Are local comic book dealers more trustworthy than Internet dealers?
The trustworthiness of a dealer or any seller is something that's very important, of course. It varies, as within any community that one finds themselves in. You may have a local comic book dealer to shop owner that is extremely trustworthy and perhaps they may not be. There are obviously dangerous pitfalls with the Internet, where you're buying unseen from someone you don't know then you have to take adequate precautions in order to ensure that you are not taken advantage of, and indeed the Internet has been rife with fraud. The best thing to do is to try and establish a relationship with whomever your comic book seller might be. Whether it is your local shop or it is someone online, and just be careful whenever you're dealing with sending someone money and there are, if you look, on websites like eBay, sections that talk about security and fraud. If you've never done this before, or you're looking to purchase into a hobby, like comics, where you've never been before. There are fraudulent aspects of comics, as there are in any hobby and you need to educate yourself so that you understand those potential pitfalls before you end up unfortunately losing a large amount of money.