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Posted: 3/19/2023 3:23:52 PM EDT
Below is a cut & paste from a reply I wrote on someone else's thread, who may not have been looking for an EFT.  If you're looking for an EFT to upload to an eform, here's how I obtained one.

NOTE, you can ONLY upload an EFT to a form BEFORE you SUBMIT IT, so learn from my mistake and get your EFT prior to Submitting the form!  This little detail was either badly explained on the instructions, which aren't that good, or I assumed that like the printed fingerprints cards, it could be sent up to 10 days after submitting the application.

I wanted digital prints that could be uploaded to an eform 1. I did not want to mail anything. I live in a major metropolitan area and thought it would be easy to find a place that could do this on a walk-in basis. I was wrong. After calling a few gun shops, UPS stores, and posting on "forums" like this one, the only solution I found was from a couple of posts from a general internet search with people recommending printscan.com.  

There are many places that will scan your prints and print you cards, in my case, the cheapest being the local Department of Motor Vehicles. The closest UPS store could do a fieldprint.com scan, but fieldprint did not have an ATF EFT file scan option and they did not return my email and phone inquiries, so I assume they don't do it, in addition to having terrible customer service.  Unless you're calling a gun shop, the general public will have absolutely no idea what you are inquiring about. I even had one gun shop employee say they'll do it, and when I called later to confirm a closing time, they said they didn't do the EFT, they just did the "regular card."

I have no affiliation with the company, but I recommend anyone looking for EFT digital fingerprints in the format required by the ATF to do the following.

Go to printscan.com
Click fingerprinted near you
Click ATF for the type of scan
Click "I don't have a code" (unless someone else is paying for the scan)
Choose an appointment type...and for the sake of redundancy...click ATF again
Enter your information as it is on your ATF application, sign some consents, enter your credit card info, and make an appointment.

At the appointment, when scanning your prints, the machine is very picky about the location of the fingers and the amount of pressure put on the pad. REST/TOUCH the middle crease of the finger you will be scanning on the case/base of the touch pad and lightly press the pad with your fingers. You can rescan them as many times as you want. Take a bottle of water and a handkerchief in case you need to clean your fingers because the machine couldn't read your prints.

I paid $65 for the service at a franchised UPS store. That's a ripoff, but I paid because I was able to get an appointment for the following day and the store was only about 10-15 minutes away. The prices probably vary and the store owner likely decides on how much to charge for his share of the service. I didn't time the process, but the machine was finnicky and slow, it must've taken me some 25-30 minutes to get out the door, and I did have to clean the scanning pad, my fingers, and rescan prints that were accepted by the machine but that to me didn't seem correct, so some reason (not uniform, not centered, dark blotches, etc.).  Somewhere during the process printscan did say that in case the ATF did not accept your prints, that you could rescan them once for no additional charge.  I tried to take decent scans in order to minimize having to repeat the process and waste time. Printscan states it can take up to 3 days for you to receive the email with a link to download the file but in my case it was ready within the hour, IIRC.

Good luck!
Link Posted: 3/19/2023 5:08:27 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Glocked] [#1]
Another option if you already have a completed FP card, want to DIY your own prints or don’t have a printscan option reasonably close to you.
Link Posted: 5/5/2023 9:00:30 PM EDT
[#2]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By Glocked:
Another option if you already have a completed FP card, want to DIY your own prints or don’t have a printscan option reasonably close to you.
View Quote


I used this service with a card from my original printing. Returned quickly and just received an approved F1 back
Link Posted: 5/5/2023 9:19:56 PM EDT
[#3]
No experience with them but I saw this the other day posted somewhere.

https://www.dc-arms.com/pages/printscan
Link Posted: 5/6/2023 1:44:22 PM EDT
[#4]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By cz556:
No experience with them but I saw this the other day posted somewhere.

