I have bought a fair amount of parts off members of this site. Most members are great guys and are looking to help out other members with parts for sale. But you still have to be carefull before sending your hard earned money.
These are some of the steps I take before buying parts.
1. Look to see how long they have been a member. If they just joined and their first post is parts for sale - red flag
2. Do a search of the members post. If all their post are parts for sale or responses to WTB threads, Then they are here to sell parts, look at their ratings, if they been selling parts for awhile they should have a high positive rating.
3. Start a conversation with the seller through a PM. Responses to questions and request for additional pictures will tell you alot.
4. Request from the seller to take the transaction offsite to private email- red flag
5. Only taking payment by money order, Venmo, or Zell, or pay pal friends and family. Red flag. Although I have bought parts from members that ask for Paypal friends and family. They have to have a good reputation here, ànd will usually have a good explanation for the request of friends and family only.
5. Trust you gut, if it feels fishy it probably is.