed to the regular $25. After a brief exchange, he agreed to accept my $25 this time. I think it is the last of my money he will get.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Transfer fees here run anywhere from $15 to $40.

Luckily I found a guy who does it for $15. Its a little drive from where I live but its worth it. Great guy who's easy to do business with.

 

[P95Carry]

Oh my - some of you guys really do get hit!!

I must be amongst the few who luck out .. my guy charges me $10 .. and has done so for quite some time. Was originally $20 ... then $15 ... but for last (oh hell .- how many!??) transfers ... just the $10.

I do put quite a bit of business his way but ... he does also do a lot to help me ... guess I am just lucky.

 

[Standing Wolf]

A local dealer charged me $35 for a transfer. I haven't been back to buy anything since.

 

[Mulliga]

I understand people have to eat - ever since Klinton worked FFLs over, it hasn't been the same. Gun shops really don't get much revenue from transfers, so they don't like doing them (at least mine doesn't).

 

[hillbilly]

I feel no sympathy for gun dealers when it comes to transfers.

Are they actually selling a gun? No.

However, they are getting essentially free money.

The transfer fee is buying an ink-signed photocopy of the FFL and a form 4473.

Dealers who charge or $30 or $40 for one ink-signed photocopy and the standard gun purchase form deserve to lose the business of the person they ripped off.

Doing transfers on Internet sales is basically getting money for free for a dealer.

Cripes! They make pure profit and don't even have to actually PURCHASE the gun they are going to make $10 or $15 or $20 on. They don't pay the SHIPPING on the firearm, either.

Dealers who can't figure that out, or who refuse to figure that out deserve to lose customers.

hillbilly

 

[Tamara]

How much does Wally World charge for a transfer?

 

[P95Carry]

How much does Wally World charge for a transfer?

Hahaha ........ Tam's - you didn't qualify that with any smilies so not sure quite how to take it!! Thus far tho ..... LOL!!

 

[JohnKSa]

Cheapest around here is $10.

I know of another place that's $15.

Most places are $25.

I wouldn't fuss too much about $30 but that's about my limit.

 

[hillbilly]

Not only do dealers make free money, they also make friends that way.

A dealer who makes some free $10 bills by doing some transfers not only gets the $10 a pop, he also impresses buyers who buy things to go along with their transferred guns...

Ammo, cleaning supplies, new grips, reloading supplies, magazines, etc. etc.

So um, the dealer makes free money and impresses a customer who needs to buy more gun stuff in the future.

Yeah....doing transfers is absolutely taking money out of a dealer's pockets...........

Let's see.....If I'm a gun dealer, I can do three internet transfers today and make $30 for making three photocopies and signing my name three times, or I can shell out a couple of hundred dollars of my own money to buy a gun at dealer price, and then put it on the shelf and hope someone comes in to buy it so I can make about $80 or $100 profit or so.

I can make $30 on three transfers right now and not sell a gun and in all likelihood create three repeat customers, or I can buy a gun that might sit on the shelf for days, weeks, even months before someone actually buys it and I can make some profit on it....

hmmmm...................

hillbilly

 

[M2 Carbine]

The first dealer that accepted mine charged $10.
After several he acted like I was trying to put something over on him so I didn't ask him anymore.
The guns I ordered were guns he didn't stock.


Today he lost two sales to another dealer who charges $15.

I called the second dealer and asked him to order the guns.
He said he would but it would save me money if I would order and pay for the guns and he could just charge me $15.

Needless to say this dealer will get more of my business.
I'm already looking at a 45 he has in stock.

 

[Kodiak AK]

My guy charges one of two fees . If you do all of the paper work ,phone calls , and payments , and he just needs to send out a copy and do the form , he charges $20. If you have him do the order , put down a deposit , and let him pay until you come to get it he charges $40 . I won't complain because he is the only guy in town that will do them .

