Hi Phil, as I am one of those guys who only sells person to person at an event, I may as well through my two cents in. I am 70 years old and have never in my life shipped a gun that I have sold to the buyer. All of my deals, from the selling end, have been face to face or through a local dealer. At this stage of my life, I have zero interest in learning what it takes to ship a firearm in today's environment. I also do not wantt to deal with cheats and tire kickers. I had to deal with a tire kicker in person at a shoot last year and it drove me to drinking. You say that this limits your ability to acquire desired guns but how is this different than folks like me who can't make it to gun shows in other parts of the country, like the Southern or the Ohio gun show. I know there are a lot of non-dealers at those events plus the surprise walk ins that offer super guns that I would probably love to own but will never even know are available. I guess in my case if I was offering something that someone really wanted, they could contact me and we might be able to work something out. I have given guns to folks at a shoot to bring back to the buyer who could not attend the event. Also, a local dealer will perform the function of packaging and shipping a firearm to an FFL, but the cost for this service is kinda high and I would have to add it to the sell price of the gun.
Anyway, just my thoughts on the matter. Hope you can see it from my perspective.

I'm with Don on this. The last two guns I had shipped to me were heavily damaged. Nuff' said.

I think if you're buying a highly desirable gun and it isn't coming to you, you get on a plane and go look at it. I flew to Michigan to order a Perazzi. Best $400 plane ticket I ever bought as I got exactly what I wanted.

A lot of the time it is just not worth it to me to sell by mail. I used to sell $20-30k a year of high priced items on eBay. Guitars, ham radios equipment, cameras etc. I won't do it anymore because eBay has turned into an etsy for all practical purposes. If you haven't sold for a while it takes a year or so to build up to a level that allows you to sell anything over a few dollars. It has turned into a marketplace of home businesses selling items at levels that I can't believe nets them over $1/transaction (read sports cards or hair bows).
At this time in my life, I would rather pay a commission than fool with it. I simply don't want to spend my time packing, running to the shipper etc. I have other things I want to do and little quality time left to do it. I have a basement full of things that are expensive and would be for sale but I have no interest in spending the time to do it. That will be how the kids earn their inheritance.

I hear ya Daryl. A member sent me a gun in a wooden box not to long ago. The idea as I understand it originally came from Allan Swanson. I have adopted the idea and anything (gun) in excess of 5K goes in one of these going forward. Not indestructible but ....

I delivered two guns for members from the Southern. It was a great way to get to know the great folks in this organization

I bought a gun from Allan many moons ago and received it in one of his wooden crates. Shipping is still a hassle and I'd rather let someone else do the work and pay them.

I keep the cardboard boxes that hard cases come in for shipping a cased gun inside. It protects the case which protects the gun.

F R A G I LE

"Must be Italian!!"

I ship guns by UPS and have never ever had a problem shipping in cases Allan taught me to build. The wooden box in itself is protection enough and I have never marked them "FRAGILE" because in the business I was formerly in, that was taken as a challenge by the gorillas who handled the freight.

Allan was one of a kind and I miss him very much.





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