I fell victim to a scam

STOP PAYMENT-I agree with bigkidz. Your bank will do whatever you like....I know one "scammer" who burned big by a guy who scammed him by stopping payment on a money order!
Also, there are escrow services IESCROW.com and more.
I personally, will check out any sellors. I google them for name, address and home phone and make sure it matches. I will even call their home phone and play dumb asking for them even if they have given another number.
That is why I always give my name, phone, address and more everytime I close a deal just to prove that I am for real.

Paypal is owned by E-bay. E-bay only cares about the seller. That is why you can have hundreds of negative feedbacks as a seller and remain a member of ebay but if you're a buyer screwing a seller you are booted on the 3rd infraction. This is because ebay only cares about the fees involved which are payed by sellers not buyers. Paypal is fairly useless in helping you they try to stall you long enough to make your claim invalid (30 days?) . The only way to protect yourself is to use a credit card and dispute the charges if you pay and get nothing in return. I have never gotten beat on ebay save for a broken item and the lady made good on it. Paypal with credit card is the safest way to go.

Good news for me! As I mentioned, my first reaction was to go to the Police. However, I just spoke with my bank. They had me come in and fill out an "Affidavit for Unauthorized Access of my Account" form. My bank reimbursed me my full amount and they will now pursue getting the money from the sellers bank. I lost a lot of sleep over this one, but I lucked out in the end. Thanks for all of your input to my situation!

I have to admit that I sell on AudioGon, but I have never purchased from individual sellers, rather only from AudioGon-listing retailers (eg, Quest for Sound, Audio-Video Logic, AudioWaves, Sophia Electric, and many others). My very real worry is exactly what you suffered ... a loss of funds and happiness at the hands of losers with very little else to contribute to the world. I always point buyers to my business-generated web site, so they can at least see what I look like, verify that I indeed exist, contact me through my work e-mail, and hopefully feel less anxious about everything. Even this proves nothing ultimately, but I round it out with a very accurate component description, a very fair price, packaging that goes beyond extreme, an immediate notification of tracking numbers, and whatever else it takes. My goal as I do this is to sell something worth buying. Going too far, I suspect, but I've been really shocked by how indifferent some of the purchasers AND retailers have been. Most purchasers get back to me to offer thanks, though most don't even make contact once delivery takes place; that's okay. I do NOT like, however, retailers that are nothing short of cavalier when it comes to service and customer concerns, especially after a sale. This part has been a bit disappointing, to put it mildly, but this is USA2005, so I don't expect too much.

Glad yo hear you didnt get screwed Ianman!