How to Sell on GunBroker With Flxpoint

Today, three-in-ten U.S. adults report owning a gun. An additional 36% say that while they don’t own one now, they might consider purchasing a firearm in the future. If you’re considering selling guns online, it’s time to sell on GunBroker with Flxpoint.

Firearms and accessories is a massive market, and the prevalence of tactical supply ecommerce stores is on the rise. If you’re new to the industry, selling guns and accessories online allows you to generate income without investing in a brick-and-mortar location. Online gun sales typically have a higher profit margin, and when dropshipping, you don’t have to worry about storing and distributing inventory.

If you’ve researched selling guns online, you’ve likely come across GunBroker. Keep reading to learn more about how to sell on GunBroker and how you can streamline the process with Flxpoint.

What Is GunBroker?

GunBroker is the world’s largest online auction site dedicated to firearms and accessories. The online firearms marketplace is a partner in the firearms industry, supporting the NRA, NSSF, Shooting Sports Summit, Hunting Heritage Trust, and USA Shooting.

If you’re allowed to legally own ammunition, firearms, gun accessories, and knives, you’re allowed to buy or sell on GunBroker in an auction format. When selling on GunBroker, it’s up to the individual to comply with all Federal, state, and local laws.

Why Auction Firearms on GunBroker?

GunBroker has over four million registered users, so you can expand to selling to a nationwide customer base when auctioning on the online firearms marketplace! If you agree to use your Federal Firearms License to handle transactions for local gun buyers, you can promote your business on GunBroker, charge for your services, and gain new customers for your local business in the process.

Basic listings are free to sell on GunBroker. You can also leverage their upgraded services to drive additional traffic to your auctions. You only have to pay for premium fees when your item sells, or you use GunBrokers optional services. The “Final Value Fee” is actually surprisingly low, as it only costs $23.75 to sell a $500 item.

How does a Seller Get Paid on GunBroker?

Once you list an item on GunBroker, bidders can browse your listings on the online marketplace and place bids. You set price criteria, and a user wins your item when they meet or exceed this price. In this case, you must sell the item to the buyer. If selling the item to the buyer may violate a law, you can cancel the sale — this is the only exception to the “must sell” rule.

As a GunBroker seller, you can specify the conditions of the sale, including the time you allow the auction to run, accepted payment methods (credit cards, money order, COD, personal check, etc.), shipping cost, shipping method, return policy (if you choose), and other relevant conditions.

Most buyers will prepay for the purchased item via money order, but this depends on your specific payment terms. Once you receive payment, you ship the item to the buyer’s FFL holder.

What Are GunBroker Pay Fees?

GunBroker Pay is the newest payment platform for GunBroker.com users and is one of the several payment methods available on GunBroker.com. With GunBroker Pay:

• GunBroker Pay lets buyers send secure payments for firearms, ammunition, and all other items on the site without the hassle of writing checks or sending money orders.
• Sellers accept payments from customers without the high fees of a credit card company or the delays of mailed payments.

GunBroker Pay is a payment method that can help you reduce the risks of fraud, additional expenses, and delays to your business.

Who Pays Shipping on GunBroker? Shipping to an FFL

When selling on GunBroker, the seller discloses shipping fees in the listing. However, there is much more to consider when shipping firearms to a private person than fees.

All shipping companies have different guidelines, but there are some common guidelines that they share that relate to shipping to licensed firearms dealers.

First, you must ship to a valid Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder, not a private person. Federal law requires that all modern firearms be shipped to an FFL holder. If you’re legally allowed to own a firearm, you may ship it to an FFL holder for legal purposes (including sale and resale). FFL holders may charge their own transfer fee.

The ATF’s Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide (ATF P 5300.4) says in regards to non-FFL-holders shipping by carrier: “A nonlicensee may ship a firearm by carrier to a resident of his or her own state or to a licensee in any state. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun. In addition, Federal law requires that the carrier be notified that the shipment contains a firearm and prohibits common or contract carriers from requiring or causing any label to be placed on any package indicating that it contains a firearm.”

For private persons who are nonlicensed and wish to ship through the U.S. Postal Service: “A nonlicensee may mail a shotgun or rifle to a resident of his or her own state or to a licensee in any state. Handguns are not mailable. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun. A private person without a license may not transfer any firearm to a nonlicensed resident of another state. The Postal Service recommends that long guns be sent by registered mail and that no marking of any kind which would indicate the nature of the contents be placed on the outside of any parcel containing firearms.”

The Commerce in Firearms and Ammunition (CFA) is a section of U.S. Code that governs the sale of modern firearms and ownership of guns.

Do You Need an FFL to Sell on Gunbroker?

No, you don’t need an FFL to sell on GunBroker, but you’ll need to find an FFL to ship your guns and firearm accessories to sellers.

If you are a private person without an FFL, you are considered “unlicensed.” You can only ship modern firearms to a licensed FFL dealer acting as a transfer agent. If you’re selling to someone who is also unlicensed, they must make arrangements to have the firearm shipped to an FFL dealer that is located in their state of residence. The buyer may have to pay a transfer fee.

You may not ship a gun in the U.S. without receiving a copy of the dealer’s signed FFL license. You’re also only allowed to ship to the address that is listed on the license. It’s best practice to retain a copy of the license to show to the carrier, in case they want to see it before accepting the package.

Ammunition must be shipped separately from firearms with special labeling. Depending on the shipping carrier, you may have to list that the package contains hazardous materials. Always check with your carrier of choice for specific details.

What About Antique Firearms?

If you are shipping an antique firearm, it doesn’t need to be shipped to a licensed dealer. Antique firearms that were manufactured before 1898 can be shipped directly to the auction winner.

