I'd be interested to learn how you all evaluate the value of a potential seller/buyer's feedback from sites other than FM? E.g., especially amongst folks with no to little feedback from transactions here on FM, if they present feedback from photo.net, m4/3's forum, eBay, etc., do you regard their feedback from those sites as supportive enough of their trustworthiness that you would rely on it for your sale/purchase of the item they are offering or seeking to buy?
I look at their feedback here on FM, their number of posts, and their join date. Who is to say that they did not hi-jack another person's id/feedback on one of these other sites. Working with members that are willing to supply their phone number and email where you can actually speak/email them goes a long way towards the trust issue...
If they are new, I simply ask them to ship first. No, I do not have many posts or purchases either.
On purchases I use PayPal through a credit card for the added peace of mind.
Yes, I follow pretty close to your guidelines for transactions. I hadn't given enough thought, however, to someone's account being hijacked. What I was trying to learn from others is more qualitative, perhaps. That is, if a person has no or minimal feedback here, but reports (assuming their account has not been hijacked), e.g., on eBay, that they have 100+ Positive feedbacks, would that count the same in terms of proceeding with the transaction - whatever other criteria might be used - as it might if the person had 100+ feedbacks here on FM, all other things equal (which of course they are not)
