FFL-BRO Essentials — $79/mo Complete ATF Compliance
Essentials is the compliance foundation of FFL-BRO: an ATF-compliant A&D bound book, the current Form 4473 with NICS, FFL-to-FFL transfers, a dealer directory and a customer record — under one login, for $79 a month. That works out to about $2.60 a day, and it is the plan most dealers start on.
It was built by an active FFL dealer who has to pass the same inspection you do. That shapes what is in it: not a feature list assembled by a product team, but the specific record-keeping a working shop actually has to get right.
What Essentials includes
A&D bound book
An electronic acquisition and disposition record kept to 27 CFR §§ 478.121–478.125 and ATF Ruling 2016-1. Every entry carries a SHA-256 hash, so the record is tamper-evident and you can demonstrate that it has not been altered after the fact. Entry numbers are generated automatically in a consistent format, the seven-day entry rule is flagged before it becomes a violation, and there is an inspection view that prints cleanly for an IOI.
Records are retained for twenty years. If you are still deciding between paper and electronic, the trade-offs are laid out in our guide to the electronic bound book.
Form 4473 and NICS
The current ATF revision of Form 4473, questions 1 through 14, with validation as the buyer fills it in rather than after they have gone home. Completed forms are stored encrypted and tied to the corresponding disposition entry, so a transfer and its paperwork are never in two different systems. See the Form 4473 module for the full workflow.
FFL-to-FFL transfers
Incoming and outgoing transfers handled to 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(2)(A), with the receiving dealer’s licence verified against the ATF listing before the firearm moves. The acquisition and disposition entries are created from the transfer itself, so nothing has to be typed twice.
FFL Finder
A searchable dealer directory built from the ATF public licensee database and refreshed monthly, so when a customer asks you to ship to their local shop you are not hunting for a current licence copy.
CRM
Customer records with purchase history, preferences and follow-up, so the person who bought a rifle in March is someone you can reach in October. Details are on the CRM module page.
The rest of it
- OCR and barcode scanning — enter an acquisition by scanning it rather than typing a serial twice.
- Quote generator — build a customer quote against live distributor pricing.
- Backup archive — a second, independent copy of your records. Compliance insurance, not a feature you will think about until you need it.
- Compliance dashboard — what is outstanding, what is approaching a deadline, and what an inspector would flag today.
- Unlimited users — every plan, no per-seat charge.
Who Essentials is for
Essentials fits a dealer whose problem is records: a home-based or kitchen-table FFL, a new licensee in their first year, a transfer-focused shop, or an established dealer moving off paper. If that is you, this is the whole system — you do not need a bigger plan to be compliant.
You want Essentials+ at $139/mo if you also sell online or need 2A-friendly card processing. You want PRO at $249/mo if you have a counter, a range, or NFA items. The full comparison is on the pricing page.
Essentials questions
Is an electronic bound book actually legal?
Yes, under ATF Ruling 2016-1, provided the record meets the ruling’s conditions — it has to be retrievable, printable on demand, and backed up. Most dealers who run into trouble with an electronic book run into trouble with those conditions rather than the format. Essentials is built around them.
What happens to my records if I cancel?
You export them in full, in a format you can hand an examiner without us in the room. Your bound book is a legal obligation with a retention requirement attached; it cannot live somewhere you can only reach by paying rent. We do not charge for the export and we do not use it as a retention lever.
Is there a contract?
No. Month to month, cancel any time, no setup fee, and no per-transaction charge on the bound book.
How many users do I get?
Unlimited, on every plan. If you hire a second counter person you do not pay us more.
Can I move my existing paper book across?
Yes — there is a documented path for moving an open paper A&D record to an electronic one. We cover what the ATF expects in this article.
See it on your own records
A demo runs through the bound book, a 4473 and a transfer using the workflow your shop actually uses. No credit card, and nothing to install. Request a demo, or read how Essentials compares with the alternatives on the FFL software comparison.