ARMSLIST SCAM

cjmass

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Saw a high quality bolt action rifle posted on Florida Armslist for a very good price. Emailed seller for additional photos and he emailed many and all looked good. He said to have my MA FFL email him copy of his FFL and mailing info and that he would ship it to my FFL once I mailed a postal money order to him at his P.O. box address. That raised red flags so I asked him to email his street address plus photo of drivers license and he did but said to still send money order to PO box due to mail sometimes being stolen at his home address. More red flags. I checked with my FFL and he said they only accept shipments from other FFLs, not individual sellers. I told this to the seller and to have his FFL ship it (at my cost) to mine, and he sent email saying he had been shipping guns himself to other FLs all over the country many times with no problems and he refuses to have some FFL question his "integrity" and force him to have an FFL ship it, and said he will not do so. I said no shipment by his FFL, no deal. Last night I was looking on Gunbroker and discovered that the photos that he had sent me of "his" rifle were those for the very same rifle which was sold on Gunbroker by someone else 2 months ago!
 
Armlist by mail is like having sex with a hooker and not using a condom.

When one of my customers wants to buy off armslist I tell them to contact the shipping ffl. Confirm their ffl. Confirm their physical location. Talk to the shop and confirm the seller is real. You can still get scammed but it gives you a better chance of a good transaction.

Armslist is fine for face to face. It is high risk behavior for mail order.
 
The vast majority of buyers and sellers on Armslist are scammers

I was dealing with one seller and I required the gun to be transferred to a dealer to be shipped me. I would pay once the dealer confirmed that it was in front of him. Asked the seller to provide his dealers name and he had his homeboy pretend to be a dealer. These scammers are idiots

FYI even though your dealer won’t do it, it is legal for an individual to ship a gun to a dealer
 
Got a very indignant email that "both" (arms list and GB pics are the exact same gun) MAKs were his. Scammers have to work hard I guess to fool the public. Unfortunately, there are 14 victims in line to get hosed on GB
 
Unless they are a gun shop from out of state that you can personally authenticate... i would only use armslist for local meetings.
 
One good tactic to bust scams is to do a reverse image search. For Armslist, I'd only do FTF. For BunGroker I'd certainly do my homeworka and only deal with reputable sellers.
 
I wouldn't buy anything off Scamslist.
My results have been as good there as it has on here. As much as id love to pay $1700 for an nhm 91 here on NES classifieds, i can find the same rifle on AL for $500 cheaper. Of course i can then find it 700 cheaper on GB. Not to mention Armslist has a selection of odds and ends i don't see anywhere else. That being said i mostly use it for selling rarely for buying.
 
I'm about 80% good transactions on Armslist. The one bad "transaction" I had was a individual from across the state of NH (Keene I believe) work out a central exchange spot (Manchester NH Best Buy) and then have me wait an hour there and not show. The individual then had the audacity to contact me again and try to work out another central spot to exchange. I told him not happening and that if he was still interested, he had to come to the NH seacoast area for me to sell him my firearm. Never heard from him again.
 
Armslist is for face to face only. Had a NH Vortex red dot listing a few months back. Guy wants to ship it. I say I'll meet you this week with cash. Guy drops of the face of the earth and ad dissapears. YMMV
 
... As much as id love to pay $1700 for an nhm 91 here on NES classifieds, i can find the same rifle on AL for $500 cheaper. Of course i can then find it 700 cheaper on GB. ...
The same rifle?

Bah, OP found two different guys selling two different rifles
that both emit the exact same pixels when photographed.

They really should have gotten together and sold 'em as a matched set.
[rofl]
 
ARMSLIST is a scam, I have never had a good experiance experience. I have had no issues with Gun Broker.
FIFY

I have sold multiple 100s of guns through my armslist ads and follow on business. Yes, there are bad actors. From a selling perspective it is easy, I am at this location (shop in my case) at this time. I don't stress about whether they show up or not. Some don't and I ignore them going forward. Most do and I have good customers going forward.

I suspect your sample size is way too small
 
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