Private firearm sales. What do you do?

[jh9]

Everything gets transferred through an FFL. Period.

Yes. FFL all the everything.

Used to be for someone I didn't know, or didn't know well, I'd just want to see a state carry permit and a bill of sale with our DL#s. Now it doesn't matter. Randos, no matter how local, go through an FFL. The gun gets shipped. I don't care if you're an hour away.

This is a transaction. I want your money, not to meet your illiterate, smooth-brained ass in person so you can wow me with your inability to follow even the most basic written instructions. Like "do not point the gun at anything, why yes that includes me" or "a personal check is not a USPS money order, and no since we're already here I will not make an exception" or "no, $650 is not $700; numbers does not work that way" and also "no, for the last time I do. not. take. credit. cards."

[JRB]

Private sales are now illegal in NM (thanks Dems) but prior to that I did some buying and selling privately, but almost exclusively with people known to me - Army buddies, etc.

I only had one 'sketchy' transaction, and that was a 'friend of a friend of a friend' situation. Dude seemed weird in online/text message interaction, so we went to a local FFL known for cheap transfers and did it there.
He knew how to fill out a 4473 without instruction and got a proceed right away, so I didn't worry about it after that.

[Elwin]

This is a transaction. I want your money, not to meet your illiterate, smooth-brained ass in person so you can wow me with your inability to follow even the most basic written instructions. Like "do not point the gun at anything, why yes that includes me" or "a personal check is not a USPS money order, and no since we're already here I will not make an exception" or "no, $650 is not $700; numbers does not work that way" and also "no, for the last time I do. not. take. credit. cards."

I’ve posted things on Armslist but always sold them elsewhere before someone there made a real offer, but even my limited experience was similar. The listing will explicitly say “Cash only, no trades,” and I’ll still get some derpy email like “would you be interested in trading your [quality firearm I was offloading at the time] for my SCCY?” No. I don’t want your POS gun. I want money to go buy the very specific thing I’ve recently decided I want more than the gun I’m selling.

Now that Armslist charges for listing I won’t even bother. I have a family member who keeps generously buying guns I don’t want but aside from that, I’ll sooner eat the consignment fees at my local FFL.

[Duelist]

A person well known to me, I’ll sell or trade face to face. Anyone else, use an FFL. They buyer pays the transfer fee.

[TGS]

I'm now legally obligated to use an FFL, but prior to that I would sell face to face with a bill of sale and "good guy ID" (active/reserve .mil ID, LEO creds, or CCW permit).

I'd still be fine with that today if the law were to change, and still do that for ammo sans ID and bill of sale. Have never felt unsafe on any of the 30+ face to face transactions I've done.

ETA: I've also never had some of the trouble relayed by other members here, such as buyers trying to change the terms of the sale or short change me.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

In TX, I sold or traded with a FFL or once to a person I knew for many years with a LTC. I wouldn't sell to a stranger, even if it meant less money.

[farscott]

My general rule is to sell through a FFL friend of mine in Texas. My local FFL gets rights of first refusal, sees if any locals he knows wants it, and then ships the rejects to my FFL buddy in Texas. My FFL charges me only his shipping costs, and my FFL buddy in Texas charges me basically his cost of business. If I do a private purchase, it is mostly through getting a call from my FFL that "so-and-so" has something we know you like.

In the past, I did local sales, but I no longer want to deal with the hassle. The one exception was I drove halfway across the state to trade a Colt 6920 for a M1 Garand; I did that because the other party is disabled and well known to me.

[FrankB]

Quick Story: I sold a 1952 Colt Detective Special to a person with a C&R license. I was only vaguely familiar with C&R, so I called the local ATF office. The agent assured me it was fine, and said “We really don’t know what you own.” He assured me I had done my due diligence, so I shipped the gun out. I did take the agent’s name, and recorded the date and time of the phone call. I live in Pennsylvania, and face to face long gun sales are permitted between state residents. I’ve never sold a long gun, but would if I knew the person.

ETA I did a local sale of a pistol to a forum member, and we met at an FFL in the middle. Nice guy, and a new gun shop discovered.

[Caballoflaco]

I haven’t sold a gun in a long time and the times I have it was either to a close friend or someone who I knew through the shooting sports. Today I would just eat the consignment or trade in fees and put it at an lgs because like @jh9 stated I no longer have the patience to deal with strangers who want to buy guns. My time and sanity are worth more to me than a hundo or two extra I might get from a private sale.

[Whirlwind06]

I follow my state's law, verify that they are an OH resident, and prefer that they have a CHL.
Since most of the trading has been done via online forums, that's not usually a problem.

I've had a few sketchy encounters, the one that sticks in my head was a dude that showed up in a plate carrier and a buddy.