Any Tips on Buying?

Walter and Stringreen nail this.
First do your own research...know what you want, how much it is worth, and how much you are willing to pay for it, and then pulling the trigger will be much easier.
When you find what you are looking for, evaluate the condition, ask your questions and check out the seller and their feedback. Dealing with a bad seller is rarely worth the headache.
When you make an offer, or select "buy it now," you should be ready to purchase since the Audiogon community expects you to honor your offer.
Backing out on offers will quickly earn you the reputation of someone to avoid dealing with.
You have quite a few sales here and excellent feedback so I suggest you keep doing what you have been doing.
BTW, good post as it brought out some good advice that will help everyone who reads it.

Thanks for the advice and the kind words, Mitch.
After we went thru the period of scamming and hacking, I started to wonder if some members were buying and selling using unethical means.

03-31-14: Mofimadness
Even if you "Made An Offer" the "Buy It Now" takes precedent over that offer. You still would have lost the sale.

This is true, it just happened to me about a month ago. I made an offer for a local purchase, the seller contacted me and agreed to the sale. Then before he could accept the offer through Audiogon, someone hit the buy it now button and the item was gone. That's just life in the big city. My offer would have saved me about 10% for local pickup, but in the end, the seller got full price and just shipped the item. You want to take the risk of following due diligence, but sometimes it can cost you.

You gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em when playing this game. You also have to realize that you are not always going to win. Just keep on truckin'.

If you want it jump on it ASAP!!

Most of us who have been around these parts for awhile have had the deflating experience of just losing out on something we wanted, as John described so well above. On the other hand--and this is one of the basic truths of the hobby--if you should miss out on a piece of gear you really want, just be patient. Everything in high end audio--and I mean EVERYTHING--comes up for sale sooner or later. It is usually just a matter of being patient.

Just a few years ago, I was hot on the trail of a preamp I had researched and decided to buy. I saw one in the classifieds and contacted the seller, who told me the preamp was mine, only to turn around ten minutes later and tell me I was actually second in line. The first guy ended up getting the preamp, and I could only curse my bad luck. Three weeks later, another one came up and I snapped it up, saving three hundred bucks in the process!

Of course, patience and high end audio are not natural bedfellows, but that's another story. The bottom line is that if you have your heart set on something in audio, it will eventually appear, at least in my experience.