To share my story and some lessons learned, a few months ago I purchased an ARC 100.2 from an individual at an excellent price ($1300). Normally I would opt for COD, but since it was such a good deal I talked to the guy on the phone and agreed to send money first. The seller confirmed the receipt of the cashier's check, but mentioned that he's going on vacation soon, and he might not send the amp until he comes back. Well, I thought it's a little fishy, but maybe just bad timing. I pushed for the seller to ship the amp before the vacation, and after a few emails it was finally shipped with tracking #. So now I'm happy that I didn't get screwed--or so I thought at the time. Many days later the package arrived, and when the delivery person came I knew something was wrong because the package was not big enough to contain the 100.2, and surely was too light. It turned out to be an old Sumo preamp from who knows when. To make a long story short, I tracked him down in his home city and filed with the local police station. It turned out that he's ripped off about 30 people using the same scheme, and the police is hot on his trail. Eventually he was caught and put behind bars, but I never did get my money back unless I can file a class action suit against him. Some tips from me: try to do COD if possible, but there will be seller who refuse to do COD because they've been burnt that way. If the deal is very good, try calling and ask about the unit. I did just that, but I didn't ask important questions. The questions to ask are--describe the unit and what is the serial number. If the seller is a fake he might not have the unit and cannot describe it. If he doesn't have a serial number then definitely don't go for it. Once you get the serial number, you can usually check it with the manufacturer to verify some information on the equipment. We all get lucky once in a while on a deal-of-the lifetime, but don't think you can get lucky all the time :). If it's a really good deal, act fast, but be careful.
Buyer Beware!
Man, I'm pissed! What about sellers that post over $6000 in analog gear then they don't return any email answers for 2 days. Then you find after your 4th email the seller has deleted the item. He answered the 5th email in which I asked for an explanation with "when I checked my email this morning I had 50 emails on the _____ and I sold it to the first email which I thought was fair and deleted the listing since it was sold" This item was posted for sale at approximately 50 % of retail at around 11pm est this past Wednesday evening and I emailled immediately with a message I would pay his asking price. He didn't answer until after his deletion with his lame reply. I feel as though someone's full of sh*t. I can't leave negative feedback as there was no transaction per se. So buyers beware of first time sellers here. And check them for feedback or lack of. I've been a member of this community for about 6 months and really like buying and selling here. I also enjoy the boards. Maybe the Powers that Be here could create a new class of sellers here. Like something along the lines of a Verifed Seller or denote on posted ads that the individual is a first time seller. I apologize for blowing off steam, but I still think I've been lied to by someone who still has other gear posted here for sale.