Hello,
Sorry to bother folks with dumb questions but I'm struggling to get an answer that I understand.
I am toying with the idea of selling an HK P7. It has appreciated a bunch since I bought it many years ago and now I tend not to shoot it. If I were to sell it, I would only advertise in SigForum because I don't trust anyone else. My question is.... What is a safe way to do the transaction? Do folks request payment to arrive before sending a gun? Send the gun at the same time as the buyer says he is sending payment? It seems to me that either way requires one party or the other to trust a stranger, a lot. I want to be fair, but I also want to be safe for both of us. Advice and opinions would be appreciated.

(I have a friend who is an FFL and would most likely be willing to send it to another FFL, so that's covered.)

Everytime I purchased a gun from an auction site or here, my payment was cleared by the seller before the product was shipped.

Buyers who know what they're doing should expect that.

I bought a factory nickel P226 here and the seller wouldn't let me pay him until I got the gun and was satisfied. I tried and tried to get his payment info. He set up a Zelle account once I got the gun.

quote:

Originally posted by ugeesta:
Everytime I purchased a gun from an auction site or here, my payment was cleared by the seller before the product was shipped.

Buyers who know what they're doing should expect that.

This is the usual method. I have bought and sold a number of guns and this is the way. I am confident you will be fine if you sell to a known member here, and, likewise, that the buyer will be able to rely on you.

The way Rick Lee described is unusual, and I have never done it that way.

Buying at a gun show, for example, usually has the payment done at the same time as taking possesson of the gun. That is true whether a sale from a dealer or from a private owner. I've never bought a gun on a site not a gun show or a business. On-line sales are paid in advance and the gun is sent to a local dealer for finalization (usually a small fee).

How you handle a private sale as the seller is not something I've experience with, but if not done person-to-person, someone would be taking a risk.

flashguy

Cash first Gun Sent after, never send a firearm without payment

Where would a Bill of Sale come into a typical transaction? I imagine a BoS in hand would help if a dispute ovr payment or the gun's condition arose.

• Seller advertises
  
• buyer/seller make an agreement
  
• seller issues BoS marked payment pending and transmits it to buyer
  
• buyer sends payment
  
• seller validates that payment is legit
  
• seller sends BoS marked paid in full
  
• seller ships firearm to buyer's FFL.

If I bought from you OP, I would expect for you to wait until you got my check and it cleared, before you shipped it to the FFL.

If I sent $ via Zelle or some other cash app, I’d expect a shipment the next day

I, too, expect payment to process before an item is shipped but I have to sing the praises of this forum because there have been more than a few times I have bought something from SIGforum classifieds and not only did the seller accept a personal check, but the item was sent before I even got the check in the mail.

SIGforum Classifieds - There's no place better to sell your stuff!

That gun will bring a large enough amount that you should wait until the funds post to your account. If anyone tries to rush you, they are likely up to no good.

I'll warn you that you'll inevitably have someone propose a digital payment medium (e.g. PayPal, Zelle, Cash App, etc) as it's fast and easy. However, every time I have ever checked using their digital payment medium for a firearm sale violations the terms of service, and you'll have no recourse should something go wrong since you're violating the terms of service.

Zelle's terms of service state:

quote:

You agree that you will not use the Service to request, send or receive money related to any of the following:

Firearms, ammunition or other weapons

PayPal's terms of service state:

quote:

You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:
2j. ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories,

Cash App's terms of service state:

quote:

Except where prohibited by law, you may not, nor may you permit any third party, directly or indirectly, to:

use the Services for the sale of firearms, firearm parts, ammunition, weapons or other devices designed to cause physical harm;

If you click on the links above you'll see that assholes list firearms in the same section as terrorism, illegal drugs, illegal sexual activity, etc.

If you are concerned there are a number or escrow services that will act as an intermediary to protect the seller and the buyer, but there is a fee for this service. As the seller you hold the cards, so you do not have to send the item until you are satisfied that the payment received is good. Typically it is a buyer that will request escrow to be sure that the seller actually follows through with sending the item. Best bet is to just not do anything you are not comfortable with.

As far as pricing. If you are anywhere close to Washington I would suggest you consider the fact that the P7 in most of it's variants is legal in WA and it may fetch even more of a premium to a WA buyer who already has a number of appropriate mags. Good luck with your sale.

Typically, payment clears the bank before item is shipped. But here on SF, I cannot recall a time I actually enforced that rule. As to BoS, that's something I don't care for. All that's written in the ad and via email communications is your BoS, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks fellas,
I really appreciate your knowledge and time!
I expect it will take me about a week or so to get my ducks in a row (having surgery tomorrow).
The only place that I will advertise is here. I have 2 P7s and 10 mags in total. mike

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Where would a Bill of Sale come into a typical transaction? I imagine a BoS in hand would help if a dispute ovr payment or the gun's condition arose.

• Seller advertises
  
• buyer/seller make an agreement
  
• seller issues BoS marked payment pending and transmits it to buyer
  
• buyer sends payment
  
• seller validates that payment is legit
  
• seller sends BoS marked paid in full
  
• seller ships firearm to buyer's FFL.

A bill of sale, if sent after payment would be evidence that the seller acknowledges payment was received, somewhat obviously. It doesn't have any particular magic. The same thing could be accomplished by sending an email that says, "Got the payment."

It could only help with condition disputes if it described the condition of the gun in some fairly high degree of detail. But even then, writing in to a Bill of Sale doesn't create any legal magic. I'm not saying it would be useful, but most bills of sale are not that detailed.

My very first online forum gun purchase, back in the dark ages when the internet was still steam powdered and quite often there weren't any pictures, I had the seller take the pistol to the gunshop that was shipping it for him. I called them to verify that they had it on their books (that it was in fact real), and only then did I send payment.

Since then I've bought and sold probably a hundred guns online, maybe more. Never did that again.

Yes money first, and make sure it clears. I have sent things before getting paid, but that wasn't for every day net folks.