Other Firearm Shipping Regulations

You must inform the shipping carrier that your package to a transfer agent contains a firearm. Never ship ammunition with the firearm, and never ship a firearm if it is loaded. Gun accessories, air guns, knives, and most gun parts must also be shipped to an FFL holder.

Can You Get Scammed on GunBroker?

The risk of being scammed on GunBroker typically lies with the buyer. Most new GunBroker accounts of sellers are legitimate, but occasionally items are fraudulently sold on the site. GunBroker investigates all claims of potential fraud and swiftly shuts down any fraudulent actions.

Signs of potential GunBroker fraud include:

• A new third-party seller with a lack of feedback (reviews) lists high-priced items for sale or raises suspicions in other ways
• An auction listing seems to be copied word-for-word from another website.
• A seller provides name, address, shipping, or payment information that is different from what is listed in their GunBroker account.
• A seller emails you after a sale providing different payment information.

To protect yourself against fraud on GunBroker:

• Always request account information from anyone you have bought or sold an item to. You can compare this information under what is listed in Won Order or Sold Order.
• If a seller emails you after a sale to provide you with different payment information, contact GunBroker support to let them know to investigate potential fraud.
• Contact support with your suspicions before sending money to a new seller or a seller with little feedback.

Why Automate GunBroker Inventory and Order Management with Flxpoint

If you’re interested in dropshipping firearms and gun accessories online, you need an ecommerce automation solution like Flxpoint to streamline the process. First, Flxpoint provides a means of expanding your product catalog by easily integrating with popular tactical distributors such as RSR, Sportsman’s Supply, Kroll, Lipsey’s, and more. You can auto-upload new products and automatically route your orders to the most profitable fulfillment center.

Flxpoint also makes complying with Federal, state, and local regulations easy thanks to the ability to custom route online FFL orders. With routing rules, sellers can hold or split orders by state restriction, taking the guesswork out of a high sales volume.

How to Sell on GunBroker With Flxpoint

You can leverage Flxpoint’s pre-integrated suppliers and data sources, experienced team of developers, “no-code” mapping tool to power your sales on GunBroker’s auction marketplace. Flxpoint’s GunBroker integration supports the following operations:

Supported Operations

• Link Listings: Already selling on GunBroker? Flxpoint’s Link Listings operation allows Flxpoint to connect Flxpoint listings to your existing GunBroker products — as long as the SKU or UPC matches between the two systems. This both preserves your current product data and allows updates to auctions without creating new product listings.

• Sync Listings: This operation is primarily responsible for updating the quantity and reserve prices of your GunBroker auctions.

• Publish Listings: This operation is run to create new listings on your GunBroker account. If necessary, Flxpoint’s overwrite feature enables you to overwrite any data for a current auction on your Gunbroker accounts, such as updating product title, reserve prices, description, categories, MPN, UPC, EAN, or images.

• Get Orders: This operation retrieves any new orders from Gunbroker that have not yet been imported into your Flxpoint account.

• Sync Orders: Once you’ve shipped an item, this operation syncs applicable shipping information back to GunBroker to update your buyer. This includes tracking information, shipping methods, and shipping carriers. Note: Gunbroker does not support partial fulfillment. Flxpoint will hold the tracking information for an order until all items are fulfilled. In a situation where at least one item is canceled, we will pass tracking information for all viable items.

Tips for Selling Firearms Online

While Flxpoint certainly makes it easier to dropship firearms and gun accessories online, there are some things you can do to make your life easier and increase your chance of success.

Research Local Legislature

When it comes to the sale of firearms, some areas have stricter laws than others. Always check with your state and local agencies before going into the firearms sales business.

Keep in mind that guns are not only subject to Federal law but other state-specific purchase restrictions. It’s essential to research the state law of the purchaser, as that is the law that is applicable when selling a firearm online—not the state where you, the seller, are located.

Perform Target Research Analysis

Get to know your local clientele to gather relevant sales data and focus on your target audience. This will help you provide value to your customers and increase your reach as you expand your product catalog.

Take Things Online

If you’re a firearms seller who hasn’t taken things online, it’s time to consider it. Ecommerce shopping is wildly common, and convenience is a top priority as demand increases. Whether you plan to sell gun accessories online or stick to firearms, you can increase your brick-and-mortar sales by expanding your offerings on the Internet.

Don’t Skip Marketing

You may think guns sell themselves, but you must have high attention to detail when marketing modern firearms. Research the products you’re selling, and stay on top of your customers’ minds by sharing engaging posts and advertisements with your most popular products.

Customer education can become a big selling point, so take the time to educate your target audience on the latest firearm regulations, responsible ownership, trends, innovative products, and more. The more you can appeal to your online audience, the more traffic you direct to your GunBroker listings.

Find a Reliable Payment Processor

It can be hard to find firearms credit card processing. Retailers that hope to establish credit card payments on popular channels such as Shopify or WooCommerce quickly realize that Stripe, Shopify Payments, WooCommerce Payments, and PayPal do not process payments for firearms and gun accessories. Luckily, GunBroker sellers have the option of using GunBroker’s built-in payment gateway for their secure transactions.

Some sellers use their own websites for Standard Checkout or supply manual instructions for buyers to follow up with after purchasing an item. In this case, it is the buyer’s responsibility to ensure they’re partnered with a payment processor that allows the processing of credit card payments for firearms.

Take the First Step to Sell on Gunbroker With Flxpoint

There are numerous regulations to consider when selling firearms, but it doesn’t have to be a headache. You can automate the process and take the guesswork out of choosing shipping carriers, determining the most profitable routing decisions, setting reserve prices, and more.

To take the first step to sell on GunBroker and expand your online guns and firearms accessories business with Flxpoint, talk with an expert today.