https://www.dc-arms.com/pages/printscan
View Quote



I usually roll my own. I sent DC Arms one of my print cards and got my eft file same day. From conversation to mailing to receiving eft i had about 3 days in it. Much more convenient for me. Eforms accepted it no problem. This was right at my price point and wasn't paying $60 or more for other services as i do not do enough NFA anymore to be worth it. Glad i have it now though as it is so much easier to do vs getting lost in mail, etc.
Link Posted: 5/12/2023 11:50:15 AM EDT
[#5]
Can you access your FP cards from silencershop and us them for a form 1?
Link Posted: 5/12/2023 12:57:32 PM EDT
[Last Edit: tortilla-flats] [#6]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By Dale5150:
Can you access your FP cards from silencershop and us them for a form 1?
View Quote
Yes, you can have printed cards sent from Silencer Shop. I recently got an approved Form1 using a set purchased from SS.

https://www.silencershop.com/services/completed-fingerprint-cards.html
Link Posted: 5/21/2023 9:52:55 PM EDT
[#7]
About these EFT's, do we need a new set if a certain amount of time has passed since the prints were taken? For example if I have an EFT but it's six months or a year old, etc?
Link Posted: 5/22/2023 8:44:35 PM EDT
[#8]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By tortilla-flats:
Yes, you can have printed cards sent from Silencer Shop. I recently got an approved Form1 using a set purchased from SS.

https://www.silencershop.com/services/completed-fingerprint-cards.html
View Quote

ive done this too for my first form1 a few years ago.

I did just do the fd-258 card to eft service from national gun trusts  had my eft file in an email the next morning and then submitted two SBR form1's. rolled my own, scanned at 600dpi, converted the scan jpg file to BMP and emailed. done. better than getting off work early and driving an hour there and back to nearest place that does them in person.
Link Posted: 5/23/2023 2:55:49 AM EDT
[#9]
This may be a dumb question, but I have a set of cards with my prints is there a way to scan them on to a computer?
Link Posted: 5/23/2023 4:33:33 AM EDT
[#10]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By NicoG:
This may be a dumb question, but I have a set of cards with my prints is there a way to scan them on to a computer?
View Quote


NO...because it will be rejected and it needs to .EFT .

Go ahead and convert it and try to save it as that kind of file and everything will be wrong in the conversion and the ATF will reject it because it was compromised.
Link Posted: 5/23/2023 6:42:03 AM EDT
[#11]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By NicoG:
This may be a dumb question, but I have a set of cards with my prints is there a way to scan them on to a computer?
View Quote

I think Hansohn Brothers just started a program converting cards to eft files and visa versa for $30.
Link Posted: 5/23/2023 9:21:11 PM EDT
[#12]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By 11boomboom:

I think Hansohn Brothers just started a program converting cards to eft files and visa versa for $30.
View Quote View All Quotes
View All Quotes
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By 11boomboom:
Originally Posted By NicoG:
This may be a dumb question, but I have a set of cards with my prints is there a way to scan them on to a computer?

I think Hansohn Brothers just started a program converting cards to eft files and visa versa for $30.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Armory/EFT-Conversion-Service-now-available/17-544229/
Link Posted: 5/24/2023 8:07:31 AM EDT
[#13]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History

That was it, thanks!
Link Posted: 5/25/2023 8:27:02 AM EDT
[#14]
I'm a huge Hansohn Brothers fan, however their service requires you to send the cards to them to be scanned/converted.  Since I have a scanner, I was looking for someone to convert my scanned cards to EFT.  I found these guys:

EFT Creator

Cost is $30, and you upload a 600dpi scanned image (PNG) of your FD258, and they convert it within about an hour.  It worked like a champ for me.

Just another option out there.
Link Posted: 5/28/2023 12:27:22 PM EDT
[#15]
Once we have our fingerprints in an EFT file, how long are they good for? Do they need to be redone after a certain amount of time? Or can I just keep using the same one over and over?

Also, I got my fingerprints scanned at a third party place that printscan uses, cost for scanning and EFT file: $60. While there the guy said that next time I could just go through him directly and pointed to his prices, cost $125

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