How popular is Wire Transfer.....

Actually, just another question. From a Buyer's perspective, how much comfort does one have in buying gear off eBay using the eBay Buyer Protection Plan?? Right now, I am working out a situation with an eBay Seller whose equipment was damaged in transit. We ARE working the problem out, and so far so good. Nevertheless, I contacted the eBay Buyer Protection people to set up a case file just in case. Although I fully expect that my Seller will act honorably, I assume that the eBay Buyer Protection Plan will provide some level of back up.

Maybe A-gon should try to put in place some type of Buyer protection plan similar to what is on eBay????

Nonetheless, I agree with the folks who mentioned that the best protection is to deal with parties who have excellent feedback, either on A-gon or eBay. Thank goodness, so far I have been very lucky in that, either as Seller or Buyer, I have never had a problem.

Try cash on pick up, it works well. You get a chance to test and fully inspect the equipment, no transit damage, you know where the seller actual lives. Always, and mean always get a bill of sale and a sign off the the seller owns and has title to the equipment and is authorized to sell it. Yes, it will limit your selection but in avoiding the payment and condition issues is well worth it. While this rule applies to all gear, it especially applies to turntables.

Geez Buconero, if you live in timbucktoo so much for acquiring much product.

If one is too afraid or paranoid to purchase gear on the used listings why even bother spending time on AG?

As far as AG offering a buyers support service like eBay I don't see that ever happening. eBay owns Paypal. AG owns nothing therefore in the one issue I've had over 13 years the one time I needed assistance they had nothing to offer. This of course was the theft of funds associated with an amp that was sold to dozens of victims. But then again, what was AG to do. Buyers are on their own here and if they don't know it you should know it.

Coltrane1,
I think Buconero117 has a point. For any decent turntable, I ALWAYS go to pick it up myself (except in one case where I got it shipped from overseas, but in that case, it was completely dismantled for shipping to me). That gives me the assurance that it will be transported safely - the TT is the most sensitive of any component I know of (when compared to its weight/inertia to micro shocks. I must have driven 3000+km for TTs this year.
That said, I have made many purchases from people far away, and I have never once gotten scammed. I have had a little bit of damage from bad packing, and about half of that has been covered. I have sucked up the rest to bad luck and the cost of buying things more cheaply than otherwise. I have made it a habit to deal with people who know how to pack, or to pre-build packing materials, send them to the person, and pay COD in those cases.

To ms it cuts both way. There are dishonest sellers and buyers. I will never use any method of payment other than paypal unless the sellers or buyers are regular posters in audiogon or they are from a reputable company or from a company that do business regularly in eBay or audiogon. So far my experience has been very positive with audiogon seller. eBay got to be more careful. In my hundreds of transaction only 2 turn bad and not recoverable and both fr eBay. 1 from purchase of lousy reel tape from a guy kostas in Australia and 1 from Ireland whom I suspect did not post the item I purchase. Audioxell? Is another set up you got to be careful. A seller posted technics sp10 mk3 for sales. Gave me photos , sent tracking nos which is address to malaysia but not my address . Even after I inform Audioxell ( not sure how it's spelled) they don't bother to remove his posting - fr Indonesia) . if u pay thru paypal and cant get resolution thru paypal, you can also try credit card chargeback. The few incidents I was conned ,I was able to get back thru paypal protection or credit card charge back.
However if amount is large and the seller is reputable , I would rather pay thru wire transfer which is much cheaper than paypal unfavourable currency conversion and 4% charge