Friday, March 10, 2000
So to sum it up, I'm down about forty dollars and do not have anything but cards to show for it. If he continues at this, I am sure I can catch him for fraud or something, as I am sure he is merely a little kid playing in the big leagues. If you're reading this Cheung, you better watch out [I have the decency not to give out the poor kid's email address].
Do not get me wrong, I have dealt with dozens of dealer, some were professional, and others were under the table. This is the only bad experience I have had yet. And I am hoping not to lose a penny in it. The online business is just mind blowing. I can order all kinds of trinkets that my boring old town does not carry. Anime is a prime example of this, because I have only one hobby store catering to my needs. After some searching on the Internet, I found the products they sold for about a quarter of the price the local store was selling it for!
For example, I found a copy of the game Planescape Torment for only thirty dollars, while the local CompUSA for fifty dollars! So like everything else, there are good sides and bad sides. There are some ways to avoid this and I am hoping to pass my knowledge to you, grasshopper.
First of all, you want to keep your prospects limited to huge online sellers, such as BUY.com and Amazon. These are nice places, but the payoff usually is not as great. If you are willing to take the risks you can try for online auctions. But be warned, sometimes the products are not what they describe them out to be.
Now, if you are a real risk taker and you want to try and save some dough, you can try and check out some individual dealers. They might be gaudy, they might be shady, but you can post to save quite a bit of money. Always try to get insanely low deals, because if it does not work, its no big loss, and if it does not fall through, then you will not lose as much.
I do not recommend doing the above, but it is possible [I am living proof]. But the most important thing to remember is ironically, an age-old rule for this new-age business, "If it's too good to be true, then it is."
I could not have said it any better.
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