if someone is selling you a kite but you can't view or collect it in person i.e. you have to do it via mail, how do you know they won't screw you over? especially when the person doing the selling has only a few posts and you dont know them.

and do you think it is wise to buy without viewing it in person?

see how long they have been a member of Seabreeze and whether they have sold gear before

yeah just used that system to sell an old kite, works well, but is more expensive than a regular courier service.

One alternative, is if you plan on using the money to buy more kiting gear, when you have a buyer, send your kite to a shop in the buyers area (if in the same country) that stocks the gear you want, and let the buyer come in and check the kite out in the shop, if he is happy with it, he pays the shop and they put the money towards the gear you want and they ship the gear to you. 5% more effort from the shop, but it gives them a sale they wouldn't have normally had and the buyer gets the benefit of being able to check out the gear, inflate the kite if need be and make sure he is happy with it, that way you ensure no unhappy returns. Only down side is you don't support your local store, but the amount of time this happens with be more unusual than the norm.