If I were going to buy from a "broker," trans-shipping from China, (and felt
like dealing with the rip-off that is PayPal) then I would have chosen Liypn
as well. At the time you bought your radio, you didn't have the option to
buy for a realistic, discounted price from a bona-fide radio dealer.

Price being very close to equal (while it is on sale), and having had other
transactions with RadioLabs it's a no-brainer. If the radio arrives "sick"
all I've got to do is have them ship me another one out of their stock in
California while I return the other. Again, I'm glad it worked out for you,
and I'm not putting down Liypn. But I am saying that an actual radio
dealer, shipping actual American-market (no 220 adapter) radios from their
own stock is at the same price is vastly preferable to a guy telling
somebody in Shanghai to send you a radio after your PayPal transaction
finally goes through -- especially if something goes wrong. Paypal just
isn't the way to go when you can avoid it (see
http://www.paypalsucks.com/ ).

Your mileage may vary, void where prohibited by law, objects are closer than
they may appear, etc.

-- Stinger

"Corbin Ray" wrote in message
...
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.