How do you pay a private party for firearm?

[EastSideRich]

Not sure if this is the right place for this, mods feel free to move it if it should be in feedback or someplace else.

How do you generally pay a private seller for a gun bought off this forum? I am a very trusting person, but it would make me very nervous just sending a check for many hundreds of dollars to an anonymous stranger from the internet - especially one whose first and only post on this forum is to sell a gun. I don't know what recourse one would have if someone just took your money and disappeared.

Are there any ways to ensure money is not exchanged until merchandise is shipped?

As I said, I tend to trust people and I'm sure the vast majority of people here are on the level, but with my luck I'll find the one guy who is not.

 

[TheBluesMan]

Use an escrow service.

Here's one, but there are many others.

 

[bobn]

i did one deal with a fine gentleman on his board. the total was 800. he sent me half, i sent him the gun. when he got the gun i got my second half. worked for me. fwiw, bobn

 

[Eghad]

The last deal I did was I was sent the money and I sent him the merchandise. I made sure the buyer could verify who I was and that I was legit and a real individual.

I always use a postal money order to pay for merchandise that is expensive.

Again I verify the identity of the person if they dont have any feedback. I ordered a pistol from a person on Gun Broker. After I did some looking turns out he was a retired law enforcment officer.I think I was his first sale. All went smooth. He was very open in his communications and answered me back in a timely fashion.

If you feel they are not being 100% in communicating with you then I would forget about it if they dont have a proven record.

 

[Neener Neener]

I would pay with a Postal Money order or Paypal. If you are worried about them being new, maybe you can check to see if they have an eBay account and check their feedback.

 

[NGIB]

Maybe I shouldn't but my radar goes off when the first post is a "for sale". I've done some trading with forum members but these have all been with well established folks. Even post count is not a guarantee as there is a thread running now about a fella with over 2000 posts that hasn't delivered after getting paid.

If you have to send money first I'd guess an escrow service would add some safety and if the seller doesn't appear reasonable - don't send money...

 

[The Tourist]

Since my firearms are large caliber, with many hi-cap magazines, I have made the personal decision to sell handguns only to people from which I would take a check.

I know that I am not responsible for the use after it leaves my hand, but it doesn't matter.

I had a good friend and FFL dealer here locally named Ernie Shane. He sold a rifle to guy who checked out fine. A few days later that father and son team robbed a bank.

Ernie felt so bad about the incident he started having heart problems again, which I feel shortened his life. He died a few years after that.

So I've decided "not me."

 

[Alleykat]

I only buy/sell ftf, with cash being the only paperwork involved. If somebody committed a crime with a firearm that I'd sold them, wouldn't bother me in the least, any more than if somebody used a car that I'd sold them to commit a crime.

 

[Hawg]

I haven't bought any from this forum but have bought some from the SASS wire and Gunbroker. Always pay with a money order.

 

[copenhagen]

DHFirearms

I bought/am buying a SOCOM 16 from DHFirearms on here. He is still waiting to receive it from Springfield as it is part of a package/promo deal thing. Once he gets it, I am going to send a cashier's check to him from Navy Federal Credit Union. I checked out his FFL, and it is legit, I also had my local FFL dealer go ahead and fax him a copy of his FFL, so just waiting on Springfield!

 

[wyocarp]

I bought a pistol recently from a guy who hadn't sold a gun before. I gave him the name of a store here. I had him send the gun to the dealer and had the seller instruct the dealer to take the payment and send the money. Since I get a lot of guns from the dealer, that worked great.

 

[blume357]

Have sent many a money order or check to various folks on this forum

and another with out ever a problem from them. I don't think I would if the person has a low number of post.... someone with a lot of post you can go back and see what they said and really get a feel for who they are.

The worse problem I ever had with an internet buy was I did not send the cashiers check certified mail only the standard priority mail... and the post office lost it.... it took 3 weeks to replace the cashiers check.... the same day the seller got the second check the first one arrived too.

Always send the payment registered mail with a signature required....

 

[Mannlicher]

I have purchased three guns now from memebrs here. Each time, I have just sent the money in a cashier's check, and the gun showed up.