Interstate/online FFL Transfer Policy

[shootsocal_dave]

What is your interstate or online ffl trasnfer polices?

Gunbroker/BudsGunShop/GrabaGun? ect?
Im trying to find a balance of getting people in the shop who never have been, and not undercutting myself. Some of the online guys are below cost.

[acespawnshop]

LOOK BELOW!

[ugimports]

http://ugimports.com/howto-transfer

$50 fee keeps me competitive. However, can't beat all the volume online places. I still have customers that are ok spending a few extra bucks with me vs the hassle of dealing with online vendors, etc...

There are some people that support the local guy as long as you're close..

[acespawnshop]

Its our hope that customers come here to do their IST because not just of the pricing. Its our hope that the knowledgeable staff and service is why they come here also. We get lots of people from Calguns who will call and ask transfer questions, even if they are not in our area and don't intend to transfer here. We are glad to help. Since we are not just a firearms store we can keep our pricing lower due to the other income streams we have. However, this does cause issues in balancing staff and time management between the two. We have streamlined our process over the last 5 years of doing IST. We try and make the process as efficient as possible. For us time management is key. We have to have adequate time to do the daily tasks that come with running a pawn shop. This is why we've gone to an appointment only policy. We schedule IST only between 10-5 even though staff is here between 9-6. The mornings when we first open are spent dealing with the stuff we are required to do as a pawn shop. The daily notices, cash drawer management, jewelry displays and answering the prior nights emails. By 10 we are usually done with all this and can start helping the IST customers. I like the appointments because it help us schedule staff. Days that we know we will be busier with gun sales we will schedule more guys who can do that process. Days that we know during the month that are busier with pawn related transactions we will schedule less guns. We stop the firearms sales at 5:00 this gives the guys who worked that day time to finish logging out the guns that we did that day as well as finish the paperwork. Lots of times we will start a DROS with only the stuff that customers need to sign and complete then finish when we have time. We've found that this extra hour at the end of the day prevents excessive OT costs for employees as they leave typically at their scheduled time of 6:30. Our staff is here already almost 10 hours a day and we all want to head home on time. Scheduling appointments has eliminated most of the problems we were having before. You will find out what works best for your business model and still remain competitive.

Pricing for firearms purchases varies from location to location. Here in Los Angeles county customers have many options to chose from for their purchases. We price our stock to be competitive with stores like Bass Pro and Turners. We only stock certain models that are popular sellers and have enough mark up that its worth it to spend the up front cost with our distributors. Some models are cheaper through online vendors and we just don't stock them anymore. Its not worth the money being tied up in guns that are cheaper elsewhere. We are more than happy to do customer orders for guns that our distributors stock without any extra transfer fees so long as they're paying our suggested retail pricing. We know we cant stock everything nor do we have the foot traffic like Bass does to have everything. You will learn what works for you and it will take some time.