question on transferring funds for buying a rifle

[richkatilius]

Hi - I am looking to purchase a rifle from another user on this forum :-). It looks like a good weapon and the price sounds fair. My question is, he will only accept USPS, wire funds or check (will send when the check clears). After I send him payment and the funds are found to be good, how do I know that he will ship the weapon? Not that it is any guarantee, but he has had 9 other transactions over the years on other forums and he has been a member of this forum since 2009 and looks to be an avid shooter (from past post). I totally understand him wanting the funds before shipping!

Are the majority of the sellers on these pages honest? I would hope so, just looking for some advise.

Yes, he says it will ship from his FFL to an FFL that I select locally.

Thank you for your assistance.

Rich

[Leon]

"Are the majority of the sellers on these pages honest? "

Yes they are - have never had a problem...

[william]

Unless you use a service like Paypal (who doesn't particularly like guns), there are no guarantees. If you mail a USPS money order, there are law-enforcement remedies IF the authorities pursue it and are successful.

Otherwise,
Will he provide details of his 9 other transactions that you can check?
Will he provide 'proof of life,' a pic of the item on a current newspaper, magazine, etc?
Can you confirm his personal data, address, phone #, etc?

If the seller is "Rover," he's honest when he's sober. Or is it the other way round? Whichever one is less (or is it more, damnit) frequent.

[ChipEck]

Wait...Rover is somethings sober?
On a serious note, I have purchased from forum members and had great success. That said, unless I know the person I never ever consider buying from someone that just has a few posts. I also scan their posts to see if they are a legit shooter/gunsmith.

The only exception I am aware of is Randy Gregory. Randy is an international rifle shooter who devotes many, MANY hours to coach kids to become the best rifle shooters they can be. Some of Randy's former students have gone on to do great things in rifle competitions.

Chip

[richkatilius]

Thank you for you assistance. I took a leap of faith and purchased the rifle. I did do some research and found that the USPS Postal Inspectors will investigate if fraud is reported using their money orders vs using Western Union, etc.