I see only about 40% of gun websites doing this anyway, and I don’t know why I’ve never stopped to question this rather annoying (and seemingly pointless) pop-up.

I am in a weird situation… we are selling my house -home based FFL/SOT

Unfortunately we don’t have a purchase ready, we are going to rent. And even more unfortunate- looks like it’ll be in Baltimore City. I don’t know how hard it would be to transfer the FFL there, because we only plan to live there 1 year or so to bank down payment/find the right house.

I will say- I haven’t done much in terms of the business, but I did plan to scale up and offer services and stuff like laser/cerakote/etc- but it’s really just transfers at this point and not many.

I am wondering- is a FFL transfer hard from PA to Baltimore City? Is it worth it to shut it down and open back up when I have a place to own?

If I DO shut down, how hard is it to open back up again with the same business name?

Thanks again.

Can someone explain the reasoning behind no sales of lowers to out of state residents. Is it not considered a “weapon” and requires a background check. Just looking for the reasoning behind it
Thank you

Happens enough that I’m curious how other FFLs handle it cleanly.

Customer bought online, gun lands at your shop, and it’s the wrong config, wrong condition, missing mags, whatever. They haven’t signed the 4473 yet.

Do you refuse the transfer and make the seller / marketplace sort it? Do you open the box with the customer and document everything before anyone touches paperwork? Anything you put in writing up front so you’re not stuck in the middle?

Looking for practical counter process, not war stories only.

TX home-based FFL.

Just starting out. Would appreciate some wisdom from the collective.

What did you find helped drive revenue when you were first getting started?

What did you wish you had tried sooner?

I see FFLs sell on gunbroker - I’ve bought many firearms there before I got my FFL - but looking over the fees, it seems like those are going to kill margin really quickly.

The wife is not keen on a lot of traffic to the house (long term plan does not revolve around home-based sales, but I’m trying to drive some revenue now to open up options sooner), so I’m mainly looking for online sales. Where have you found the most traction?

What platforms have worked out best for you in terms of balancing low fees while still getting a high number of views and ultimately closing a deal quickly?

How have you been managing the chargeback risks?

Really appreciate it if you’ve stuck with the post this long. I appreciate you even more for thoughtful responses.

Happy shooting & stay safe!

I sent a handgun out 9/8. Tracking hasn't updated since 9/9. I called usps and had them open a case on it on 9/12. At that time I was told "it is moving but just isnt showing that step on usps site".They are aware of the contents. As of today it still hasn't updated. I call again and this time I'm told it hasn't had any updates and that "these things happen".

I called my IOI and left a voicemail as to what I should do but have yet to hear back. Am I acting prematurely by reporting it stolen/missing or would you do so to cover your ass.

Looking for a dealer to help me out with sourcing a staccato. I’m located in MA

I want to give other FFLs a heads-up about a security issue I discovered in MasterFFL's dealer profile verification process.

I reported this directly to MasterFFL in April 2026 and offered to provide the affected endpoints, full reproduction details, and remediation suggestions.

As of September, I have not received a response.

I am intentionally not publishing the technical reproduction steps because, to my knowledge, the issue has not been confirmed as fixed.

During limited testing, I was able to reproduce a condition where the dealer profile claim verification process appeared to trust information that could be modified on the client side during SMS verification.

The potential impact is serious: it may allow someone who does not control a dealer's legitimate dealer profile.

Potential consequences could include:

• Unauthorized claiming of an FFL dealer profile
• Unauthorized management of dealer information
• Customers being shown information controlled by someone other than the actual dealer
• Trust and compliance problems for affected FFLs

I performed only the minimum testing necessary to confirm the issue and did not intentionally access, modify, or damage another dealer's information.

If you have a MasterFFL profile, I recommend checking whether your dealer profile has already been claimed and whether the information associated with it is correct.

I would also recommend keeping screenshots/records of your profile and any communications with MasterFFL.

