Armslist deal too good?

[groovy mike]

As you know the prices of all things that go bang are up. I found a classified listing from someone who is not a registered user on Armslist offering several firearms for sale. They quoted me what would have been a fair price 2 years ago, so it is a real bargain today - at least $100 off market price. They say they only except money orders - no paypal or checks. Is this deal too good to be true? Should I walk away? Any way you can think of that I could protect myself from just kissing $300 good bye if the rifle doesn't ever get shipped?

[Smoke4320]

run ..not registered. no sales history. and lower than market by a lot do you hear your mind saying something is wrong here ?

[starmac]

It is a chance you take, it is rare I pay the market price ever. There are always deals to be had.

[groovy mike]

hmmm...asked for a phone number and a street address and now I get no reply.....

[Moonie]

keep in mind if you use a postal money order and it is fraud I understand that is a big hammer

[Blammer]

run! it's a scam.

If you want to find out if it's legit.

Tell them you'll take it. Have them ship it to your FFL, when he receives it tell them your FFL will overnight the money order to them, when they call the FFL and confirm receipt, the FFL will then release the rifle to you.

I bet you hear nothing from them after that.

[JakeBlanton]

If they won't do a face-to-face meeting, I avoid them. I also require a serial number so that I can have a cop run the numbers to ensure that it is not stolen. I'm suspect that unfairly penalizes some of the honest people who sell online, but prefer to be more anonymous, but I like to minimize my risk. If they are nervous about meeting a stranger, I suggest that we meet at a local police station to perform the transfer. If they are totally against meeting at a police station, they are probably a bit shady anyway and I probably should not be associating with them.

[tiwimon]

I've done some buying and selling on Armslist - I would never, ever buy anything but in a FTF. If there is anything that comes up that I just have to have - and I cannot do a FTF, like I see something from out of state - I might consider doing what Blammer suggested and ask them to send to the FFL dealer, who will pay upon receipt - but that's a big IF as there is not much I would want to buy and take a chance like that with my hard earned money - he!! it's bad enough that nearly half my money goes to deadbeats through my taxes now - I sure ain't just handing out any more

[savagetactical]

I have had Zero success and no credible inquires about what I have for sale when I have used Armslist, usually a bunch of flakes. Right now on my local Armslist I have a MEC650 with with a sack of wads all the documentation and some other stuff for well below retail. I imagined it would be an easy sale and would negate me putting it on GB or some other auction site. I have had nothing but weirdos and morons message me asking me if I will take $50 for it Same thing for the Uniflow I have on there and the manuals. When those listings finally expire I will probably just do an auction and get rid of them and move on with life, It is way to short to deal with flakes and con artists.

[shooter93]

I'd certainly want to talk with the guy atleast. One of the better buys I've ever had was on Armslist and it was the guys first sale there. We emailed quite a bit and I called him. He was actually going to take less than the buy now price....which was very fair to start with....so I bought it for that.

[merlin101]

I've done some deals on armslist BUT only face to face. MIKE next time ask where there located and see if it's ok for a friend to drop by and check it out for you. If they balk at that idea RUN! If you need someone to look at something around Rochester let me know.

[Love Life]

I've done a bit of buying and selling on Armslist. Made good money and found some sweet deals.

Keep in mind the following:
The person may not be that computer savvy
the person may not be on the net 24/7
Sometimes the person is of low intellect which makes everything harder. That is pretty much across the entire spectrum of life, but oh well.
The person may have already found a buyer
The person may have realized he/she was selling below the actual person.
Sometimes the person is of low intellect.
Sometimes the person is of low intellect.

[groovy mike]

walked away from that one. it just seemed fishy.

[remy3424]

Other than this site and gunbroker I have only purchased 1 firearm off the net and it was from a frequent poster, long time member of that site and it was a good transaction. I would not buy from a sight where I could not get any sense of the sellers character. This sites S&S section and more particularly the feedback makes it a great place to do transactions, which I have not seen anywhere else.

[Elkins45]

Face to face and in-state transactions ONLY on Armslist! No exceptions for me. I don't even bother looking at listings outside the state. Same for Gunbroker.

[sparky45]

I've purchased at least a half dozen firearms and other related items from Armslist WITHOUT a single glitch. None of the firearms transactions were FTF. I simply had the seller ship to my FFL dealer and everything went through just fine. I did have a rifle that sustained a broken stock at the wrist which I kept and repaired myself. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I do have the seller send as many pictures of the item as possible.

