[sleepdirt]

Couple of weeks ago I picked up 7 Childer's AK receivers and a Glock 38 - $20 each. :frown:

 

[Oldman1151]

$15

 

[Warp]

Depending on which LGS and your membership status...$25-$50.

There's one that will do $25 for multiple firearms from the same shipment, and on the other extreme one that charges $50 per even if it's say three stripped lowers shipped together that's $150.

Pays to shop around

 

[brio]

$25.00 for the transfer + $18.00 for the nics check = $43.00.

 

[tc556guy]

It should become a standardized system...
say $20 total for everything... $5 for each additional gun
I understand you have paperwork involved, but its highway robbery what some of you are paying.
Paperwork is just part of the job as an FFL, but that is also the PART OF THE JOB.
What else do FFL`s do besides sit around their gun shop and talk BS all day long.
I`d say they have a pretty easy job... its not hard to use a pen an paper once in awhile.

I addressed some of your talking points in my first post.

Time is money. Maybe some full time FFLs have "nothing else to do but sit around", but I sometimes drop in on my main competitor who is the counties only brick and mortar gun store. He rarely has an empty store, and usually has multiple customers at any given time. But he greets everyone, by name if he knows you...and any time he spends with you is time that he could have spent with another person at his counter. When things do get slow there, he is doing his gunsmithing stuff that makes as much of his income as his gun and accessory sales do. So there is little "sitting around" that I can see.

I don't know where this idea came from that all an FFL does on a transfer is "a little paperwork".
I currently have a couple wanting to buy their son a shotgun; they haven't even ordered anything and I probably have at least an hour invested in talks with them on the phone, internet searches at my suppliers for them to get prices, etc.

I mentioned earlier that I often have to run to the various postal or FedEx/ UPS hubs to get incoming boxes; they're all around a 20 mile round trip from where I do my transfers. If I was claiming just the IRS mileage rate, at that point I've got more cost invested in that transfer than what I'm ultimately making on the transfer.

Like I said, time is money. Many people who have a gun or part waiting for them can't seem to make it here on time. They might say they'll be by at 10 AM and they show up at Noon, or don't show up at all and don't call to say they can't make it as planned. Meanwhile I've spent that amount of time waiting for them. I might have another transfer done in that time since I try to schedule multiple transfers on days when I have a lot of stuff waiting in the safe, but then again, many times I do not and could have been doing other things in my life than sitting there surfing the net waiting for someone to show up at the agreed upon time.

Like I said, time is money.

Oh, and the other claim I often see, that the guys coming in for transfers will buy other stuff? Some of them, maybe. Most, not at all. It is what it is.

 

[VicarofGlock]

Too much--$50 for each gun esp considering they take the USPS package they're *handed*, open it, log it in, then sits it on a shelf *where it sits*. They don't bother calling & they won't do outgoing transfers--"too much work" they say. I need to find somebody else for FFL transfers in town Atlanta--esp one willing to do *outgoing* transfers....

 

[Taroman]

Our small town LGS charges $20 for a transfer, plus the $10 state registration fee.
As I have done a lot of favors for him (good will) I only pay the $10.
Ah, small town living.

 

[DesertGlock20]

No NICS ($15) in NV if you have a CCW.

 

[jb1911]

I use South County Guns in Schererville IN. Nice guys and they charge $30. I used to have my firearms shipped to the Cabelas in Hammond until they raised the fee to $80 (not a missprint).

 

[spatin]

It depends on the store, of course, but I usually pay $16 - $20 in Colorado Springs. Lots of walk-in stores here tend to drive the prices down, which is a good thing.

Living in a remote area, my local gun store (LGS) is not even a gun store.

Back during the Clinton years, Bill's ATF drove all the "kitchen table" FFLs out of business and now I have just this one guy. The place is a liquor and sporting goods store that sells hunting licenses, primarily to tourists. He stocks no new guns but does take firearms on consignment.

His primary (gun) business is accepting delivery of guns bought elsewhere by customers who have to use him to transfer the firearm and create that paper trail. He charges $35 per gun to do so. I recently bought four Glock frames when GlockStore had a sale and he discounted his fee to only charge the fee for three guns, and then it was only because I asked him for some kind of discount, being a good repeat customer and all. (Whenever I ask him: "What kind of a deal can you get me on a ....?" he says, "Just buy it on line. I can't compete with those prices." I suspect he makes more money this way than if he ordered one for me.)

