Pulling the trigger on pricey equipment

I like that Facetime suggestion.

Also, a feedback score of 30 is, what, 8 transactions or something like that. Not so many, but okay. I always look at the timing of the feedback to see if the seller has been active for awhile, or has it appeared all of a sudden?

Contact some of his/her feedback providers and ask them to verify and for more detail. Any names on there you recognize from the forums or your own transactions?

I usually try to check out a seller (buyers too) via LinkedIn and Google. There could still be fraud if someone is pretending to be someone else, but it's comforting to see that the person is an engineer or physician or whatever. If you have a physical address, there's even more you can do online.

Love to pull the trigger on high end stuff!!

"What about using Facetime. That way you get the meet the seller... and actually see the equipment you're buying. "

That's a really good suggestion!

Facetime sound quality: not hifi though.... :^)

The hardest high $$ sale I ever did was with a Vietnamese fellow who was acting as an agent for a richer guy in Vietnam for a CAT JL2 amplifier ($5k). He had no feedback, and he claimed no account because of Agon international issues. I have excellent feedback and lots of it. I told them that the only way I'd do the deal was through wire transfer and even then, after it fully cleared. They didn't like it but ultimately complied. I know that is the opposite situation, but it is an example of where poor communication (he had poor English) didn't support trust at all.