Apparently, you now need a paid account to contact sellers, edit your previous listings, and create new listings. In other words, to do anything. Or was it just me?

They say it's because of legal costs but few people are going to pay for the privilege of even being able to search. If they stick with that business model they won't be making any profits at all.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

How did they make money before?

I've only used it once, and that was to find a Colt Cobra near me. I then went to the pawnshop and bought it. Armslist didn't get any money from me.

Do you have to pay to list, or was it all supported by ads?

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Rule of law, not a man.

I believe a combination of ad and some paid levels for some services above and beyond the norm.

So are you saying that there was once a time that you could sell on Armslist for free ?

Yes. I did!

Yep, me too. Bought & sold many with no fees. I haven't visited Armslist in over a year so I was unaware of any fees.

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Dan
Ps 96 SWCA 2930 SWHF 524

Reminds me of the photobucket fiasco.

I get a fee to list, but to search

I bought and sold many guns for free and some pawnshops and vendors paid a premium fee to list all of their guns first. Not sure what's going on there now I haven't used them in a year or two.

Well I missed that boat.

This is a new development.

Not a good one, IMO

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- Post No Bills -

The corporate mind strikes again.

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Release the Kraken

Yes, it’s true.

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I’m your Boogie Man, uh huh.

I found this out yesterday. The upside is that it will probably keep the spammers off. I seem to get a lot of those when I list something.
The downside is that you have to pay for it, which I probably will not do.
The upside to the downside- It will keep me from selling anymore guns.

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Because of the metric system?

In Louisiana, Armslist is about 75% scammers or criminals who can't purchase firearms legally trying to get their hands on one. It's terrible here. I've heard good things about it in other states, but not here. Got so bad that I quit even looking at it last year. Luckily, we have multiple other LEGIT forums/firearms classifieds sights in Louisiana, so this news on Armslist doesn't bother me one bit. I have not had good experiences with the site.

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Find a way or make one.

It seems like every online dealer, etc., makes you have a log in/user name and a password just to buy something. That turns me off right away. Forums, banks, Soc. Sec., stuff like that I understand. But if your company wants to sell something to me, I'm not setting up some stupid account.

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Waiting For The Sun.

I think that's why a lot of companies offer "Guest Checkout." That way they still make sales from people that don't feel the need the create an account with said company. I use the guest checkout option quite a bit.

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Find a way or make one.

LOL!!! If it keeps the Nigerian scam artists off the board, then I'm all for it. But I'll bet it won't. We shall see.

On the other hand, I see that I no longer have access to my account so I can no longer keep track of my favorites and I can no longer contact most private (non-dealer) sellers. That makes it almost completely useless to me and to 99.9% of private sellers.

Lord knows that I am not going to pay $3.99 or $6.99 per month to use Armslist. That's just plain silly. If I want to communicate with Nigerian scam artists, I'll just start answering my spam e-mails.

What other sites in Louisiana other than Bayoushooter. Seems like everyone trying to sell guns is from Livingston Parish

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Forum consigliere

I've sold and traded a few guns on Armslist. I sold one last week and have one currently listed. I checked and I can't access anything without signing up for an account.
I use the site to try and get a fair price for something I don't want anymore. I have a bad habit of buying something that looks cool, or is unique, then shooting it and finding out I don't really like it that much. Armslist gave you a chance to sell at a fair price or find someone who would trade with you. I get tired of taking a beating from FFL's that low ball you when you trade something in.
I think Armslist will lose alot of the private ads it's had on there.

"They say it's because of legal costs"
Yup, that makes sense. Armslist is the anti's poster child for illegal gun sales...for good reason. It is their go to example of everything that's wrong about guns.

I just sold one through there about 2 weeks ago. Local sale, guy lived about 8 miles down the road. I haven't been back there since. It's worked out good for me locally, and early on I swapped rifles with a fellow in CA. That was at least 5 years ago I'd say. All legal through our own FFLS. But I won't make a move without a direct phone call. You can feel a guy out pretty good talking to them.

Guess it was bound to happen. I'll check it out.

Just checked and I can't even edit or remove a listing I have there without paying. ***? Would have been nice to know a little bit ahead of time. Now my listing will be there forever - or until they go under, if they head down this road.

Locking us all out suddenly and without any warning was a sleazy move. Thank God that I wasn't selling anything at that point, but I'm still miffed about losing my 8 or 9 "favorite" guns that I was tracking and potentially interested in acquiring as funds allowed.

Most of them were from private parties, so unless those sellers pay and then add their contact information to the ads, it's Fuhgeddaboudit!

While I think moving over to a "pay to play" option without notice was a poor decision, I honestly dont mind it.

its $6.99 a month and you can list up to 5 guns. So if we assume you arent just selling Jimenez and Hi-points....youll come out on the winning end of the money deal.

Second, most scammers arent going to pay to scam people, they will move to other forums, also it may deter people who cant legally possess guns as they wont want a credit card trail back to them.

In the end I dont think its the biggest deal, especially when you consider taking the gun to a LGS or pawn shop will get you a lot lower value than private sales.