If I want to see an actual walk-in gun store, it's a 140-mile trip to Flagstaff. Three hundred to the Phoenix area. Suffice to say that I somewhat envy you guys that have multiple LGSs from which to choose. I have no place to go and try out or even just test the grip of various models. Most guns I buy are bought sight unseen.

Anyway, since I mostly buy on line, I have to factor in the $35 transfer fee. If he charged more, I'd probably pay it. (Don't tell him!) When one factors in the cost of travel, it's still cheaper to buy on line and pay his fee.

Just curious: how much do other FFLs charge to receive your on-line purchase and transfer a firearm?

$25-$35 transfers around here.
Over the years a few gun shop owners have remarked that they make far more money selling bait to fishermen then they do on their gun sales.

 

[Core781]

Bullsh!t. You think that’s “fair" profit?

I give you, they need to charge something, because I certainly don’t expect them to put up with the headache of paperwork and ATF audits for free; but bare in mind an (initial) FFL costs $200...for three years. After that, it only costs $90 for the following three years, which of course is only a measly $30 per year.

So, one guy pays a $30 FFL transfer fee in the first week of January, that dealer’s FFL is already paid for for that year. The next 51 weeks of transfers are nothing but pure profit.

Like I said: I don't know what to think of it. However, they have to print and process paperwork. There is time involved in this. Also shipping processing and storage until the NICS comes back. I don't know what the man-hours adds up for the process from start to finish but you also have to factor in the cost of overhead to run the shop: for the 15-30 minutes it takes to process everything: assuming you have one employee. I guess if you were setup for volume it would be minimal overhead, but the LGS taking .5 man hour from the day of 8 hours is significant. I'm not saying it's reasonable that it costs so much to process a transfer, or the fact that it's debatable that we should have a NICS int he first place.. However, I know what it's like to charge by the minute and you have to stay in the green or you will be out on the street.. I know the LGS pays at least $12 an hour, that means they are investing at least $17 per hour per employee minimal with health insurance/and other employee fees. That's $8.50 for 30 minutes of time, not including revenue lost from the transfer. A LGS with one employee or two may be losing $100-200+ an hour of gunsmithing or sales. This doesn't factor the cost of daily insurance. So like I said, I don't know what to think, but I don't think it's okay to say a $25-30 transfer fee is unreasonable. Don't hate the player hate the game.. The folks who just do transfers on the side with minimal overhead are really the solution to the problem as far as I can see, as long as they charge a fair price for their time.

 

[sniper48]

Living in a remote area, my local gun store (LGS) is not even a gun store.

Back during the Clinton years, Bill's ATF drove all the "kitchen table" FFLs out of business and now I have just this one guy. The place is a liquor and sporting goods store that sells hunting licenses, primarily to tourists. He stocks no new guns but does take firearms on consignment.

His primary (gun) business is accepting delivery of guns bought elsewhere by customers who have to use him to transfer the firearm and create that paper trail. He charges $35 per gun to do so. I recently bought four Glock frames when GlockStore had a sale and he discounted his fee to only charge the fee for three guns, and then it was only because I asked him for some kind of discount, being a good repeat customer and all. (Whenever I ask him: "What kind of a deal can you get me on a ....?" he says, "Just buy it on line. I can't compete with those prices." I suspect he makes more money this way than if he ordered one for me.)

If I want to see an actual walk-in gun store, it's a 140-mile trip to Flagstaff. Three hundred to the Phoenix area. Suffice to say that I somewhat envy you guys that have multiple LGSs from which to choose. I have no place to go and try out or even just test the grip of various models. Most guns I buy are bought sight unseen.

Anyway, since I mostly buy on line, I have to factor in the $35 transfer fee. If he charged more, I'd probably pay it. (Don't tell him!) When one factors in the cost of travel, it's still cheaper to buy on line and pay his fee.

Just curious: how much do other FFLs charge to receive your on-line purchase and transfer a firearm?

