It is difficult buying from anyone that you don't know or can't deal with in person vs on line or over the phone.
If one can agree on the purchase with the proviso that I must hear it operate before handing over the cash, then that is better. I have no problem with a buyer agreeing to a purchase coming by my home to hear the unit in question before handing over the cash. Which I have done many times.
For me to physically hand over a unit to a buyer, it would have to be a cash deal. If they were buying any other way, the check would have to clear before I ship it, or I would use paypal if the buyer insisted. but they pay the paypal fee.
But, if one cannot go pick up the unit, or have a friend pick it up and pay, then the buyer is taking their chances, unless the money is placed in escrow until the buyer says the unit was delivered in the condition advertised.
Buying anything sight unseen or in this case sight unseen and unheard, is a real potential problem.
I don't have a problem purchasing from a seller with no history. We all started with no selling/buying history at one time or another. Someone took a chance on us then.
A few phone conversations with the seller can help reassure me. Also, red flags are huge to me. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Therefore, if the price is too good to be true, then it typically is. Pictures of the unit is important. (not factory pictures). The seller also has to state to me that the unit works as specified.
If the seller is within a few hundred miles, I'm going to drive and pick up the unit. If the seller won't let me hear it, then I also have a problem with that.
We all know of horror stories of purchases without seeing if the unit actually works, only to hear about the buyer getting the unit home to find it filled with sand, or empty or not working at all.
Also, and here is a big one, is the seller the owner? is the unit actually theirs or is it a stolen unit? do you even care? I know I do. I typically write a receipt of purchase to help protect myself.
Out of the country sales or purchases are a problem. Not quite sure how to handle those yet.
There may be many reasons why a seller has no history. It may be the spouse of an audiophile that died. they could go to audio stores and try to sell via consignment or on line via web sites like this one.
Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Be careful and enjoy.
