Private party shipping to FFL

[RSinOR]

I've got a buyer who lives on the East Coast. He is an FFL
and wants to buy a pistol I am selling. Says I do not have to go through my local FFL to ship to him. Perfectly legal for anindividual to ship to a FFL.

I think he's going to use UPS for shipping. Do I have to tell
UPS the package contains a firearm? and can they refuse to
accept it from a private party.

Haven't shipped any firearms in a very long time, just want to make sure I'm doing everything legal.

 

[Yendor357]

Let me get this straight……

YOU are selling a pistol. And HE is going to use UPS. How exactly is this going to transpire? Is he going to e-mail a label to you?

 

[Rob613]

If you have to ask…

Do what makes you feel comfortable, don't like the buyer dictate your sale.

 

[murphydog]

FedEx and UPS both changed their rules, only an FFL can ship handguns, period. USPS has had that rule for quite a while.

So, according to UPS, what he is suggesting is against their rules. Not illegal but a violation of their terms of service. Could you do it and get away with it? Maybe, but if the package is lost or stolen, the claim would say it was...? An FFL should know better.

Best alternative - your local dealer sends it USPS Priority Mail. The cost of shipping and their fee should be about $50. Good luck in your decision.

 

[Borderboss]

I would have your local FFL that does transfers send it to the buyer, that way it's FFL to FFL. This protects you.

As far as what shipper, I would go with USP or FedEx, both not less than two-day air. I wouldn't give anything to USPS these days. Right now it takes them six weeks to get a first class letter from Chicago to Atlanta.

 

[afkirby]

I recently used the service "shipmygun" and it went very well. It's facilitated by Buds Gun Shop, just picked the size of the package, an FFL from their FFL finder, printed out a label and dropped it off at the nearest UPS customer center.

2nd day air from MD to CA with $800 insurance was less than $50.

Kirby

 

[ladder13]

If he is providing the label, I believe it is he who needs to let UPS know.

 

[AlHunt]

As of about a year ago, it was legal for a private party to ship to a FFL. The private party needed a copy of the FFLs license in hand. An email copy would do.

I know this because I had one shipped to my local FFL from a private party in California.

I do not know what sort of heinous machinations our favorite agency may have undertaken in the interim.

 

[AlHunt]

FedEx and UPS both changed their rules, only an FFL can ship handguns, period. USPS has had that rule for quite a while.

I'd think if the FFL is having it picked up on his account, the FFL is the shipper. No different than S&W providing a shipping label for a warranty.

 

[murphydog]

I'd think if the FFL is having it picked up on his account, the FFL is the shipper. No different than S&W providing a shipping label for a warranty.

Possibly...but the factory shipping example is for a repair and return to the gun's owner, not a sale.

 

[LVSteve]

Possibly...but the factory shipping example is for a repair and return to the gun's owner, not a sale.

Federally, what has been suggested is legal. Whether UPS will accept the seller as an agent for the FFL buyer I cannot say. Is it worth the risk to apply don't ask, don't tell, with UPS under these circumstances? Can't say, but there must be a risk that UPS would take umbrage and the buyer would have his account closed down.

 

[Onomea]

I recently used the service "shipmygun" and it went very well. It's facilitated by Buds Gun Shop, just picked the size of the package, an FFL from their FFL finder, printed out a label and dropped it off at the nearest UPS customer center.

2nd day air from MD to CA with $800 insurance was less than $50.

Kirby

I have used this service recently, too. An important point to realize is that not all UPS stores are UPS Customer Service Centers. A UPS Customer Service Center is a UPS hub. On Google Maps you can find these by searching for UPS Customer Service Center.

On the ShipMyGun site, you answer questions as to size of box and weight, what zip code it is shipping from, to what FFL it is going, and, and if you want insurance, how much.

Note also that one can only ship to FFLs who have registered with this service. (A lot have, though, and while your buyer's favorite FFL may not have signed up, an FFL nearby most likely has.)

Also, per ShipMyGun, the size of the box does not matter, only the weight. The question is still there, but irrelevant. They used to provide boxes to customers, but no longer do as empty boxes were getting damaged in transit to shipper.

After you answer all the questions, and pay, you wait for a human to review your order. Upon review, usually less than a day, they email you a label. Pack your gun in a box along with a copy of your DL, stick the label on the box, and drop it off at a UPS Customer Service Center.

I've shipped four guns this way this year. No FFL needed on seller's/shipper's end. Works great. If you have questions, which I did, ShipMyGun answers the phone fairly promptly and has the answers.

About $40, insured.

 

[CH4]

Possibly...but the factory shipping example is for a repair and return to the gun's owner, not a sale.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. While many of us manufactures have capitulated and signed the current agreement with FedEx and UPS, Colt, Ruger and S&W are still "negotiating" and doing business as usual. The reason for the new policy, is that drivers are losing too many guns.

 

[326MOD10]

I would check FFLs in your area and see what they charge.

If they use USPS you may find it cheaper than an individual shipping through FEDEX or UPS. If you can get them to even ship for an individual.

Also it would assure the guy you are shipping to is a confirmed FFL and take that responsibility/liability off your shoulders.

 

[ken158]

Just go to the "Ship My Gun" site, follow the instructions, pay the discounted fee and print off the shipping label, take the package to UPS, get your receipt and you are done. This topic gets as many inaccurate answers as NFA topics.

 

[326MOD10]

Ken158,

Does the receiving FFL have to be signed up for this service?

I ask because that is who told OP to send private carrier. I also am not familiar with the Ship My Gun service and am curious.



**Actually found the answer. A signed FFL needs to be on record to ship to them.

 

[Photog]

A little off topic here, but am I the only one who thinks it is very, very wrong to have to go through a background check to get your handgun back if you send it out of state for gunsmithing work? Say I have a pistol that I want to have some work done on. I have to take it to an FFL. They enter it into their books and send it off. Besides that, once they enter it into their books, they legally own it. When it comes back, I have to pay for, and go through a background check to get my legally owned pistol returned to me. It is not a sale, it is just a repair/customization from a gunsmith. I have seen many posts on how UPS and FedX make shipping difficult, but no one I can remember mentions the fact that you have to go through all the hoops to get YOUR own property back.

 

[Truckman]

A little off topic here, but am I the only one who thinks it is very, very wrong to have to go through a background check to get your handgun back if you send it out of state for gunsmithing work?

That's not the way I remember it, but my FFL days were near 20 years ago, so maybe things have changed...If you needed work from a non-local FFL, you sent the gun directly, then it was returned directly...As an example, if your new S&W needs warranty work, they send a shipping label, you send the gun, they return it to you...Have things changed?......Ben

 

[Photog]

That's not the way I remember it, but my FFL days were near 20 years ago, so maybe things have changed...If you needed work from a non-local FFL, you sent the gun directly, then it was returned directly...As an example, if your new S&W needs warranty work, they send a shipping label, you send the gun, they return it to you...Have things changed?......Ben

To a manufacturer, they may send you a label, but if you send it to a "private" gunsmith, they will not send a label, or at least none of the ones I have contacted will, so you have to go through an FFL. Before UPS and FedX changed their rules, a private owner could send i, but not anymore.

 

[ladder13]

Ken158,

Does the receiving FFL have to be signed up for this service?

I ask because that is who told OP to send private carrier. I also am not familiar with the Ship My Gun service and am curious.



**Actually found the answer. A signed FFL needs to be on record to ship to them.

Correct, not every FFL will accept a shipment using SMG. In fact, how would one send them, specifically, a shipment if not on SMG's list?