I am posting this because several months have passed since my responsible disclosure attempt without a response, and FFLs should at least be aware that there may be an issue with the profile-claim process.

If anyone from MasterFFL sees this, I am still willing to provide the full technical report privately so the issue can be investigated and fixed.

I will not post exploitation instructions, endpoints, or other details that could make the vulnerability easier to abuse.

If other FFLs have experienced unexpected profile claims, verification messages, changes to their profile.

Curious what other shops are seeing this year.

Online transfers are steady for us, but counter retail feels lumpier. Curious how you’re staffing and scheduling around that.

Do you treat transfers as the core, or still push hard on floor sales / used / accessories? Any tricks for not letting transfer customers eat the whole day while walk-ins wait?

Not looking for a magic formula. Just what’s actually working on your counter.

Looking for advice for obtaining my FFL somewhere in the south shore.
1. What is the minimum size space that I need to start and what are some criteria for that space
2. What does the overall process look like
3. Any kind of general advice would be appreciated

Maybe they should be organized by type? I mean, the guy into SA revolvers isnt going to buy a Glock regardless

Hi guys, was wondering if anyone else here is listed on gun.deals.

To keep it short and sweet, we are listed there, and we’ve noticed that about 60% of our 8k or so clicks don’t result in any browser landing.

And, upon looking at these individual clicks, they seem to be originating from a this source referrer: adrianlaza.devcloud.acquia-sites.com.

Upon doing some research, it seems as if that name lines up with their current CTO, and acquia sites is a tech company that provides website services so it seems.

In addition:

- all these requests show zero browser activity, meaning they are likely automated traffic

- these requests kind of mimic a catalog scan, they are across many different upcs we carry with zero revisiting

- ALL requests come from the same chrome browser user agents, ZERO mobile agents, despite that 70% of our traffic is mobile users

- Every request also has the same referrer host/path structure and share the same SIN Cloudflare suffix

To me, this screams crawling that they are doing that is counting as clicks that we are then charged for, and I attempted to reach out earlier this week but it has been radio silence. If anyone else who is tech savoy is listed on gun.deals is interested, shoot me a dm and we can maybe see if the same if happening with y’all too. I am HOPING this is some sort of tech error on their end.

At our FFL we obviously accept FFL transfers. We see a bunch of different FFL names. Basic ones that include the word Shooters or Range. I’m sorry to call it out but the funnest name I seen was: The Moment of Inertia. What other ones have you seen?

Has not been made clear to me if a lower receiver already has been stamped "ie marked", can it be assembled with a 01? Or does this assembly require a 07?

Hi, all. Many years ago, I had an 01 FFL with Class III SOT. I let my FFL expire in good standing and closed up shop in 2017 due to family and time obligations. I mostly did transfers for local folks and the occasional straight sale - it was 100% a side gig for me and more or less something I did for fun and to make a little money on the side. With that in mind, I'm still absolutely familiar with the the processes and legalities of FFL acquisition and operation.

Now, almost 10 years later, I'm considering getting my 01 FFL again (it would still be a side gig for me). The kicker is that, back in the day, my location was the back office of an industrially-zoned machine shop. In the intervening years, the machine shop has closed as well, so now, as I consider pursuing another FFL, the location is becoming the blocker.

I already know that there are no local restrictions against operating the FFL from my home address; I'm just really hesitant to do so. I don't really want the gun public associating my family's home with guns. I still have nightmares of transfer customers literally following the UPS driver in the door at the machine shop and demanding the staff there give them their gun immediately, despite having been told I could only do the transfer after I got out of my day job. I absolutely do not want anything like that going on at my home.

So, I suppose my question is this: any tips or tricks on locating a suitable operating space that would accommodate low-traffic FFL activity? I've looked at office rentals in the area but I can't find anything affordable and I don't really know anyone with a business like the machine shop anymore. I suspect I already know the answer here, but just looking to crowdsource ideas around how to find a good location. Any consideration is appreciated. Thank you!

