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How to Sell a Gun Online Legally

Last updated: October 2026

Not legal advice. This guide covers federal law and general practice. Your state's laws may add rules. For a specific situation, talk to an attorney in your state.

Quick summary: It's legal to advertise a gun online, but the sale itself follows the same laws as any other sale. If the buyer lives in your state, you may be able to meet and transfer in person, depending on your state's laws. If the buyer lives in another state, the gun must go to a licensed dealer (FFL) in the buyer's state. Websites like GunTreasure connect buyers and sellers; they don't transfer guns or handle payments.

Can you legally sell a gun online?

Yes. There's no federal law against listing a gun for sale on a website. What matters is how the gun changes hands:

  • You can't sell or deliver it to someone you know or have reason to believe is prohibited (18 U.S.C. 922(d)).
  • You can't sell or deliver it directly to a resident of another state (18 U.S.C. 922(a)(5)).
  • You can't be "engaged in the business" of dealing guns without a license (18 U.S.C. 922(a)(1)(A)).
  • Your state may add rules. Some states require all or most private sales to go through a dealer or a background check. Utah doesn't.

How online gun sales work, step by step

  1. Pick a site that allows gun listings. Many general marketplaces ban guns. Gun classifieds sites like GunTreasure are built for them.
  2. Follow the site's rules. On GunTreasure, members must be 18 or older, and listings can't include ghost guns, unserialized or 80% frames and receivers, or guns with removed serial numbers.
  3. List honestly. Real photos, honest condition, and a fair price. See How to Price a Used Gun.
  4. Talk through the site. Keep a record. Be wary of anyone who wants to move to text right away.
  5. Find out where the buyer lives. This decides everything that follows.
  6. Transfer the gun the right way (see below).
  7. Get paid safely and keep records.

Selling to a buyer in your own state

In Utah, two Utah residents can complete a private sale in person without a dealer (Utah Code 53-5a-602(2) covers dealer sales only), as long as the buyer isn't prohibited or an unaccompanied minor. Best practices:

  • Check ID to confirm Utah residency.
  • Meet at a gun shop, FFL or police station lobby.
  • Consider an FFL transfer so a dealer runs the background check.
  • Use a bill of sale.

Full details: How to Sell a Gun Privately in Utah.

Selling to a buyer in another state

The gun must go to an FFL in the buyer's state. That dealer checks the buyer and follows their state's laws.

  1. The buyer chooses a dealer and confirms they accept guns from private sellers.
  2. The dealer sends you its license. Verify it on ATF's FFL eZ Check and call the dealer at a number you look up.
  3. You ship the gun to the dealer, or have your local FFL ship it.

More: Can I Sell a Gun to Someone in Another State?

Shipping rules in short

  • Rifles and shotguns: Private persons may mail them through USPS to an FFL in any state, with tracking and signature (USPS Pub. 52, 432.3).
  • Handguns: Private persons can't mail them through USPS (18 U.S.C. 1715). UPS's and FedEx's published policies (checked October 2026) don't take gun shipments from unlicensed people, so check current policy or use a local FFL to ship.
  • Never label the box as containing a gun.

Full details: How to Ship a Gun to an FFL.

Getting paid safely online

  • Local sales: Cash in person, or payment at the FFL.
  • Out-of-state sales: Agree on payment terms in writing. Many sellers wait until payment clears before shipping. Some buyers prefer paying after the gun reaches their dealer. Use a traceable method both sides agree to in writing, and check that the service's terms allow firearm sales. Some dealers will hold payment for a local transfer; ask yours.
  • Avoid gift cards, crypto, wire transfers and overpayment schemes. Many payment apps also restrict firearm sales in their terms.

See How to Avoid Gun Classifieds Scams.

When selling online becomes "dealing"

Federal law requires a license for anyone "engaged in the business" of dealing in firearms, meaning someone who devotes time, attention and labor to dealing as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through repeated purchase and resale (18 U.S.C. 921(a)(21)(C)). The law excludes occasional sales, exchanges or purchases to improve a personal collection or for a hobby, and selling all or part of a personal collection.

ATF's 2024 rule that added more detail (27 CFR 478.13) was vacated in full, nationwide, by a federal court in Texas on June 12, 2026 (Texas v. ATF, N.D. Tex. No. 2:24-cv-00089-Z), and the court refused to narrow that on August 13, 2026. The government appealed to the Fifth Circuit on October 9, 2026, so the vacatur stands unless that court stays or reverses it. ATF has also proposed repealing most of the rule (Federal Register, May 6, 2026). The statutory definition above still applies regardless.

Signs you may be crossing the line:

  • Buying guns specifically to resell for profit
  • Selling new-in-box guns repeatedly
  • Selling many guns over a short time with no collection to explain it If you're truly in the business, get licensed.

Keep good records

Keep the listing, messages, bill of sale or FFL receipt, shipping receipt and tracking number. If the gun is ever traced, you can show when and how it left your hands.

Related guides

Next step

List your gun on GunTreasure for free, and find an FFL for any out-of-state sale.