I've had a mixed experience smurfchops, one local to me purchase was excellent and it went really smoothly. The other - attempted - purchase was from the world's waffiest vendor elsewhere in the country, who didn't answer emails and was surprised I wasn't prepared to make a 300 mile trip on the strength of one phone call.
Treat it like a small ad in the local paper. Just get as much info as you can from the vendor beforehand and then take your usual precautions about being scammed when buying anything from anywhere.