I have a weapon in classified for sale or trade. Have an offer of a trade. Do I wait for other weapon to arrive and inspect before I send mine? I know what I have but haven't inspected his yet. Or do we both ship at same time. Just asking. Thanks.

Always inspect first. If the trade item he offers is a dud, you will thank the stars.

Inspect before I send mine is acceptable?

Affirmative! He wants what you have... you may not be happy with what he sent. SOP.

If you insist on that arrangement and the other party agrees, yes, it is acceptable. If the other party does not agree, that would make me wonder why. Personally, I would rather just sell the gun outright rather than go through the more complicated machinations of an internet trade.

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You're shy a few manners.

Why not ship yours first? If he likes he can then send his along.

I like the right of refusal thinking.

I don't think I would ever send my handgun first. Sure, if everything goes right, everybody is a fair, honest gentleman, there should be no problems.

But what if I send mine first and he says "Nah, I don't want it. I'll send it back." Then much time passes but you don't get it back. When you contact him, you start getting that "I'll be out of town for a month" stuff ... Which then tapers off to silence. No thanks.

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You're shy a few manners.

I agree with the majority here. The buyer sending his gun first is no different than him sending money before he gets your firearm. IMO

BTW, I have traded through this forum and that is how it was handled. Successfully I might add.

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Dan
Ps 96 SWCA 2930 SWHF 524

No matter who ships first -
Just make sure you have the right to reverse the trade.
It's gets tricky, and very expensive with the possibilty of shipping 4 handguns.

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Thank you all. I feel the same way as to inspection first. Mine is a current production pistol that can be see at any gun shop.

One more question. If I refuse his gun I'm I responsible to pay return shipping. This is very informative. Thanks all.

Hash out a possible return, and who pays for what, beforehand. You can make any contract stipulations prior to doing anything.

My very first ffl xfer was a swap conceived right here on this forum many years ago. We never got into great details about what happens if. He did ship his gun a day after I sent him the fedex tracking number of my gun. We were both satisfied with the deal. These days, I would have to look into the members background in a lil better detail. Too many bricks being delivered on ebay recently.

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NRA Benefactor

We're done here....

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AKA- Da Plummah
CANCER SUCKS!

Seems that the other party in this didn't like me asking questions on here and withdrew his offer. I was just trying to get information as I've never done anything like this before. Lesson learned I guess. Thank You all for your input. 👍🏻

I don't see why they would be offended. It was a perfectly reasonable question. My first time doing a trade the gent on here knew he wanted what I had, but insisted that he ship his mountain gun up to look over. Before I ever did anything with mine. And you never mentioned a name but we all know now.

That's what I would have done too. Oh well.

