These new marketplaces leave themselves open to fraud. There is very little buyers can do to protect themselves from clever and unscrupulous sellers. The way most of the Internet auction systems work is to register a user name. There can be negative feedback developed about sellers who do not trade fairly. However, there is no charge for user name identification, and email addresses are free, and a seller may use any number of user names and addresses.
Many sales come about through contacts made in Internet chat rooms.
Obviously, there is no protection for private sales between people who meet in chat rooms. A number of auction systems operate on the Internet. At this time, there are over 2,500 ham radios, and almost 1,000 CB radios for sale in a single auction system. If this person has over 45 positive feedbacks listed on this one user name, he is running a business, and not selling personal equipment. Perhaps he is an honest businessman taking advantage of an auction system to bring more return on his invested capital, however, it does not ring true when the facts are examined.