[mikestew]

Can't find an item anywhere else, yet one place claims to have dozens in their warehouse? You can almost rest assured that this one place isn't a special unicorn that has items no one else has. What you can reliably bet on is that there's some scamming going on somewhere in the process. I can't tell you how it's going to go, but at some point the company is going to behave dishonestly.

Take these guys as an example: http://www.abesofmaine.com. Abe's used to be good. Then Abe got out of the business, and someone else snapped up the name. That someone did not share ol' Abe's ethics. Did you go to the link? Pick any random item on that site, I'll just about guarantee they don't have it. Oh, they'll have something similar that they'll try to sell you using the textbook definition of bait-and-switch. They'll tell you it's the same thing, just a different version, or whatever. Read online reviews, and you'll get the impression that their business plan must consist of one phrase: "bait-and-switch". (I use Abe's as example because I tried to buy the last of the high-end Samsung plasma TVs from them, thinking they were still the old Abe's. They had them in stock, at a not-outrageous price. Oops, no they didn't.)

If you're going to spend $1000 on a jacket, check online reviews of the vendor, and use a credit card that backs you up when you dispute the charge (Amex comes to mind here; your Visa might offer the same, or it might not).

[wodenokoto]

While it is smart to take precautions, it still doesn't change the fact that the operation is nothing but fraud, and the people behind should go to jail.

[mikestew]

I was not arguing that the two are mutually exclusive.