California FFL Transfer: Fees, CFLC Approval and What the Dealer Does (2026)
Last checked 7 October 2026. The transfer dealer is the part of an online gun purchase that Californians budget wrong most often. The state fee is fixed, the dealer fee is not, and two different rules decide which one you pay. This page sets out the whole chain: what the shipping dealer must do before the box leaves, what the receiving dealer must do when it arrives, what each step costs, and how private-party and family transfers differ.
Before the firearm ships: the CFLC number
California does not let an out-of-state dealer simply mail a firearm to a California dealer. Under Penal Code section 27555 the shipping dealer must first obtain a Firearms Shipment Approval Number through the DOJ's California Firearms Licensee Check system, naming the receiving dealer by its five-digit Centralized List number. A California dealer who accepts a firearm without that number commits an offence, so a good dealer will refuse the box. This is why we ask for the dealer's Centralized List number at checkout and why an order can sit for a day while the approval is issued. Collectors with a type 03 licence and importers are exempt; ordinary buyers are not.
When it arrives: the receiving dealer's job
The dealer logs the firearm into their acquisition book, checks it against the roster if it is a handgun and against the assault weapon rules if it is a rifle, then calls you in. On your visit the dealer verifies your California ID and, for a handgun, your second proof of address, checks your Firearm Safety Certificate or administers the test, submits the Dealer Record of Sale electronically and takes payment. The DROS starts the ten-day waiting period. When you return, the dealer confirms the DOJ approved the sale, watches your safe-handling demonstration and releases the firearm. If the DOJ returns an undetermined result, the dealer can release after thirty days unless told otherwise; a denial means the firearm goes back to us and the dealer and state fees are not refundable.
What it costs
There are four numbers. The state DROS fee is thirty-seven dollars and nineteen cents and does not vary by dealer. The dealer's own transfer fee for an incoming firearm is set by the dealer and is not capped by law; published examples run from about seventy-five dollars at small shops to one hundred and twenty-five dollars plus tax at ranges, and one Morgan Hill range publishes one hundred and eighty-seven dollars and thirty-five cents all-in for a long gun including the DROS. The eleven percent state excise tax on firearms, parts and ammunition, in force since July 2024, is collected by the dealer and usually applied to the dealer's fee as well. Finally, many dealers charge storage if the firearm is not collected within a set number of days after the wait ends, commonly thirty-five dollars a day after day eleven, so plan the second visit before the first.
The ten-dollar cap that does not apply to you
Buyers often quote a ten-dollar transfer fee. That cap is real but narrow: Penal Code section 28055 limits the dealer fee on a private-party transfer between two Californians to ten dollars per firearm, so a PPT costs forty-seven dollars and nineteen cents with the DROS. It does not apply to a firearm shipped in from an online retailer, which is a dealer sale at whatever price the dealer sets. If a dealer tells you the online transfer is ten dollars, they are either being generous or confusing the two.
Private-party transfers
Two Californians who want to sell a firearm to each other must do it through a dealer. The dealer runs the DROS, the buyer waits ten days, and the dealer fee is capped at ten dollars. The handgun roster does not apply to a PPT, which is the only way a non-rostered pistol changes hands legally inside the state. The ten-day wait and the Firearm Safety Certificate still apply, and the seller must be present or the firearm must already be in the dealer's book.
Intrafamilial transfers
Parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and spouses or registered domestic partners can transfer firearms to each other without a dealer. For a handgun the recipient files a Report of Operation of Law or Intra-Familial Handgun Transaction with the DOJ within thirty days, pays nineteen dollars and must hold a Firearm Safety Certificate. For a long gun there is no form. Siblings, aunts and uncles, and cousins are not covered and must use a dealer.
Gifts and out-of-state family
A firearm gifted by a relative who lives outside California must still come in through a dealer with a CFLC approval number, because the exemption only covers transfers that happen inside the state. A Californian who inherits a firearm from out of state has the same requirement, with the added step that assault weapons and magazines over ten rounds cannot come in at all.
Choosing a transfer dealer
Ask four questions before you name a dealer at checkout. Does the dealer accept incoming transfers from online retailers at all, because some only transfer from other local dealers. What is the all-in price including tax. How many days of free storage after the wait ends. And does the dealer know their Centralized List number, because the shipment cannot be approved without it. A dealer who answers all four quickly has done this many times. If you are unsure, email us your city and we will suggest a dealer we have shipped to before; we do not take a commission from dealers and we have no preferred list.
What a dealer may refuse
A California dealer can lawfully refuse to receive a non-rostered handgun shipped from out of state, a rifle in an assault weapon configuration, a magazine over ten rounds, or a firearm whose shipment approval number does not match. We check all four before we ship, which is why some products in the catalogue show as not available to California even though they are legal elsewhere. If you see that flag on an item you want, the usual answers are a featureless or fixed-magazine version of the same rifle, or a rostered variant of the same pistol.
Timeline from order to pickup
- Day 0: you order and name the dealer; we request the shipment approval number.
- Day 1 to 3: approval issued, firearm ships by ground to the dealer.
- Day 4 to 7: dealer receives and logs it; you visit, take the FSC test if needed, DROS submitted.
- Ten twenty-four-hour periods after DROS: you return, the dealer confirms approval, you take the safe-handling demonstration and leave with the firearm.
Allow three weeks from order to pickup, and keep the dealer's storage terms in mind for the second visit.
Long guns versus handguns at the dealer
The paperwork is the same for both, but three things differ. A handgun needs the second proof of residence and must be on the roster or come in by private-party or family transfer; a long gun needs neither. A handgun purchased by someone under twenty-one is refused outright; a long gun can go to an eighteen- to twenty-year-old with a California hunting licence. And the safe-handling demonstration on release uses the actual firearm, so a dealer unfamiliar with an unusual action may ask you to bring the manual. Dealer fees are often the same for both, though some charge less for long guns because the roster check is skipped.
Storage, missed pickups and dealer closures
The ten-day wait is a minimum, not a deadline, but most dealers start charging storage after a set number of days following day eleven, and some after as little as a week. If you cannot collect for a month, say so before the DROS is submitted; many dealers will hold the firearm unprocessed and submit the DROS when you are ready, which also keeps the thirty-day DROS validity from expiring. A DROS that is not completed within thirty days of approval lapses and has to be submitted and paid again. If a dealer closes while holding your firearm, the firearm transfers to another licensee with the dealer's inventory and the DOJ can tell you where it went; keep your receipt and the dealer's licence number.
Buyers who are not California residents
A non-resident cannot take delivery of a handgun in California at all, and a dealer may only release a long gun to a non-resident if the sale is lawful in the buyer's home state and the dealer is willing to apply both sets of rules. In practice almost no California dealer does this, so if you live in another state the right order is to ship to a dealer there. Military personnel stationed in California with orders are treated as residents for the purchase and should bring the orders with their ID. Dual residents who split time between California and another state may buy as a Californian only when they are physically in California and show a California address.
Precursor parts and unserialized frames
Since July 2022 California treats unfinished frames and receivers as firearm precursor parts. They may only be sold through a licensed vendor, the buyer goes through the same eligibility check as an ammunition purchase, and the finished firearm must be serialized through the DOJ. That is a separate process from an FFL transfer and most transfer dealers do not offer it, so if you are building rather than buying a complete firearm, ask the dealer whether they are a licensed precursor parts vendor before shipping a frame to them. Several cities, including San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, ban unserialized frames outright.
