No prior activity mystery buyers

NiceOldDouble

NiceOldDouble

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I have a rifle for sale. I’ve gotten two inquiries from people, one of whom has seemingly been a members for a while, but not one post. The other has been a member for a few months, and again no post; not even an introductory one. It makes me nervous to sell to a person with no history.

I have been here for a long time, and there is a lot of feedback and an ample number of posts to help to characterize me as a safe person to buy/sell with. When others have the same, it feels like we’ve all been naturally vetted by the simple operation of forum participation without any trouble, and all is well.

I believe I should have the right to “refuse service” to anyone I feel should be refused, but I wanted to know what the collective forum Admin view is. Please advise.
 
I put in my ads, few as they are, that I reserve the right to sell to whom I choose.

It’s your gun. You are not obliged to sell to anyone you feel uncomfortable selling to.
 
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The forum has never imposed any rules on who someone sells to, other than once you’ve struck a deal you either live up to that deal or will likely be banned.

Sell to whomever you want, if you don’t want to sell to someone you don’t even owe them an explanation. OTOH you could say that you prefer to deal with either paying members or at least members active in sections other than BST.
 
A lot of people find us because of the classifieds. Some choose to participate, some don’t.

Your choice on who to sell to, but I wouldn’t turn down somebody’s money just because they don’t post.
 
lurking is common. you can size them up and learn a little bit more about them through private messages. If they don’t seem like real humans then pass.

there are a lot of good people out there that have no interest in bantering on message boards.

I seriously doubt you have anything to lose by probing them via p.m.
 
BigWaylon said:
A lot of people find us because of the classifieds. Some choose to participate, some don’t.

Your choice on who to sell to, but I wouldn’t turn down somebody’s money just because they don’t post.
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vp9c said:
lurking is common. you can size them up and learn a little bit more about them through private messages. If they don’t seem like real humans then pass.

there are a lot of good people out there that have no interest in bantering on message boards.

I seriously doubt you have anything to lose by probing them via p.m.
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I think most the guns I’ve sold here and “the other” place were with folks who were not terribly active.

I do think we will see more activity from folks that are brand new due to the relative dearth of available in stock firearms right now. I’m skittish with folks with no history here, but then that’s no different than armslist and a lot of stuff gets moved there.
 
You as a store owner would have a stroke with every first time customer?
 
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Mike Overlay said:
You as a store owner would have a stroke with every first time customer?
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Hell, I don’t sell pistols to anyone I don’t know anymore. They get sold to friends, or gun shops.

Roll that shame right on down the street.
 
I've had good experiences with quite a few members who rarely post on the forum but are still great people. In my view it's always at the seller's discretion who they are willing or comfortable selling to.
 
I get the statistical point about 4000 members and the vast majority don’t post. I get the point about spidey senses. I also am seeing that there are not enough guns in the stores for all of people who are wanting to buy them, and some get turned away for various reasons. A forum like this might be considered an easier place to get a gun through than a store.

Adding it all together, and the out of ordinary experience of multiple non-posting potential buyers, I wanted to know what the forum Admin position was.
 
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I lurked on Arfcom for like 15 years. There's so many bully personalities there, or at least there were pre-Brownells, that I never wanted to say anything. I finally signed up so I could sell some B&T stuff.
Odd thing was I have over 9000 posts on the Illinois gun forum we used for activism and community.
 
Just because someone is interested doesn’t mean you have to sell to them.
Having said that, thanks for meeting me yesterday ;)
 
Just be honest. If you feel uncomfortable then tell the buyer so and why. The term (I will take it) rules the day ------ after a deal is made. Tellem up front and tellem why.
 
I was gonna mention Armslist and noticed @fieldgrade beat me to it. Your ball, your rules. But, other than selling to a friend or LGS, I don’t see how newish CFF members are any more or less “reliable” than Armslist, Gunbroker, somebody you bump into at a Gun Show, etc.
 
MacEntyre said:
Just be up front and say that you don't sell to yankees an' other felons...
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I’m busting a gut here.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh, sorry. I forget sometimes we are a destination.
 
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We're using CFF credentials before deciding to sell guns? Not a DL, CWP, CHP, PPP, ABC, XYZ, FFL?

Admin position on a private party transaction? Ha!

HA!

Now, snark aside, dealing with a well established member helps me decide how to go about my transaction. Is it going to be trading a thing or things for cash or other things and then a half hour of talking trash about certain other members, or is it going to be flash your ID at me so we can get this out the way and start talking trash about other members.

But, BUT, that doesn't mean a well established member didn't become well established so he/she could buy and sell with no one the wiser, all while keeping a detailed log about the deals, so when bust day comes, all the ducks are in a row, lined up, and marched off to the hoosgaw.
 
Your gun, your rules. Communication works wonders. Give the prospective buyer your phone number and ask him/her to give you a call. You'll be able to get a feeling what kind of person you're dealing with. Then you can decide if you want to sell to them or not.
 
Schattenreiter said:
Ask'em if they like meringue. If they don't know what it is send'em packin.
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Sage advice. They should also get same treatment if they prefer cool whip
 
I sold something to a newer member with, at the time, very few posts. This was Wednesday.
DUDE RULED. Super nice and we've kept in touch a little since then
 
I do a bunch of buying & selling, and as a seller I have the “upper hand” if you will. I’m not obligated to sell to anyone for any reason but I’m also not going to decline someone solely because they’ve never posted. I’m more concerned with many other things but mainly do they have cash and “do they give me a really bad feeling for any reason”. If both of those are good to go then I’ll probably sell to them. Everyone starts somewhere. Heck, I was a 21yo college kid from NJ when I moved down here and began meeting some of you guys for deals.

To more directly answer your question, if you don’t like selling to a completely new member for whatever reason, ask them if they’ve dealt with anyone on the board, ask for the other forums on which they’re active, ask for their phone number and just talk to them for 5min. A quick phone call can usually tell you what you want to know, implicitly and explicitly.
 
MacEntyre said:
Just be up front and say that you don't sell to yankees an' other felons...
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BatteryOaksBilly said:
@gunbelt has the greatest 4 word qualifier for firearms purchases he asks.......Do you eat pork?
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Ouch.
Both of those would disqualify me... but i am unarguably more pro-gun than plenty of fudds that post on here.

As for requesting pics of the guns i already have... I don't have enough free time for that.
 
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MacEntyre said:
Back to the OP's point... 2228 posts carries some weight, enough to trump your incomplete assimilation!
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Respectfully, as long as 2000 of those posts aren't in welcome threads...

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
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I would put it in the ad that you have the right to refusal of the sale. It’s clear that way. I’ll add someone who has zero post may be fine but I would meet that person at the police station before having come to my home.
 
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