On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 11:38:54 -0500, "Corbin Ray"
wrote:

I'm a big chicken when dealing with foreign companies. I really squirmed the
first time I ordered radio from a foreign company.

It was 1998. I decided that I wanted to buy a Yupi MVT-7100 from a Finnish
company called Bandercom. $300 was (and still is) a lot of money for me, and
I was scared to death that something was going to happen and I wouldn't get
my scanner or my money back. It was extremely scary for a couple of weeks.

One thing that helped was that there was lots of good input about Bandercom
at the Strong Signals site, and I figured that Bandercom must be legit. And
the scanner arrived on time and worked perfectly, so I had a good
experience.

Last month, I decided that I wanted one of the 1102 radios that I discovered
at the Radio Intelligencer site. The reviewer loved the radio, so I started
doing a bunch of research. I found the Kaito version for $100 at Universal
Radio and for $90 at many other places. I found the Degen version for as low
as $49 on eBay, but it would be from a Chinese seller.

Because I am so suspicious, I decided I would start asking questions. I
emailed Degen who confirmed the Kaito and Degen models are identical. Hmmm.
OK, the radios were identical. What about the seller. I checked Liypn's eBay
feedback. Wow! 100% positive. 230 out of 230 left positive feedback. So I
emailed Liypn and asked a bunch of questions about the radio. Then I emailed
a couple of people who had bought from him, asking them about their 1102s
and about Liypn. Nothing but positives all the way. So I made the big leap.
I sent Liypn my $49 (plus shipping), and he sent me back a pretty cool
little radio. Yes, I was still concerned till it got here, but the package
arrived in perfect condition and I now feel completely at ease with doing
business with him.

I purchased one from him a couple of months ago. He is a very good
seller. The radio in IMO is the best portable value available today.