Posted By:
davidcyclebackI don't know all of the folks on the list, but many are reputable dealers and some are board regulars (including Bob, above).
Beyond asking people what they think of a popular a particular seller (which is a good idea), you can test out a seller by buying inexpensive items-- seeing the quality of the product and service. Many of the dealers who I would today purchase an expensive item from were people I originally bought a $20 item and was happy with the first purchase. At the very worst, you're only out $20 and, in the long run, some of your all time favorite cards will turn out to be the inexpensive purchases.
If you're buying a $20 or $30 card from a seller you're unfamiliar with, you're not taking much risk. Besides, for the beginning collector it's a good idea anyway to start with a variety of relatively inexpensive cards, just so you can test the waters and see what you like. It's good to see a variety of stuff in person. If an interested beginning collector was a billionaire, I'd still recommend he start buy buying an assortment of inexpensive cards so he could see what he likes and learns what cards look like in person. If he wanted to spend $2 million on cards, I'd still tell him to take his time and see what's out there before spending the big money, just so he'd spending the money on stuff he knew about and knew he liked.