He mailed the wrong firearm....

[turkeestalker]

First post here, but I've been marginally active on other forums for some time.
I had something happen recently that was a bit unusual and I was wanting to ask opinions on what would be the proper way to handle such a situation.

I bid on a handgun in an online auction at a popular site and won the auction. The seller used the USPS to mail the firearm to my local FFL, but contacted me almost immediately after mailing it to tell me that he in fact had made a mistake, and had mailed the wrong firearm. In years of online firearms purchases I've never had anything even close to this happen before.
The package was sent 2nd day priority or whatever and had a tracking number. I contacted my local FFL holder and told him of the issue, asking that he simply refuse the package when it arrived. I was thinking that to be best to avoid issues with a transfer and subsequently a transfer back to the seller or what ever may be involved. He did as I asked successfully, but what I realized is that the tracking stopped there. There was no record of the firearm's travel back to nearly all the way across the US, and no verification that it was received back by the seller.
In the end everything worked out fine, but I wonder if I should have handled things differently. Has anyone ever wound up in a similar situation and handled it in what they believe to be a better manner? I'm not really sure what the legality of it all is, but am curious if there were a better way to deal with it.

 

[jmace57]

I had the same thing (sort of) happen. I received a USPS box at home from an auction house I had done business with before (C&R License). I didn't think much of it until I opened it and there were 2 handguns that I had not bid on.

It took me days to get a call back from the auction house. Eventually I had to take the guns to my FFL and send them back to the auction house. The auction house paid my FFL their fees. But it took probably 45 days to get it all done.

 

[g17]

I bought a gun from an online auction recently only to get an email from the dealer stating he shipped it to the wrong person so had to wait an extra week + to finally get it.

 

[turkeestalker]

hmmm......
You do realize that makes me want to ask right?

 

[taliv]

a few years ago, i got a package out of my mailbox and there was a gun in it. mailed from out of state dealer. i didn't order it or anything else from them. it just appeared one day. i took it to my local ffl and asked him to sort it out which he did.

 

[natman]

hmmm......
You do realize that makes me want to ask right?

No, what?

 

[turkeestalker]

It makes me want to ask him if perhaps the two of us had been doing business with the same individual. Probably not for the open forum though.

 

[BullSlinger]

My understanding is that said package will continue to be tracked on the return trip. Will or should show refused at destination.

 

[turkeestalker]

I thought the same thing BullSlinger. When the tracking message didn't change from "Package refused by recipient and is currently in route back to sender", I called the USPS and asked. I was told that no, once the package was refused the tracking stopped and there would no longer be any means to record it's progress on it's return to the sender. That seems a little strange, but that is in fact their policy according to them.

 

[FROGO207]

Well nothing would surprise me with a government agency any more. Seems common sense and .gov are worlds apart these days. Normally refusing a package would save return shipping costs. However with a firearm I would want it tracked both ways at the least. The shipping FFL was responsible for the product so they took the chance of it being lost IMO.

 

[blarby]

Not a government agency yet, although they do have all of the limitations of one !

 

[BSA1]

It runs my favorite LGS $ 25.00 to mail a handgun. In your case it might have been worth the money to have your FFL remail it and eat the shipping cost.

 

[AKElroy]

A few years back I ordered a Savage .308 on Gunbroker. 8 days later my FFL called and let me know my Remmy 700 was in, a .223 no less. I asked him to return it to the seller which he did. I spent the next several days calling and emailing the seller to get an ETA on either my money or my rifle, no response of any kind for over a week. It was not until I threatened to sue him that I finally got a response that my refund had been processed. The jerk even gave me an "F" retaliatory review on GB because I had the gall to tell the truth in my review of him, and told me he would only change it if I revised my review to give him top marks. Add "review blackmail" to the list for this guy. I did not comply.

 

[DAP90]

I once had a Tikka T3 Lite that was part of a recall. I mailed it off to be corrected and then some time later a brand new SAKO 75 showed up at my door. I’d really hoped they’d sent it as some kind of replacement upgrade but knew they hadn’t. A call to the recall department confirmed they sent me that rifle on accident. Oh well.

 

[mstreddy]

A couple of years ago I ordered a set of fiberoptic sights from a well known maker. Several days later I get a call tag from UPS for signature required delivery. Hmm, I go to the UPS depot to pick up this mystery package. Low and behold it's from the sight company -- and it's a long box -- sign for it, get it to my truck and open it. It's a brand new Rem 870 shotgun.
OK. that's not what I ordered. Go home, call the company up. Hi -- I ordered some sights but I got a shotgun instead. How would you like to handle this?
The shipping dept folks were very apologetic, gracious and thankful. They sent me a return label and UPS picked it up at my door.
So, yeah shipping mistakes happen.
AKElroy, your case seems more a case of bait and switch by the dealer. Or a mistake that he didn't want to own up to.

 

[TimSr]

Your only mistake was actually made by the original shipper in using USPS. Any other private shipper, UPS Fedex etc, would have continued tracking all the way back to the sender. USPS has always been way behind the others when it comes to tracking. I'm surprised they still don't track the entire journey of a package.

 

[joem1945]

I got a package from by normal delivery US mail that looked like a book from a well known vendor. Since I do order from them I didn't think much about it. When I opened the box it was a pistol I ordered on a gun auction. I guess the seller saved some money by shipping it that way.

 

[jmorris]

Your only mistake was actually made by the original shipper in using USPS.

IIRC you can't USPS a handgun in most cases.

 

[buck460XVR]

I guess I don't see a problem anywhere as far as the OP is concerned. Once there was verification that he refused to accept the package, he was no longer responsible for it or in even the picture. Any claims on it for loss or damage would be the responsibility of the sender, and not affected at all because there was no tracking. Only real mistake made at all was the sender, sending the wrong firearm in the first place.

 

[natman]

IIRC you can't USPS a handgun in most cases.

Mere mortals can't use USPS for a handgun. FFLs can and it's considerably cheaper for them to do so than using UPS Air.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

I guess I don't see a problem anywhere as far as the OP is concerned. Once there was verification that he refused to accept the package, he was no longer responsible for it or in even the picture. Any claims on it for loss or damage would be the responsibility of the sender, and not affected at all because there was no tracking. Only real mistake made at all was the sender, sending the wrong firearm in the first place.

My thoughts as well.

 

[hemiram]

A couple of years ago, the FFL I used to use messed up and sent two guns to the wrong people out of four guns I sold. It was a giant hassle of phone calls back and forth and one of the dealers that got my Beretta 92FS basically held it hostage and I had to pay them their transfer fee ($40.00) to get it back to my FFL. The other gun was sent directly to the correct FFL at no charge to me, even though I offered to pay for shipping. My FFL then forgot to tell me that the 92FS had come back, even though I had told him my buyer was getting angry waiting for it. Finally, after two weeks of a slow train wreck, the buyer got the 92FS. What a mess.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Interesting tales of mishaps.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Interesting tales of mishaps.

brings up a interesting moral dilemma. What would you do if you ordered and paid for a $50 .22 and opened the box to find a best grade H&H double?

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

brings up a interesting moral dilemma. What would you do if you ordered and paid for a $50 .22 and opened the box to find a best grade H&H double?

Well...guns which travel through FFLs are like money through banks. EVERY penny is tracked and accounting issues are vigorously documented and tracked.

Which means, especially given the consequences of screwing with the system, that The High Road really is the best answer.

So I would make the call and get things straightened out. Who knows? Maybe a darn good deal will transpire and the best grade H&H double might end up being mine anyway!

(Yeah...fat chance, I know!)