Was he right, or was I being scammed?

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I just had a gun transaction go bad, and I'm wondering what the community's take is on the situation:

I found a gun for sale on an out-of-state gun forum. The gun had been on the boards for a few months and (in my opinion) priced pretty high. The seller had lowered his price a couple times, but there didn't appear to have been any interest. I offered the seller $100 less than his shipped price, he countered with my price plus shipping, I agreed. I sent the seller my FFL's information, as well as all my information (full name, address, phone number, etc) and asked for payment instructions and a final price. He replied saying that he's shipping the next day and will get me the price then.

Mind you, at this point in time all I have is the seller's first name and an email address - no last name, address, phone number, etc.

I don't hear anything for a week. I was going on vacation, so I figured I'd deal with it when I get back. I got back from vacation a week later (two weeks since the promised ship date), there's still no contact from the seller. But, there is a voicemail from my FFL saying the gun had been sitting in his shop, and to come and get it.

So I drive out to the shop (which is an hour out of my way). I'd never been shipped a gun prior to making payment, so I was a bit surprised by the whole situation, but I figured the seller must have sent payment instructions with the gun. If nothing else, I get a chance to inspect the gun before its transferred, and I contact the seller as soon as I get home.

But when I arrive, the shop owner approaches me very flustered. Apparently the seller told him not to transfer the gun to me because I hadn't paid. Clearly the FFL feels very uncomfortable being stuck in between the two of us, and now I look like an ass in front of my FFL (whose relationship is very important to me).

So I drive home and email the seller. I get a response right away - he claims he emailed me tracking and payment instructions a week ago (an email I never received), and now wants MORE than the agreed upon price. Basically he's now demanding his last asking price. His justification was that he was "being nice" by agreeing to our original price.

WTF? This feels an awful lot like bait & switch to me. I mean, I want to give the guy the benefit of the doubt - glitches happen, maybe he really thinks he sent me the payment info (even though he claims he sent it a week after he told me he was shipping the rifle). But the guy had my number, he easily could have called if he was concerned. And I didn't try to pick up the rifle until my FFL called me two weeks later, so clearly I'm not trying to rip the guy off. But instead he tells my FFL not to transfer the gun, waits for me to contact him, and demands more money? Feels awfully sketchy to me...

So what are you thoughts? Assuming he's not trying to scam me, is this guy justified in demanding more money? Or was I right to walk away?
 
I would tell him you are only willing to pay the price that you agreed upon, plus the actual cost of shipping. Those were the terms of the deal. Tell him he can take that, or you'll have the dealer send the gun back to him. BTW, if he refuses to cover the cost of sending it back, I would just eat the cost so my dealer wouldn't get pissed at me. Everytime a soap opera like this happens, a dealer starts getting annoyed about inbound transfers, and that ends up being bad for everyone. It means more expensive transfers or the dealer stops doing them.

ETA: Another thing thats bad here is it doesn't appear you talked to the guy on the phone. If he hadn't sent you payment info ASAP, that way at least you could have called him.

-Mike
 
Show your FFL what you just wrote and buy some ammo. F*** the gun and the owner. He seems like an a** hole
 
I would tell him you are only willing to pay the price that you agreed upon, plus the actual cost of shipping. Those were the terms of the deal. Tell him he can take that, or you'll have the dealer send the gun back to him. BTW, if he refuses to cover the cost of sending it back, I would just eat the cost so my dealer wouldn't get pissed at me. Everytime a soap opera like this happens, a dealer starts getting annoyed about inbound transfers, and that ends up being bad for everyone. It means more expensive transfers or the dealer stops doing them.

ETA: Another thing thats bad here is it doesn't appear you talked to the guy on the phone. If he hadn't sent you payment info ASAP, that way at least you could have called him.

-Mike

+1

Also, Classic Bait & Switch
 
Bait and switch. You actually have the upper hand in this situation, because at this point he has no choice but to honor the original agreement, or you can walk away, and he is stuck with the cost to get the FFL to ship the gun back to him. If he won't honor the previously agreed to price, tell him to GFHS!
 
Bait and switch. You actually have the upper hand in this situation, because at this point he has no choice but to honor the original agreement, or you can walk away, and he is stuck with the cost to get the FFL to ship the gun back to him. If he won't honor the previously agreed to price, tell him to GFHS!

Exactly. Either he honors the original deal, or he'll be eating the shipping both ways. Myself, that's probably the route I'd take, just back out of the deal, and give him no choice but to eat the shipping. Let him take a bath, and see how quick he is to screw the next guy.
 
very shady, no question abt it, don't buy the gun, make sure your dealer's not annoyed (can't help future transactions)
 
Either that or the guy is a moron or he made a mistake when typing in your e-mail address and that could be why you didn't get it.