I recently turned in my license after having it for six years. I was what you called a table top dealer. I charged 15 dollars per gun, 10 dollars if you had an CCW permit. No charge for close friends and family.

 

[Galopez555]

In South Florida it runs for $25 to $35.

 

[Pat K]

Living in a remote area, my local gun store (LGS) is not even a gun store.

Back during the Clinton years, Bill's ATF drove all the "kitchen table" FFLs out of business and now I have just this one guy. The place is a liquor and sporting goods store that sells hunting licenses, primarily to tourists. He stocks no new guns but does take firearms on consignment.

His primary (gun) business is accepting delivery of guns bought elsewhere by customers who have to use him to transfer the firearm and create that paper trail. He charges $35 per gun to do so. I recently bought four Glock frames when GlockStore had a sale and he discounted his fee to only charge the fee for three guns, and then it was only because I asked him for some kind of discount, being a good repeat customer and all. (Whenever I ask him: "What kind of a deal can you get me on a ....?" he says, "Just buy it on line. I can't compete with those prices." I suspect he makes more money this way than if he ordered one for me.)

If I want to see an actual walk-in gun store, it's a 140-mile trip to Flagstaff. Three hundred to the Phoenix area. Suffice to say that I somewhat envy you guys that have multiple LGSs from which to choose. I have no place to go and try out or even just test the grip of various models. Most guns I buy are bought sight unseen.

Anyway, since I mostly buy on line, I have to factor in the $35 transfer fee. If he charged more, I'd probably pay it. (Don't tell him!) When one factors in the cost of travel, it's still cheaper to buy on line and pay his fee.

Just curious: how much do other FFLs charge to receive your on-line purchase and transfer a firearm?

Twenty dollars!!!

 

[Brisco]

$10 for one, $15 for three here at my local kitchen table FFL

 

[Alex D]

My gunsmith charges 25 plus tax so 27.50 here ... some charge more .... 35 is more the norm than 25.

 

[Capt. H]

Living in a remote area, my local gun store (LGS) is not even a gun store.

Back during the Clinton years, Bill's ATF drove all the "kitchen table" FFLs out of business and now I have just this one guy. The place is a liquor and sporting goods store that sells hunting licenses, primarily to tourists. He stocks no new guns but does take firearms on consignment.

His primary (gun) business is accepting delivery of guns bought elsewhere by customers who have to use him to transfer the firearm and create that paper trail. He charges $35 per gun to do so. I recently bought four Glock frames when GlockStore had a sale and he discounted his fee to only charge the fee for three guns, and then it was only because I asked him for some kind of discount, being a good repeat customer and all. (Whenever I ask him: "What kind of a deal can you get me on a ....?" he says, "Just buy it on line. I can't compete with those prices." I suspect he makes more money this way than if he ordered one for me.)

If I want to see an actual walk-in gun store, it's a 140-mile trip to Flagstaff. Three hundred to the Phoenix area. Suffice to say that I somewhat envy you guys that have multiple LGSs from which to choose. I have no place to go and try out or even just test the grip of various models. Most guns I buy are bought sight unseen.

Anyway, since I mostly buy on line, I have to factor in the $35 transfer fee. If he charged more, I'd probably pay it. (Don't tell him!) When one factors in the cost of travel, it's still cheaper to buy on line and pay his fee.

Just curious: how much do other FFLs charge to receive your on-line purchase and transfer a firearm?

It varies from FFL to FFL. The going rate in my area is between $20 - $30.

 

[Steelburner]

Here in South Texas there is one LGS whose store-front is painted as a giant Texas state flag who has a notice that they do NOT transfer guns bought on-line, so don't even ask. Their attitude is snooty, their gun prices are over the top, and their shop is mostly empty of customers or even of lookers. I have an acquaintance who charges $25, which is $10 less than most other LGS charge. He's 30 miles away, but I use him because he's friendly, accommodating, and an all-round nice guy who shoots Cowboy Action on weekends, so what's not to like?

 

[kahrdriver]

With the increase in internet sales, I’ve seen the lg stores go up to, on average, 50 bucks. I refuse to pay that for a simple transfer. Luckily, there are other FFL dealers in town that do it for 20. These are the dealers that operate from home and do the occasional show. Their “storefront” is their website.

 

[Zippy06]

$15