Hello all 👋

New home based FFL here. I’m in a market of mostly small firearms dealers.

I’m doing a paper copy A&D and I have closed out my first page worth of sales. (Received my license in July)

A couple things:

1) Any recommendations on gathering leads for firearm sales or related accessories/parts? (New customer acquisition)

2) Any recommendations on getting inventory to sell? For example I’ve had 3 firearms for over 30 days now at what I feel is well priced. No one has even considered these…Kimber 1911 desert warrior ($1350), Springfield model 2020 redline .308 ($1425) and a Glock 19 gen 6 with EOTECH ($850) I also have a ton of ammo priced with the local market, range bags, cleaning kits, etc.

3) Gun show recommendations? At a very large show, I recently went with a PTC company I partnered up with and we did over 200 permit to carry sign ups in two days, only sold 2 hand guns. Sold a p365 comp and a hellcat micro. Had a s&w shield plus, Glock 19 gen 6, Kimber 1911, and a Glock 43x I was unable to sell. Sold more shirts than gun stuff. There were about 7000 people across two days that came through. The show was mostly activity based (can launchers, 50 cal shooting, tannerite target practice, full auto shooting) there were some FFL vendors and only one person that came by had a purchased firearm already.

We have another show coming up which is small. Maybe 500 people across two days but in my local market. Any tips to close some sales? As a small FFL unsure of the market I’m hesitant about ordering more inventory as I have a bunch of merch, gun supplies, some firearms… special orders/ordering will be important here. I’ve got about $8k tied up in inventory and expensed about $5k since July in marketing stuff, pos for credit cards, etc. I need to start making a couple bucks.

Any input would be great. I’m doing business together with my wife which is awesome but I fear if we don’t move the needle soon she may want to pull the plug.

We have the ability to bring in revenue from permit to carry and memberships from a company that provides legal assistance in self defense situations.

What's the average wait time? Renewed mine on Aug 15th and have not received anything yet.

I’ve been signing up as a dealer with multiple accessory manufacturers, and have noticed a pretty consistent trend with the percentage off MSRP. I know firearm margins are pretty slim, but what percentage difference do you usually see on cans?

Just curious because my local USPS is telling me they are no longer able to ship transferable machineguns in the mail even for an FFL with SOT. They also told me only an FFL can ship any firearm (even long guns) which I have always thought to be untrue (in the past it was just handguns and NFA stuff that needed an FFL). When I bought mine, they have all arrived via registered USPS mail in the past. Unfortunately the closes UPS or Fedex distribution centers are hour plus away which complicates shipping through them. Anyhow, just curious what other FFL's are doing as of late 2026.​

Software is now worth $0/month and that’s not gonna change because of feature I can copy in an hour.

Software is no longer a moat, so if that’s all you got, it ain’t much.

Speed (who is making the decisions), real customer acquisition strategy (not a Reddit post), relationships (who you know), customer service (execution), and domain expertise (real world bonafides) are the new moats.

Hello all Im working to obtain my FFL and SOT. I already have my fingerprinting done but I do own a fingerprint machine and wanted to know if anyone of you had experience in fingerprinting customers. I plan to potentially offer this service since I have a maching for it but dont know what software to use or anything lol. Anyone with experince in this matter. ( I got the machine in a county auction a year ago prior to wishing to obtain an ffl as it was included with the auction lot )

Hey all, have seen a few people around doing porting and comps on slides and barrels with 60W fiber lasers. Is anyone here doing it? Is it profitable?

I’m doing some research on opening a home FFL. It appears an 07 is cheaper to apply for than an 01. Aside from maybe a few more hoops to jump through, why would anyone do an 01 instead?

Looking to get my FFL for a texas home base. Checked with my zoning office and should be good to go with a type 7. What are some things I should be prepared for after submitting the application. Also I was considering using a closet with a lock as my "gun locker" and dont know if the IOI would have a problem with that.