 

[Calumus]

Wow, you guys are getting much better prices than I was quoted. 1st place I asked wanted $70!! plus $15 for the NIC. Needless to say, I won't be darkening their doorstep again. Dumb way to do buisness. You blow any chance you may have had at a repeat customer who'll tell all his friends what a great shop you have. Instead, you now have someone bad mouthing you all over the place, and for what? A couple of extra bucks right now. Call me crazy, but I think I'd rather sell you $40 worth of ammo and supplies a month for the next couple of years and have you bring in friends, then make a quick $70 and never see you again. JMHO. Cheers,
Shawn

 

[Beav]

There's a shop around here that will charge $25 plus another 10% of the guns price if they deem you bought it at dealer cost. So if you got a good deal and paid $1000 for a rifle they'll want $125 for the transfer.

 

[LegalBean]

I guess I'm lucky

Wow, I guess I'm extremely lucky to have a friend who has an FFL. He doesn't charge me anything for a transfer. In fact, on Monday he'll be receiving a P239 that I bought on this board last week.

I do roast coffee periodically for him though, which he claims is the best coffee he's ever had. So maybe we're even.

Dennis

 

[rayra]

one of the only good things I can say about my CA laws - if I understand it correctly, transfer fees are capped to a max of $30 - AND no CA FFL can refuse to conduct a transfer.

 

[threeseven]

In Australia, it's regulated.

My local gun store charges $11 for a intrastate transfer, which is quite reasonable. However, they charge $50 for an interstate transfer. They only get $11 out of that $50, the rest of it goes straight to the government.

 

[berettaman]

I'm with legalbean on this one.My guy doesn't charge me anything either.I used to work with him years ago and as we were the only gun nuts in the company we pretty much had to stick together.Of course I try not to abuse the situation.I try and throw business his way and he only charges people I refer to him $10.00.

Man have I sunk so low that I'm pimpin' gun transfers?

 

[cracked butt]

I used to buy alot of stuff from a certain gunshop until one day I wanted to order a pair of rifles. I asked for their price and was told $50 per transfer. I asked if I could get a discount on that since I was ordering 2 identical rifles from the same source. Answer I got from the owner was "nope, $50 each"
I now shun that shop like the plague

 

[EOD Guy]

one of the only good things I can say about my CA laws - if I understand it correctly, transfer fees are capped to a max of $30 - AND no CA FFL can refuse to conduct a transfer.

Not quite true. The cap on fees is only for private party transfers where both parties are in the shop to do the transfer. Also, a dealer is not required to do handgun transfers if he does not sell handguns.

There is no legal limit to what a dealer can charge for out of state transfers.

 

[general]

These shops tend to forget we are a repeat customer and will frequent the shops that treat us well and even if we don't get a great deal - at least we feel like we got a good deal.
(yesssssss- my precious) (sorry - it was all the WE stuff)
Having said that... I joined a gun club that gives its members free transfers.

 

[whoami]

Argh. I've been looking into ordering a number of AR-15 stripped lowers (4-5), and considering the prices, I'm really not keen on shelling out the 150-200 bucks for all the transfers......I could get another 2 lowers for that!

 

[Charles S]

Two years ago I ordered a custom rifle from Virgin Valley Guns. I paid for the total cost of the rifle prior to shipment. When I spoke to the one gun shop the owner told me he wanted 20% of the value of the rifle to do the paperwork.

Not only is this rifle something he does not stock it is something he cannot get, yet he wants $200 of my money for 5 minutes of his time. I was pissed, I was a very good customer with purchases almost every week and a firearm about once a quarter.

I now mail order most of my reloading needs and accessories, and I drive to my friends in Dallas for most of my firearms purchases. If I need to order something more conveniently I drive to Grave's Guns in Atlanta Texas. He charged me $10 for the transfer.

I needed to vent that, but most people are not gun people and they just don't understand.

Charles

 

[M2 Carbine]

WOW, $40, $50, $25 plus 10%, $200

That's outrageous.

A dealer that does that is stupid. He has not only lost your business but the business of everyone you tell.


Like that dealer yesterday that suggested I order the guns even though he lost what he would make on his dealer markup and instead makes $15.

Smart man. He knows I'll check his place first for my future guns.

BTW
He's local to me but I think he does a lot of mail order.
http://www.sportingarms.com/index.asp

 

[Ed]

I used a new guy to do a transfer yesterday, I was paying him and asked "is it $15? "he said no, only $10. I had never been in before. I'll keep using him. Last guy I used was $15 but he wanted to charge me sales tax on the gun. I talked him out of that but won't use him again.