Largeyo, I completely agree. I am a longstanding (American) Audiogon member living abroad. I have bought several items on Audiogon from dealers who were willing to send internationally (thanks JD and Mehran, among others!). In no case have I heard back that there was a problem or otherwise experienced a problem. In a recent case, I had to pay consumption tax (equivalent to sales tax or VAT) to the Customs office, but that was fine. I was buying something I wanted, and had it been for sale locally, I would have had to pay the tax anyway so no real problem. If my willingness to do the deal at price X depended on whether or not the seller was willing to lie about value, I would wait until it was cheaper. I think potential buyers who ask sellers to lie about value do tend make life difficult for the rest of us.
There are many times I have wanted to buy things which are said to be "US-only" but frankly, trying to change the minds of dogmatic sellers is really not pleasant.
In the end, reality aside, it is what makes you uncomfortable which determines your limits. While US fraud is just as rife as international fraud, and is not really any easier for US sellers to combat (or gain relief from), the fact that the potential for fraud is in the same country rather than a different country seems to make it 'less likely' or safer. Hogwash. I would almost argue the opposite. International transactions are more likely to be done through money order, wire transfer, or bank draft, making buyer fraud less of a risk for the seller - transferring the risk to the buyer rather than the seller.
