Interesting note about the ID. Of all the guns I have shipped, the receiving dealer has only asked for ID 2 or 3 times max. I have a copy of my DL on my computer, and email it immediately if requested, or print it out and enclose it (only did that once).
As far as saving money, in many cases it is way more than 50-100 dollars, depending what is bought. The shops around here that charge the most for FFL transfers are also the shops that charge 90%+ MSRP. Many guns they are not even aware of, their distributor does not carry, and would be special order at best.
I highly doubt that states see "use tax" from many out of state buyers in most cases. That alone is another huge factor. It's up to the buyer, but with no real enforceable paper trail, it's not reality. So a buyer finds a gun online, many times with free shipping. Immediate purchase, no tax, and $25 to get it in their hands. Versus a special order at near MSRP, longer wait time and feeding their state general fund.
Michigan has a proposal next month to tack on another 1% in sales tax to "pay for roads". The way the knuckleheads wrote the proposal, only about 40% will actually go to roads, and God knows where the rest will go. It will be strongly defeated, but in the event it did pass, we would only see more business for UPS and FedEx. Sales tax is quite a bit more voluntary than income tax.
