well i can only speak from my own experience, having done over a dozen trades, sales, etc w/other forumites, w/ALMOST no probs .....
point A - i dont see where either party is at the most risk, buyer/seller have about the same risks, imho - its just as easy to say 'sure i'll buy that, send it, i'll send $$ now, and dont do it, or say ill send $$ when i get it, and dont send $$' as it is to say 'i have a emerson CQC6 in LNIB condition, want $750, send $ first.....and then pocket the $$ and heck ya prob never HAD a CQC6' to begin with lol - but i dont see were anyone is at any greater risk of rip off, could go either way.....
point B - look at feedback, and imho more importantly, the # of posts, just cuz no neg feedback doent mean a thing if he has 10 posts, now if they have 250+(or 100, etc) posts imho they are pretty active forumites, and less likely to rip ya off, be dishonest, etc especially if no neg feedback imho...........
point C - imho anytime ya do biz on the net ya are open to scams/ripoffs/etc, but i feel better doing it w/some people i 'know' at least thru BF
and while i havent done that many trades, have done a few, 2 for almost $500 each, and i was nervous sending off that check to an individual, having to wait for the knife, etc , what condition is it in, and even if ya have a deal to look/appraise/send back, i would still be hesitant, at least if the knife is in 90 vs 98% condition, ya still have something, while if sent back, again ya gotta trust the integrity of the other guy, and thats hard to do on the net, untill ya get to kinda know certain people
another reason i like jack alvarez aka jaxurman, have done a couple w/him, and all went well, knives in condition described, but this certainly doesnt mean that there arent many many other good folks at BF to deal with, a shame a few buttholes are making everyone nervous i tell you.................
ya just gotta be carefull on the net, on the old turf.com site, dedicated to rolex watch enthusiasts, a guy got burned for about 3K USD on a fake rolex daytona, bought from overseas (indonesia??) and ended up w/nothing, nada but a $50 fake rolex datejust, not even a daytona
personally i would never do biz w/anyone overseas, no offense meant to anyone, but i just wont do it, too little recourse if things go bad, heck ya cant do much (not easily anyway) in the good old US of A - w/out some luck, youre screwed if things go bad on ya out of the country
just my .02 worth
sifu