Ask him to re-send the supposed e-mail from his sent box, you can tell if he just made it or if it is a re-send.

Then don't budge on the price, tell him mistakes happen all the time and if he wants to sell the gun, you will take it, at the agreed on price!
 
I would tell him you are only willing to pay the price that you agreed upon, plus the actual cost of shipping. Those were the terms of the deal. Tell him he can take that, or you'll have the dealer send the gun back to him. BTW, if he refuses to cover the cost of sending it back, I would just eat the cost so my dealer wouldn't get pissed at me. Everytime a soap opera like this happens, a dealer starts getting annoyed about inbound transfers, and that ends up being bad for everyone. It means more expensive transfers or the dealer stops doing them.

ETA: Another thing thats bad here is it doesn't appear you talked to the guy on the phone. If he hadn't sent you payment info ASAP, that way at least you could have called him.

-Mike


Your easier than I am.

The seller is trying to bully you so push back. If I were in this position, I would tell him accept what I offered and he agreed to plus shipping or send the FFL pre paid shipping to get it back. He sent it without payment which is his mistake. He now needs to stand up and accept responsibility for his mistake and either take your offer or pay to get the gun back.

Explain the whole thing to your local guy most will understand.
 
For me it would all depend on how much I wanted the rifle and what the diffrence in price is, as well as if the guy could prove that he tried to send you the terms of sale etc.

If you are talking a hundred bucks or something, and you are comfortable the guy was trying to do the right thing, I'd offer to split the difference with him. If that was unacceptable I'd tell him good luck.
 
He opened up the transaction to further negotiation with him at a worse position for negotiation... if it was me I would negotiate a lower price. If he doesnt like it... tell him to screw.
 
He probably considers himself a hot shot negotatior too. Pulling these kinds of tactics is a sure way to piss me off. I'd knock some more off my offering price for this nonsense and wasting my time or it's going back.
 
Guy is a joker.

Ship is back at his expense. Try to get the dealer to cooperate with a simple statement "The gun will not be returned until you obtain a court order or make arrangements to pay for return shipping."
 
This sounds too fishy. I would assume the rifle is worth between 500-1000 bucks. Why in the world would you ship without payment? If he were trying to screw you he would have taken the payment and then not shipped? I would think that there was an issue with communication but still would not explain why he shipped. People scamming do not spend money on shipping. They will wait for the sucker to spend theirs first.
You agreed to buy the gun and then didn't attempt to settle up for a week later? I would think the sellers frustration is you not paying timely. The seller probably had incorrect contact info which would explain why he did not contact you sooner demanding payment.

Either way at this point this deal sounds dead. I would send it back. Just saying go f off certainly will end your relationship with your FFL. He will be stuck with a gun and a situation because of you. As Dr Grant said this will just add to the list of poor transactions that stop FFL's from transferring out of state stuff.
 
I don't think this is a negotiating tactic. He's negotiating from a position of weakness. Thats stupid. Like others said, you can just simply walk away and he's out a gun until he coughs up $ to your FFl for freight back.

Just sounds stupid and irrational to me.
 
Is it a handgun or a long gun.

Once it FFL takes the gun in doesn't he enter it in his "book" and at that point it becomes the responsibility of the FFL?

The only reason I ask is possession is nine tenths of the law, if the FFL has the gun, can he send it back without a 4473?
 
Tell him you'll honor the deal and nothing more. Either that or you'll let him eat all the expenses to get his gun back because he is now the one backing out. Sounds like he is having a little sellers remorse after dropping the price. He'll piss and moan and take the money. I'm surprised your FFL is holding the gun for him. He should transfer to you for the fee and be done with it, he's not selling it.
 
Is it a handgun or a long gun.

Once it FFL takes the gun in doesn't he enter it in his "book" and at that point it becomes the responsibility of the FFL?

The only reason I ask is possession is nine tenths of the law, if the FFL has the gun, can he send it back without a 4473?

If the seller wants it returned, it must be shipped to a FFL, who will effect the transfer via 4473.
 
Is the firearm what you expected? If so, tell him you will take it for the original deal.. Doesnt sound like a scam to me. Sounds like he's pissed because he thought HE was being scammed.
If It happened to most of the guys on this forum there would be a huge uproar about how the price was haggled and the payment was never sent blah blah blah
 
Tell him you'll honor the deal and nothing more. Either that or you'll let him eat all the expenses to get his gun back because he is now the one backing out.

This. If the gun is what he said it was condition wise. If he takes it back pay the ffl his fee anyway.
 
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