"Bob Flaminio" wrote in message
...
Michael E. Marotta wrote:
10) Email the seller with questions or concerns

This is one of the easiest ways to avoid getting cheated -- email the
seller. Even if you know everything about the item in question, email a
question anyway. The rapidity, tone, and accuracy of the answer will
speak volumes about the integrity of the seller. I do this for every
purchase I'm remotely uncomfortably about. Sometimes the reply is
sufficiently scary that I don't bid. Sometimes they don't bother to
reply at all -- again, no bid. But if the reply is nice and
professional, I bid with confidence. I've never been "cheated" on eBay
(knock wood).

--
Bob

I'm with you, Bob. There's wisdom in what you've written here. When the
seller replies in all caps, or claims ignorance, or acts offended, I simply
do not bid. I've only had one EbaY experience with which I was less than
satisfied on the coin front, that one being a hairlined commem that the
seller insisted was a result of die polishing. I tried to convince myself
he was right, but those lines sure looked concave and not convex to me! He
accepted my return and provided a full refund including shipping (one way).

I did pick up a negative from one seller of a rock poster who never provided
me his address or pay info and them neg'd me at 30 days for non-payment.
When I checked his feedback, there were several messages about his e-mail
not working. So I guess, on balance, I've been fortunate as well.

Alan
'buy the book, check the feedback, buy the coin'