Hi I just wanted to bump your post and throw my opinion in here
First:
I personally think knowing someone on a board has nothing to do with their trading practices, because in all honesty you can deal with someone who is a nice guy but a slob. Therefore his/her packing is crap and your machine breaks...etc etc.
Second:
I feel AT has two pretty good FAQs of online trading check them out if you want.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1019847http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...readid=1254758
Lastly:
I wanted to just alert the seller to escrow services, it really makes someone feel more comfortable. Ebay has some that they recommend and I used one a few years ago to deal with a potentially shady hardware reseller (with great prices). It kinda forced the deal to go smoothly from my point of view.