Keep a record of what you order and how you pay, and back it up onto a floppy disc regularly. Buying from a small shop It is important to ascertain the authenticity of the retailer. If someone has invested the time in building a website they are probably for real, none the less, feel free to run a few checks. When items are graded down see how well the damage is described. A dealer should say to what standard his records are graded.
Many Dealers also use their own grading criteria.
If they do this, the methods they use should appear somewhere on the site. Grading is discussed in more detail later. Buy Small items first. If you wade in with a huge order you are exposing yourself. Buy one item first, this will give you an idea of the vendors reliability, the accuracy of their grading and how well the pack things up to post.