Michellleatherworks Report post Posted February 11, 2020 Hello All, So I am a complete newbie at the business end of leatherwork but I am looking to expand and grow my business. I have an etsy shop and so far that is all, besides word of mouth. I have some higher end work that has been getting noticed more and more lately. I offer such a high level of customization that it is very difficult to contain the possibilities in a etsy post. I do holsters and knife sheaths primarily. There are some customer items that I must have in my hands to make a quality, accurate product such as oddly shaped blades or highly customized firearms. I have received several requests now for custom orders for very unique items from online customers and I am struggling with how to respond to them. It is worth mentioning that I work out of my apartment and if I were the customer I wouldn't want to send my high dollar item to some guys apartment that I found on etsy. All that being said I have some questions about how to handle this: 1) Is receiving customer goods from online customers a safe practice? (lawsuits/ legal trouble) 2) How do I receive customer goods in a secure way that covers both the customer and maker from loss? 3) Do I need to be a FFL to legally take a firearm into my possession? 4) Is etsy a waste of time for this type of work and should I opt for a website before receiving customer items? Any help is greatly appreciated here.. I don't want to lose out on customers but I certainly don't want to end up in trouble and wreck my reputation and livelihood either! Thanks for reading and God bless! Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SaintJoy18 Report post Posted February 12, 2020 The only question I have a remote answer to is #3, regarding the FFL. Avoid taking someone's ACTUAL firearm at all costs. Buy yourself a "blue-gun" (red, aluminum mold whatever) of their model and save yourself the hassle of having to deal with transfers and reporting. In addition to not having to worry about federal regulations you will protect yourself in the event that your customer's firearm is damaged in some unforeseen way. Some custom 1911's I've seen can approach $10k and that is NOT a price I want to have to pay for repair/replacement. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michellleatherworks Report post Posted February 12, 2020 Good advice! Do you have any suggestions on how to deal with add-on like lasers or optics? I had one guy that wanted a holster for his decked out glock 19 (once again an online customer) and couldn't figure out how I would accommodate the weapon with all the gizmos without having it in hand.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hildebrand Report post Posted February 12, 2020 @Michellleatherworks most of the accessories are available from the blue gun companies especially for the common models like Glock. I think you can probably get enough parts to replicate most gun configurations, the question then becomes how much do you want to spend to make a one off holster? Todd Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michellleatherworks Report post Posted February 12, 2020 Great info! Thank you for the reply. I haven't looked into the accessories from bluegun but I'll check it out. Dave Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
