This was posted by a member on a musician forum I visit but figured it could help plenty of other people when doing transactions on the internet. Hope it helps someone!

I get about 2 or 3 requests a month from people asking me to help them track down someone who has ripped them off on a transaction on eBay, HC, Bassgear, etc. I'm more than happy to help out, but the one thing I have noticed is that a lot of people don't protect themselves as much as they could. Here's a little checklist to go through that I posted over on the Dudepit that can help you guys avoid a lot of grief when doing a deal with someone you don't know.

In the future, I hope everyone here checks out people before they do business with them. A lot of you guys here buy and sell a lot of gear, and if you know the person...great. But if not make sure you get a home phone# a work phone # a cell phone# home address etc. check out the info too. Call the person. If you think they gave you a cell# as a home or work # - check it out here:

http://www.fonefinder.net/

It will tell you if it's a land line or a cell and what city it goes to.

Reverse the phone#s and addresses they gave you to see where they go. Argali is really good for this. You can also reverse the address.

Just go to http://www.argali.com/ and download their program.

If you think the address is a mail drop you can check that out as well at http://www.finaid.com/scholarships/maildropsearch.phtml

If you want to find out who owns the address they give you to send payment to you can also go to http://www.skipease.com/property.html

Select the state and county of the address. A lot of them have online databases, but you can call the tax assessor as well and find out who owns that property. These are just a few of the free online resouces you can use to protect yourself and verify the information the seller gives you is accurate. Ask for references from other people they have done business with. If I'm shelling out $100 for an effect pedal or $3000 for a bass, I want to know if the person is honest or not, Make sure the info they give you checks out before you give up any of your hard earned cash. An honest seller won't be offended in the least when you ask them for this info.

Also, using https://www.escrow.com/index.asp is a good idea on any large purchase.