This is the first I’ve heard of it. I’ve successfully bought and sold many guns on Armslist and never paid. I’ll have to take another look.

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213th FBINA

I think you might be my soul mate....
Or maybe a doppelgänger

I have the same list. I enjoyed tracking things I was interested in. Would've been better if you could somehow know the actual sale price. It was useful for getting a rough idea on what you could sell something for.

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Because of the metric system?

Ive used Armslist for many years. Not one issue. Now..locked out unless I pay. I can understand asking someone to pay per listing but not a monthly subscription just to have a basic account where you can save items and edit already placed ads. I wont be using it if it stays monthly subscription only.

This is news to be. I went away for a week so I took the 3 I had listed down. I have bought and sold with this format for feee for years.
When I sell I only sell to current CCL holders and I always make them come to within 2 -3 miles of my house. It narrows the odds of scammers IMO and I am selling to a legitimate buyer. Most scammers don’t reply when they see that CCL requirement. So I got about a 95% serious buyer rate. I actually sell /buy from a lot of the same people.
Having to pay small fee to list is not really a big deal. But if you have to pay to look ... I think it will fail.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

LOL!!! God help you if that's the case!

The sleazily "locked-us-out-without-warning" thing aside, maybe Armslist should consider going to more of a Gunbroker or GunsAmerica format wherein the seller pays to list and the potential buyers can still search, scan and save for free.

But those systems (and others) already exist. Is there really a need for another pay-to-play system?

Let me also add that dealers near me who have been using Armslist and (paying for the privilege) aren't at all happy about the sudden change even though the effect on them should not be that dramatic. It's really just another advertising venue for them. But if private party listings nosedive and potential buyers go away rather than pay-to-play, what's the point?

I always considered Armslist the wild,wild West for arms purchasing, though I did find two great guns there and had smooth transactions with the sellers. I'm sure you've seen ads on there that were lifted directly from Gunbroker, with different and "private" sellers associated with them. But if you did your research before sending any money, you could do all right.

No, I won't be paying for the privilege of searching there. And any guns I ever list for sale are either going to be on this Forum or on Gunbroker. None of the others appeal to me.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

I always considered Armslist the wild,wild West for arms purchasing, though I did find two great guns there and had smooth transactions with the sellers. I'm sure you've seen ads on there that were lifted directly from Gunbroker, with different and "unregistered" sellers associated with them. But if you did your research before sending any money, you could do all right.

No, I won't be paying for the privilege of searching there. And any guns I ever list for sale are either going to be on this Forum or on Gunbroker. None of the others appeal to me.

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Ukraine -- now more than ever

Our local page has new ads on it today, not many but it seems to have slowed down in the last couple weeks anyway.
It allowed me to make changes to my current ad through the email. I added my Gmail address.
Armslist worked well, like Craigslist, giving you the chance to get something you want to sell or trade to a bigger audience and at a price you set. I assume most private sellers will add contact info now or they won't get many responses from potential buyers.

I bookmarked two searches on Armslist that still work. But to contact a seller requires paying the fee. I assume the same goes for creating a listing.

Glad I recently sold an unwanted revolver there before the new fees. I'll likely never make a sale or purchase on Armslist again.

I list many things on Armslist for the pawn shop where I work, usually higher end or unusual things that are unlikely to sell in the store. We pay 300.00 annually for unlimited listings

I've sold a few things on Armslist, but mostly I've always been a buyer. For a city the size of Memphis, there's surprisingly little in the way of good gun shops. Especially for used guns. Armslist has been my go to spot for a long time. Over the years I've made some great deals on guns, ammo or accessories. I only deal FTF and local. For me, checking Armslist is a daily routine. Don't know what's gonna happen now.
Just yesterday I saw something of interest and tried to ask the seller a question. Nope, gotta pay to even ask a question. That sucks.
I suppose if I find something I really want, I'll pay the $3.99 for one month just to make the deal. But then I'd quit once the deal was done if that's possible. I certainly don't need or want any kind of on-going subscription service.
I really think Armslist has just committed suicide.

Oh well, I checked the site out last night and yeah, pay the piper.

I have only bought one revolver off that list about 3 years ago.
Since then, other inquiries proved to be scams in the making.

If I am willing to pay $2 to enter the local 'pick n pull' car junk place each time for a browse, I figure I can dish out $4 for inquiring something of interest.
But probably will not find anything of interest.
I am stacked up !

Thanks OP for the heads up.

The answer is simple. Only respond to ads that have a phone number, e-mail addy or other alternate means of contacting the seller. Just by-pass Armslist system.
The real question is will sellers catch on to this and still pay a fee to list? Or will the site just wither and die due to lack of participation?

No. unfortunately you are right

$4 a month - no way.
There are plenty of other free sites.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

Well Do NOT put your phone in A WTS ad it will bring on a lot of scammers , I used it Because you Could Inspect the gun in Person before you dished out the $$ . I am still weighing my options if and or how i am going to pay to play