Reading the thread about this latest scam victim really pisses me off. That "Luis", if he is ever found, should be flogged with a pipe wrench -- Repeatedly. The fact that these scams are becoming common is an inevitable consequence of the desireability and rarity (and hence high value) of certain Amiga parts. What we need is something like a mini "escrow" service for transactions. Not necessarily an escrow service per se, but something like an escrow service. In other words, some trusted neutral entity (person or persons) who would temporarily "hold" money sent from buyers until merchandise has been recieved from the seller and acknowledged by the buyer. Then the money could be fwd'd to the seller via whatever payment method was agreed upon initially between the two parties. What do you all think? Does a service like this exist already? I think something like that would be very useful not just in the for Amiga users, but really for just about any "niche" specialty market.. ? Old tube amplifier collectors, people into old Porsche cars, Vespa scooter fans, coin collectors... who knows? Hell, anything. I'm suprised ebay does not offer such a service.. At least not that I'm aware of.. For real estate, maybe.. But what options do people have for relatively "low cost" purchases, but nonetheless still cost a lot of freeking money -- at least to the parties involved. We need low cost "escrow" (say for a fee of $5.00 or less, paid half by each party..) for people looking to buy cyberstorm cards and other Amiga rarities but don't want to get SKROO'D..
