What desert has proposed is exactly what an escrow service provides. Here's an example:
https://www.escrow.com/index.asp
-The buyer and seller agree to use an escrow service, and to the service's terms of use.
-Buyer sends money to the escrow service (where it is held "in escrow" for the seller).
- The seller is notified by the escrow service that they have the money.
- The seller sends the item to the buyer and notifies the service that the item has been sent.
- The buyer receives the item and examines it and, hopefully, approves of what he has received.
- The buyer notifies the escrow service that he has received the item in good condition, and to release the money to the seller.
- If the item is not what the buyer thought it was going to be, the money remains held by the escrow company and a dispute mechanism is then used to settle the dispute.

When an eBay seller has had low, or no, feedback, I have requested that an escrow service be used. On each of those occasions the seller has refused, so I did not buy from those sellers.

 

i would agree.

 

some of us dont have lots of money.
Then again, if you dont have the money to do it, maybe you should spend that on other more important stuff...
thats one reason why my car is bone stock....
also if im going to do any performance mods im going all out, like an engine swap or turbo, not spending $120 on something will increase hp by 3hp...

 

i think you're mis-reading the comment.

buying stuff used off someone on a forum will provide a cheaper price, but there is more risk.

by spending a bit more from a vendor, you are reducing the risk. Its like an insurance policy. do you put collision on your 10 yr old accord? same situation. all about risk.

 

ah yea.
ive never had any bad experiences on ebay, so i will continue to buy and sell stuff.
although i can see how if youve been burned once, youll stay away from the fire.

i just dont have the money to buy from a resputable dealer. usually if i cant get it cheap, i wont get it at all.

 

I know I posted this on the "sister scammed..." thread, but how about a seller/member rating based on feedback and possibly how forthright a person is with their personal info/setting (where they are from, what they are about, WHO they are).

For instance, I have the impression that Wheelbrokerang is legit, and feel relatively confident about buying a muffler/exhaust setup from him. I have based that impression on what he has said as a mod, as well as the input from other members-Nothing negative, anywhere. If/when I purchase something from him, should I just do a writeup of the item/install and tell y'all what I think, or could I give a feed back rating?
The classified section is a whole other ball of wax. I wish I could believe that all those parts are unused leftovers, but some of them simply are stolen, or do not exist at all. Very few of the advertisers in the classifieds are longtime members (I've only been here a few months) so time is not a qualifying criterion. If those advertisers had a personal reference page, or a trust rating, that might add another level of bulls*%t for the scammers to trudge through to get to us. It would be really difficult for them to fake ten or twenty of us providing input good, or bad. This would make immediate sales for noobs difficult, but good credentials take time to build.

Are there cheap parts at autozone? Yeah.
Are there legit sellers on the internet? Sure.
The important idea is to seperate ligitimately cheap from cheaply legitimate.