SELLING AND SHIPPING
 

I will soon be advertising a couple of my side-by-side shotguns for sale to our membership, and I have a couple questions before doing so.

1. Since I am not a businessman who makes a living selling guns for profit and only occasionally sell, do I need a Federal license to lawfully sell and ship to any of our members?
2. What is the safest preferred manner of shipping a shotgun: UPS, USPS, Fed-Ex.
FWIW: my guns will be shipped in hardside (Gun Guard type) gun cases, inside cardboard boxes designed to enclose the gun case.
Thanks for your advice.
(Jack Damon)

Easiest thing for you to do IMHO is to take to a dealer you somewhat trust have them package it and ship it for you typically you can choose the carrier . We use mostly UPS just because they come by and pickup from us any day we print a label before 15:00 . Generally a dealer will charge you a fee plus the cost of shipping . I don’t think we charge more than $30 but I could be wrong . FWIW FedEx can be a PITA to deal with , they have a tendency to claim they tried to deliver before or after regular buisness hours and then the next thing you know we have to drive thirty miles to pick it up at the warehouse . They all bust stuff so insure the heck out of it , some folks have riders for that we don’t . Of the three I’ll take UPS I’m sure plenty will disagree more power to them .

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I honestly do not like shipping guns in those sort or cases. Unless they are VERY well wrapped and blocked. You cannot rely on just the foam in the case. You would be amazed how much things can move around inside some of those cheaper cases.

I would use USPS. They are the only ones that do not have restrictions in their rules regarding shipping firearms (long guns). Except for that they are supposed to ship TO a licensed dealer or manufacturer if not an antique.

Shipping Box
 

Yeah these do cost a couple of extra bucks in shipping over a cardboard box but not much more and then there's the expense of having it returned. With the value of these guns and the goons that handle them during shipping I am quite alright with a few extra bucks spent on shipping. Not 100% sure but I believe Allan Swanson pioneered the idea which I copied when a member sent a gun to me in one of these. Less than $20 in material and easy to build.

I always build “Allan Swanson” cases. They are practically indestructible!!





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Have not had any problems using USPS

Where do you get the "Check Contents" tape?

Ordered online. Not sure where but historical data would suggest eBay or Amazon.

"Have not had any problems using USPS".

AARG! Not gun related, but signed up to have our mail forwarded to FL for a month. So far, one delivery in 24 days, and that was by a helpful postal lady who shipped a box of stuff on USPS's dime. Set letters in the house mailbox here for pickup and they sat 2 days before I took them out and biked them to the post office.

Not a happy camper