sorry, but how does paying by cheque give you any kind of protection? paying by anything other than paypal to a complete stranger over the net is a risk. Credit card to a secure site business is another matter since you have protection in the card. Sure good feedback can be manufactured but it needs a different identity for each feedback, and if each of the identities is new with no feedback, or if the feedback goes in identity circles it is a dead giveaway.

I won a couple of concert tickets for £100 that had been sold out, the seller in the auction said tickets available to send, then after immediate payment said he was still waiting for them to be posted to him from the box office. The concert was 4 months away and checking with the box office confirmed his story that the tickets still had to be sent out. Nevertheless I was unhappy about the original description of ready to be sent out which was not true, so went through paypal complaints, got all the money back, and bought tickets from another auction later. The seller had good feedback and may well have come up with the tickets nearer the time but should have posted a more accurate description in the first place to engender trust in the buyer. Paypal came up trumps in the only case where I have had to complain so far.


[This message has been edited by technicsplayer (edited 11-03-2005).]