I've had only one buying experience here on FAOL and that one, shame on ME, was for a bamboo pole mainly suitable for staking tomatoes ( luckily, it was a 3 piece). My expectatione ,at $50, were not that great but somewhat greater than the product I received. No reflection on the seller but I did re-learn a "pig in poke" lesson. Since then, I deal with Amazon etc.exclusively. I DO at times buy and sell on the Smith and Wesson forum where the purchased items and payment for same often cross in the mails ( much like dealing with Conranch) but the consequences of default are much different there .

Mark