Here's the essential question. How do you judge the character of someone you don't know, have never seen, or at best have had minimal contact with on a forum such as this? That question is not an easy one to answer and even if you are able to answer it, you'll never be able to be 100% certain you're right. I've never been burnt on a firearms transactions throughout the many firearms forums of which I belong. I have been burnt on gunbroker and ebay. Nevertheless, here are the criteria I use. #1 post count. Not just the number of posts but the nature of the posts. This can be very time consuming but can give you an indication of firearms knowledge. Some forums require a certain number of posts before a member can post in the classified section. If you see a member has posted a large quantity of posts in a short amount of time, and the posts are childlike or nonsensical or pertain little to the subject at hand, that person is considered a post prostitute. They're just racking up numbers for what could be a multitude of reasons. Sometimes it's just to access the classified section. Sometimes it's only to legitimize themselves as someone to be taken seriously. One must be careful here not to delegitimize the noob just because of questions us oldtimers seem to want to take for granted. Many of these young'uns didn't grow up in the same era/environment we did. What I do find difficult to understand is why a noob would want to buy a collectable firearm off this forum, much less sell or trade one. If the vast number of their posts are in the lounge well, I think you can figure that one out for yourself. #2 PMs. Red flags go up when a member requires communication by email only. That tells me that member is not a regular visitor to the forum, or simply too lazy or unknowledgeable enough to set their preferences properly. I require at least 1 PM before I revert to email. Then, by phone, if required. Personally, I'm not a phone kinda guy. Not a phobia, but I am a lil hard of hearing and I don't like holding a phone to my ear. More importantly, there's no permanent record of the phone conversations. So, if the other party wants to do the whole deal by phone. No thanks, I'll pass. Get the essentials of the deal in a saveable format. If necessary, verify by PM or email any phone changes (or not) to your deal. #3 too many requirements. Sometimes, buyers or sellers just have too many hoops you have to jump through to effect a deal. If, you, as a seller want payment up front, that's fine. It's up to the buyer to understand and accept that risk. No one is twisting your arm. I'd imagine the vast majority of forum gun sales are done in this way. A seller should only accept Postal Money Orders. While difficult to arrange, a Federal (either Postal Inspector or FBI) investigation can be opened if something goes wrong. Any other private concern Money Orders including Western Union Money Orders can be faked and forged. Bankers Checks, Tellers Checks, Cashiers Checks etc can also be forged. If you're doing a FTF in your own state and the distance is still far and the seller wants some payment up front, pass. BTW, in doing FTF (where legal) in your own state, ask to see a drivers license. It's part of your due diligence in verifying both parties are residents of your state. As a buyer, any pic the seller has attach to their ad, download and save. A seller can do a deal, then mysteriously the pics can disappear leaving you no frame of reference. Sellers, don't reveal the entire SN. Anybody on a forum can report that firearm stolen. It's been done. Don't accept any pressure to reveal the SN. Buyers, how do you know the gun in question hasn't been stolen? I don't know. It's a conundrum. #4 pressure. As buyers or sellers, your should avoid high pressure. Is the seller capable of selling ice to Eskimos? Is the buyer offering more money than you're asking, I wonder why? #5 effective and timely communications. If you have a question or comment you've communicated to the other party, hold them to their own deadlines. If one party states, "I'll get back to you tomorrow on that", hold them to it. If it takes a few days to get your response, red flag time. Don't accept excuses. If they can't get the information you want by their self imposed deadline then they owe it to you to communicate there will be a delay in getting the info. How long will they dawdle shipping your gun or money order out. Or will they bother at all.

Well, I hope this helped. I certainly don't guarantee a painless transaction, but these rules have helped me.

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NRA Benefactor

The other party (me) was getting the feeling, that you were going to find fault with anything you could. Over the past 5 days I've sent you about 18 pictures and probably over 30 emails and PMs back and forth.
In this post you asked about returning it. I got a bad feeling that I was going to be wasting even more of my time and shipping my gun across the country for you to send it back.
I wish you would have called me and asked your questions as others have when doing a transaction. I have done hundreds of transactions with members on this Forum and others and never had a problem or a complaint.
So let's please just move on and chaulk it up to a lesson learned.

Not offended, just getting a bad feeling.

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AKA- Da Plummah
CANCER SUCKS!

The only dumb question is the one not asked!

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NRA Benefactor

Ok, now that it's all out in the open. Mr Skeptical needs to show a little faith and Mr Sensitive needs to grow a tad thicker skin. I think you two could still do a deal. Rinse and repeat. Let us know how 2nd time around works out. Maybe provide a blueprint for future trades.

Lots of luck, Tyrod

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NRA Benefactor

I wasn't finding fault just trying to get information. I have not done a trade on this or other forums and wasn't sure of the process. No hard feelings. Thank you all again for the help and information. Gary

Isn't it kinda of a Catch 22 or a what came first??

Why in a trade should one person or the other have the option of who ships first or inspects first.??

Not like either party just joined and has one post.

Other than pictures neither person really knows the exact condition,

It's a leap of faith for both parties.

