Firearms Ecommerce Compliance and Regulated-Product Checkout Development

Firearms & Regulated Products · We Built AutomaticFFL · Compliance That Holds

We Did Not Learn Firearms Compliance on a Client's Budget. We Built the Product.

Razoyo built AutomaticFFL, the FFL checkout compliance platform that became the de facto standard for BigCommerce gun merchants within six months of launch, and now runs on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Shopware and OroCommerce too. No downtime since launch in 2022.

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Our checkout has to enforce FFL rules without killing conversion.

The dealer list changes daily and ours is stale.

Our payment processor is nervous about the category.

Generic agencies keep quoting us like we are a normal store.

Short Answer: We Own a Product in This Category, Not Just Client Work.

Online firearms and ammunition merchants must ship only to dealers licensed by the ATF, from a list that is updated daily, and they have to do it inside a checkout that is already the most conversion-sensitive part of the funnel. Razoyo built AutomaticFFL to solve exactly that: it restricts shipment to authorised dealers for pickup, installs self-serve, and bills automatically. It is built on our Elixir stack with Braintree for subscription payments. Within six months of launch it was the de facto standard for gun merchants on BigCommerce, and it has since become the preferred checkout compliance plugin for WooCommerce, Magento, Shopware and OroCommerce. It is also live on Shopify: full firearms sales are nearly impossible to run on Shopify's own terms, but a meaningful number of merchants sell ammunition there, and AutomaticFFL covers exactly that gap. Install is one-click on BigCommerce and Shopify; the other platforms use a standard extension install. No developer, no custom work, no consultation required, and it has run without downtime since it launched in 2022.

Why generalists underestimate this

Regulated Checkout Is a Different Engineering Problem.

An agency that has not shipped in this category will quote it like a normal store build. These are the constraints that change the number.

The eligible-recipient list is not static

The ATF licensee list changes daily. A checkout validating against a stale copy is worse than no validation.

Compliance sits in the highest-friction step

Every extra second and every extra field in checkout costs conversion. The logic has to be fast enough to be invisible.

Age and identity restrictions vary by product and destination

What is shippable depends on the item, the destination and the recipient, not just the cart total.

Payment processors treat the category as elevated risk

Gateway and subscription billing choices are constrained before you write a line of code.

Merchants will not tolerate a manual install

Self-service was a success condition for AutomaticFFL, which is why install is one-click on BigCommerce and Shopify specifically.

Downtime is a revenue and compliance event at once

If the check fails open you have a compliance problem, and if it fails closed you have stopped selling. AutomaticFFL has run without downtime since 2022.

These constraints are why the category rewards a partner who has already shipped in it, and punishes one learning on your timeline.

What we can and cannot promise

We Build the Enforcement. You Keep the Legal Responsibility.

Worth being precise about, because vendors in this category are often not.

What Razoyo builds versus what stays with you and counsel

What we do

Build and integrate the checkout logic that enforces your rules
Keep eligibility data current against the authoritative source
Design for speed, so compliance does not cost conversion
Handle self-service install and automated billing where you sell to merchants

What stays with you and your counsel

Determining which regulations apply to your products and markets
Licensing, record keeping and reporting obligations
Final sign-off that the rules we implement are the right rules

We are software engineers, not your compliance counsel. What we guarantee is that the rules you give us are enforced correctly, quickly and verifiably.

The Proof, Named

AutomaticFFL

FFL checkout compliance restricting firearms and ammunition shipment to ATF-authorised dealers for pickup. Self-serve, one-click install on BigCommerce and Shopify, standard extension install elsewhere. De facto standard for BigCommerce gun merchants within six months, now also on Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Shopware and OroCommerce. No downtime since launch in 2022.

See Case Study

Crossbreed Holsters

Ecommerce work in the firearms and tactical category, one of a roster that also includes Staccato, Dallas Guns, Spec Ops Brand, ITS Tactical, BLADEOPS, Stocky's Stocks, Marv Golden, Legacy Outdoor Supply and Ray Allen Manufacturing.

See Case Study

See All Our Work

So what are we actually offering you

Two Different Things. Most People Only Need the First.

Being direct about this, because vendors in this category usually are not. There are two ways to work with us on regulated checkout, and they are priced and owned completely differently.