Sparky45

[fryboy]

this

keep in mind if you use a postal money order and it is fraud I understand that is a big hammer
spot on !
there are some other good tips in here as well
and something else to consider ..every once innawhile some one is more than happy to get back what they paid for a item after using it , ie; they're not all wrapped up in profit ( such as the guy selling old bags of shot he paid $16 for and wanting $52 per sack now , yeah the old price was still on the bag ) please dont get me wrong i'm not against reasonable profit but ...

[Elkins45]

keep in mind if you use a postal money order and it is fraud I understand that is a big hammer

A lot of people think that, but from what I've been told it's not actually the case. I base this on reported experiences on Bladeforums where somebody has paid $$$ for a custom knife that never arrived. I have heard from more than one person that the postal inspectors they filed complaints with couldn't give a hoot about a $400 or $500 loss because they spend all their time on really big $$$$ ripoffs.

Maybe the fact a firearm is involved might make a difference, but I wouldn't go into the deal expecting to get my money back from a scumbag just because i used a postal MO.

[Airman Basic]

I've bought several revolvers on Gunbroker, all out of state sellers. All deals successful, all shipped to my local gunshop, all paid by PayPal or credit card. A seller with hundreds of satisfied buyers seems fairly safe to me. The latest one was a 357 Blackhawk, rather generic description and photo, but the price was right. When it arrived, turned out to be a pre-warning new model, basically NIB, not even a cylinder ring noticeable. Shot it yesterday, amazingly accurate. I'm happy.

[Airman Basic]

I've bought several revolvers on Gunbroker, all out of state sellers. All deals successful, all shipped to my local gunshop, all paid by PayPal or credit card. A seller with hundreds of satisfied buyers seems fairly safe to me. The latest one was a 357 Blackhawk, rather generic description and photo, but the price was right. When it arrived, turned out to be a pre-warning new model, basically NIB, not even a cylinder ring noticeable. Shot it yesterday, amazingly accurate. I'm happy.
BTW, did PMTJ on this Ruger. I'm sold on the technique. 100% difference in trigger action. Highly recommended.

[TheDoctor]

have gotten some smoking deals on armslist in the past. Also have had communication with scammers there. As stated by several members, FTF only! I also check the sellers other items. Quite often, the same seller will list different items in several different states. BIG RED FLAG on those. Almost guaranteed scam. If a seller will not do FTF with ID and bill of sale, something is very wrong. I also do not trust someone who will only send text, and refuses to call. Sometimes best to avoid out of state entirely, especially if they offer to ship it directly to you. You don't want to get caught violating the laws. If the deal seems too good to be true, it is.

[medalguy]

A very good suggestion was made to ask if a friend in the same city as the seller can take a look at the gun. If they say that's fine, the deal is probably good. I did that once and the seller said sure, have my buddy call him and he would meet him at his house. That cinched the deal for me and I got a nice shotgun.

[Beagle333]

I have found some really good deals on armslist. 'Missed some too. Many folks don't wanna ship FFL to FFL.

[rattletrap1970]

Good luck getting a cop to run numbers. If a gun isn't part of an investigation the cop will get screwed for doing that.


If they won't do a face-to-face meeting, I avoid them. I also require a serial number so that I can have a cop run the numbers to ensure that it is not stolen. I'm suspect that unfairly penalizes some of the honest people who sell online, but prefer to be more anonymous, but I like to minimize my risk. If they are nervous about meeting a stranger, I suggest that we meet at a local police station to perform the transfer. If they are totally against meeting at a police station, they are probably a bit shady anyway and I probably should not be associating with them.

[TenTea]

Common sense, communication and intuition go a long way on Armslist from either side of the deal.

I've had good luck on both sides of things and met some very nice people.

Caveat emptor.

[JakeBlanton]

Good luck getting a cop to run numbers. If a gun isn't part of an investigation the cop will get screwed for doing that.

I guess I've just been lucky since I haven't had a problem with them being willing to run the numbers.

[oscarflytyer]

Recent 1st time Armslist purchase. But was adjacent state/FTF transaction. Few emails and phone calls... He omitted some small issues with the gun. It was below current market prices - which is what drew me to it. Small issues cleaned up fine. But in the end, as it was FTF, it worked out very well for me! Best price on the model gun anywhere.