For a scrupulous first time wood buyer, a moisture tester may be a good investment. Wood sellers will often tell you that even though this wood was split this year, it will be just fine . Except in the cases of fir or pine, that is not true. Look for gray, or darkened, brittle wood that has a lot of cracks in the inner rings. Seasoned wood looks gray, or dark and dingy because it has been sitting sitting in the sun, drying, and collecting dust for a while.
Unseasoned wood has the fresh clean look of new lumber at a building supply store.
Though seasoned wood is darker on the outside, it's bone white on the inside. But, if you get stuck with green wood, you will be one very frustrated wood burner. You should always buy this years wood for for NEXT year. Good buys of seasoned wood do come along, but they are often not advertised, because the serious wood burners already know where to go. If you are a first time wood burner, either buy dry, split fir, or hunt down really dry, cracking hardwood.