Recommended

Buy AutomaticFFL, our product

Cheaper and faster

You are on BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Shopware or OroCommerce and need FFL dealer selection in checkout, kept current automatically.

Self-serve install, monthly subscription
We own and maintain the code. You never touch it

Commission a custom build

When the product doesn't fit

Your platform, catalogue or fulfilment model falls outside the product, or the compliance logic has to live inside a system you own.

You own the code, the repo and the infrastructure
Starts with a free consultation, then a fixed-price System Spec

If AutomaticFFL covers you, use it and keep your money. Start at automaticffl.com. The steps below are for the second case, where something genuinely custom is needed.

How the work actually runs

You Approve the Effort Before Anyone Writes Code.

The reason projects overrun is almost never a surprise in the code. It is that nobody agreed what a piece of work was worth before it started. So we made that a step you cannot skip.

How the Work Actually Runs

Every item gets an estimate first

A business analyst puts a level of effort and a budget on each piece of work, and we get your confirmation before touching it.

You watch the same board we do

Access to our project management system. Re-order it whenever you want, or tell us to stop.

The budget stops itself

We work to the monthly number and tell you when we hit it. Going over needs your say-so.

Three layers of testing on every change

Code, acceptance and regression testing, then again after it goes live.

You approve it on staging first

Every change lands on a private environment for you to look at before production.

Something breaks at 2am

There is an emergency line and a published rate for it. You decide when to pull it.

Retainers run month to month. Thirty days notice to stop, fifteen to change the budget. Nothing here locks you in.

A fixed-price System Spec, yours to keep

Define it properly first

That Is Where Projects Are Won or Lost.

Most software projects do not fail because the code does not work. They fail because the product was poorly thought out. So reduce the ask from "commission a project" to "find out." A time-boxed, fixed-price System Spec produces a real estimate and a build / don't-build recommendation, and the document is yours either way.

System Spec

Start here

$2,500 fixed · yours to keep

Time-boxed

We scope the compliance requirements, model the real constraints, and hand you a written brief, a number, and a straight call on whether it's worth building.

A product brief and PRD you own outright
A senior-engineer build estimate
A documented build / don't-build call
Yours to keep, even if you build with someone else

Book a System Spec

Free Consultation

Free 1 hour · no obligation

Bring your platform and your compliance requirements. You'll leave knowing whether AutomaticFFL covers you or a custom build is the right move, before you spend a dollar.

A senior person, not a sales rep
A straight answer on product vs. custom
A scoped next step and what it costs

Schedule Free Consultation

The System Spec is yours outright, take it to any team. You own the code, the repo, and the infrastructure, always.

Questions We Get Before the Call

Very possibly, and that is the cheaper answer, so ask it first. AutomaticFFL installs self-serve, one-click on BigCommerce and Shopify and via a standard extension install on WooCommerce, Magento, Shopware and OroCommerce, and runs as a monthly subscription with us maintaining it. Custom work makes sense when your catalogue, destinations or fulfilment model fall outside what the product handles.

Selling complete firearms on Shopify is effectively impossible under their own policies. Ammunition is a different story, and a meaningful number of merchants sell it there. AutomaticFFL is live on Shopify to cover exactly that, with the same one-click install as BigCommerce.

The engineering pattern generalises: validate the recipient and the destination against an authoritative list that changes underneath you, enforce it inside checkout without adding friction, and keep an auditable record. The specific rules and the authoritative source differ by category, and pinning those differences down is exactly what the System Spec is for.

They will if they are built badly. Speed was an explicit design requirement on AutomaticFFL, because friction in checkout is a direct revenue cost. The dealer lookup has to feel like part of the page rather than a step bolted onto it.

We can build against whichever gateway you land on, and we have opinions from having shipped subscription billing in this category on Braintree. We cannot get you approved by a processor, and anyone who says they can is overselling. Bring your current processor situation to the consultation because it constrains the architecture.

It depends which of the two you are buying. AutomaticFFL is our product: you install it, pay monthly, and Razoyo owns and maintains the code. Custom work is yours, once fees are paid you own the code we write for you, the repository and the infrastructure, along with the System Spec brief and PRD.

Pick your next step

Start With a Conversation. It Costs Nothing.

Every engagement begins the same way, with a free consultation. You will leave it with an honest recommendation, including the recommendation not to build.

1 Free

Free consultation

A working session with a senior person, not a sales rep. Always the first step.