When you sell it's "trust" that the buyer will pay you, Why don't you just ship the gun and then the buyer pay you

edit: on sales and Postal money orders. Contrary to popular belief. The USPS does not jump into action over personal sales of limited dollar amounts. Folks think it's mail fraud which I guess you can consider it. but Postal Investigators have much bigger issues. Yes, it has been discussed many times.

That said PMO are a good form of payment

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Still Running Against the Wind

If it's as described it should sell on here easily. Then send me the cash. Problem solved.

No problem-
I withdrew my trade offer.
End of story....

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AKA- Da Plummah
CANCER SUCKS!

I wouldn't do a swap out trade without being in person belly to belly guns in hands. I don't do any gun sales or trades except in person. Sight unseen trusting a total stranger? Not only "NO" but no way on earth would I do it. To many scammers out there these days. People are even copying pic from other ads and posting as if that is their gun. They are doing that in cars and a lot of things.

That's the understatement of the year. Basically, you are on your own. The PO can't be bothered.

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You're shy a few manners.

That doesn't tell the prospective buyer anything about the condition of the gun you are offering.

I sent all the pictures of my gun he requested. That wasn't the problem. This deal is not going to happen. One of the first emails stated that in came with "factory rubbers" which was misleading as I found out from you fine folks in another post never happened. That was my first red flag which led me to ask the question in this post about how best to do a trade. Lesson learned. Cash talks.

I sent all the pictures of my gun he requested. That wasn't the problem. This deal is not going to happen. One of the first emails stated that in came with "factory rubbers" which was misleading as I found out from you fine folks in another post never happened. That was my first red flag which led me to ask the question in this post about how best to do a trade. Lesson learned. Cash talks.

I just went through a trade with a forum member. My gun was
posted for sale or trade. Member and I exchanged several emails.
Both guns were hi condition S&Ws. We exchanged pictures and
opinions. I don't think he had done much trading on line, he
was worried he would recieve my gun before I received his. The
guns arrived, both guns were as described by two honest guys.
Result two happy guys and future trading and buying connection.
Trading is no different than buying- as far as forum is concerned.
I would not do it out on the net but feel pretty secure on Forum.
How many forum members are going to sacrifice their rep over
a trade. The terms of inspection/ return can always be agreed on.
You can look at feedback, how long of membership, ect- everyone
is not a scam artist.

I have no bad feelings to gasaman. I'm just an old guy who didn't know how this process worked and ask what I thought was a simple question. Somehow in snowballed in this discussion. Thanks. I'm out. Gary

( Not commenting the aborted trade discussed above)

I have purchased firearms from individuals via internet , usually from members of a collector oriented forum . Always gone smoothly, haven't had any problems with gun being as described, albeit generally for shooters.

With trades the stakes would be higher with two sets of shipping involved.

Even in person , when occasionally having contemplating trading, I've found hard to match up someone elses desire for mine, with mine for theirs. Did do so once trading a Taraus compact 9mm for an M1 Carbine parts gun. Both of use had big grins afterwards.

I am presently discussing a trade with a member here, and I see the possibity of mutual satisfaction if we go through .

I stated it had "factory rubber grips", correct.
I never said or eluded the were original grips.
I also said I would include a set of factory smooth target grips.

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AKA- Da Plummah
CANCER SUCKS!

I'm not sure how this moves things along. Surely you don't expect me to evaluate your pistol sight unseen by looking at the same model at the LGS? Right?

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

And in this corner we have.........

Geese guys give it a rest, it's over right?

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Still Running Against the Wind

A couple of folks have said that sending a gun in trade for another gun is no different than sending a check / MO. I can't agree.

You don't send a check through a third party (the FFL) and you don't need the third party to send it back. True, if the recipient of the check is a thief he can still steal from you. But he can't hide behind the old "my FFL must have lost your gun, FedEx lost it, blah blah blah." Even if it's insured and you can prove it's lost, that's a long involved process. Good luck.

If the check is lost, stop payment and write another one. Fairly simple and straight forward. If you're dealing with a thief, it will be obvious very quickly.

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You're shy a few manners.