How do you ship pistols at a reasonable cost?

[Woodsman22]

Hi: I haven't got the faintest idea where to post this question, so if this is the wrong spot, please redirect me! My question is this:
I want to send two pistols that I have for sale to an FFL up in the Pacific Northwest since he does consignment sales on Auction Arms. Problem is, the shipping (even for a pistol weighing less than 2 pounds with all the packing materials) is going to run me over $86. !! (because UPS wants it to go "overnite"). That would take a considerable chunk out of whatever it might sell for on AA, after the dealer/FFL guy gets his 20% cut. So how do all the FFL guys who buy and sell pistols online via auctions like Gunbroker.com etc., manage to send their pistols for only $25 to $40.?? I DO have an account with UPS, and this is what they would charge me (although I am not registered with them as a "business"). How do the FFL's do it? Or, am I right in guessing they are just sending via a cheaper shipping method (not overnite) and hoping that UPS or other carriers do not find out?
Before anyone asks, I do not want to go the "local auction house" route because I have been there and done that and lost a lot of money that way. Places like Alderfer's have only a limited audience looking for rock-bottom prices and there just isn't enough competitive bidding among so few people.
I would appreciate anyone's constructive feedback, but especially looking for the input of FFL holders or former FFL holders with experience shipping pistols via common carrier-and what rates they have paid for these shipments. Thanks in advance.

[Pa. Patriot]

FFL's can use USPS. Priority Mail or Registered mail, with insurance and sig, etc. is typically $20 or less for a handgun.

If you use UPS/Fed-Ex, you have the choice of overnight, per their rules, or essentially waiveyour ability to file a claim, in the event it's lost or damaged, and send it ground.

[Woodsman22]

Thank you PA Patriot, I did not know that. Sigh....

[phillykev]

Maybe there's some way you could send it under the account of the FFL to whom you are shipping it and use USPS? Wouldn't hurt to ask him.

[Pa. Patriot]

Maybe there's some way you could send it under the account of the FFL to whom you are shipping it and use USPS? Wouldn't hurt to ask him.

That would not be legal.

Only licensees can ship handguns via USPS. Regs require both the shipper and recipient be licensed. By definition the FFL would be the recipient only, not the shipper.

[phillykev]

That would not be legal.

Only licensees can ship handguns via USPS. Regs require both the shipper and recipient be licensed. By definition the FFL would be the recipient only, not the shipper.

Ahhh, bummer. And I suppose any FFL that would ship for you would charge at least what the difference in shipping price is.

[wellcraft]

what kind of guns are they??? and why don't you put them on consignment at a local shop???? it doesn't make sense to me to ship two pistols half way across the country and pay shipping plus the dealers consignment fee when you can post them for sale on this board for free. you may have had a bad experience on one of the auction boards in the past but in reality 99% of the people, buyers and sellers, have no issues on auctionarms or gunbroker so i think your better of setting up your own account and auctioning them yourself.

with that said there's no real legal way around the overnight shipping charges because your limited to following fedex and ups's rules. you would be a fool to try and save a few bucks by trying to ship the guns via ground because of the possibility of theft. years ago i worked for FEDEX ground when it was known as RPS and theft was always a problem because of lax security measures.

[phillykev]

years ago i worked for FEDEX ground when it was known as RPS and theft was always a problem because of lax security measures.

QFT

I used to ship an external hard drive weekly to another location. Put it in a nice, padded, protective hard shell case, the kind you typically ship guns or gems in. Would send it fed-x ground. It disappeared 3 times in two months. That's when I learned Fed-X ground is really just a bunch of mom&pop shipping companies loosely affiliated and working under the Fed-x label. Now I use a courier.

UPS ground, on the other hand, is really UPS, not the farm team.

[Woodsman22]

Thanks for all the replys, gentlemen.
@ Wellcraft:
"what kind of guns are they??? and why don't you put them on consignment at a local shop???? it doesn't make sense to me to ship two pistols half way across the country and pay shipping plus the dealers consignment fee when you can post them for sale on this board for free. you may have had a bad experience on one of the auction boards in the past but in reality 99% of the people, buyers and sellers, have no issues on auctionarms or gunbroker so i think your better of setting up your own account and auctioning them yourself."
They are pistols, two of them. One a CZ-75 SA (with a .22 LR slide kit included) and the other a Kel-Tec P9. I don't put them on consignment at a local shop because there is no "local" shop that does this near me. Also, I don't want them to sit forever in a display case. I did not have a bad experience on an auction board, I had a bad experience selling through a local auction house (Alderfer's) as explained in my original post. I prefer Auction Arms to Gunbroker. The reason? Because guns are listed on Gunbroker, don't get any bids at the starting price, then are relisted again, and again. I had a very GOOD experience with a consignment dealer in Northeastern PA who sold several for me a couple years back through AA. It was a "penny auction". You would not believe the bidding war that ensued and the selling price was good on those guns. Why don't I use him again? Because he is so booked up (one of his customers has over 70 guns he wants sold) that he will be busy for the next 2 years. So, I want to sell through a consignment dealer that will list them on Auction Arms for me. I could not find another dealer in PA who does that. Hence I want to send them to someone who does consignment sales through AA. That is why I was asking about shipping cheaply. You may be right about setting up my own account with AA and trying to sell them myself, but I would still be up against the (outrageous) shipping issue for an unlicensed guy like myself. And yes, I realize that my guns could get "lost" if I were to try to ship them UPS ground myself. However, one of the guys here who is an FFL PM'd me and said he would ship them for me at cost to him, which was very kind of him. Again, thanks to all for the replies.

[wellcraft]

woodsman22, good luck with moving them and having to ship overnight is a real bitch. i sold a desert eagle 50ae on line and was almost afraid to see how much shipping would be. fortunately the gunshop i had ship the DE for me cut me a break on shipping charges since they get a discount from UPS as a volume shipper.