Yeah, I just found that he previously completed an auction on the same unit and turned down the buyer at a price of $21,000 because it wouldn't be BTC.  Seems legit.

I have a question:  I can see the PP issue, but what is your opinion on this particular situation?  

An Ebay seller has up for bid his early 60gh BFL Single order.  Very early supposedly.  He specified that PP or any other pmt than BTC would require prior permission AND that he would be willing to accept a good offer to take down the auction.  I contacted him and offered a bank-wire of $8500 (about midway between the various comparable closings that day).  This wire wouldn't require that he provide me his banking info, just a Cell# or email to give my bank, which then sends him withdrawal instructions.

He turned this down and said only BTC.  So I asked "How many BTC?"  Naturally I am expecting a number commensurate with at least 8500 USD in BTC but he sends back a request for 40 (or ~5500 USD as of that time).

Now I feel like this is a scam.  Why would a bank wire not be acceptable for an item that he won't even possess until long after the funds have appeared in his acct?  And am I not on the completely scammable and helpless end of the transaction now if I send BTC as that is completely irreversible?  Do I sound paranoid or reasonably suspicious?

Thanks so much for the "Newbie" section!  It's great to have a place where I feel like I am not reducing the level of discourse by a factor of ten.  I posted this at the "Intro Yourself" but then thought that might not be the right place to ask an involved question so I wanted to start a thread for it. (Hope that OK).  I've seen it partially answered before but without the specifics I am interested in addressed, so please bear with me if this has been asked and answered a thousand times:

I purchased 5 BTC from a private seller and gave them my Electrum generated 'receive' address.  This was last night.  I am not so much worried that I have not received the BTC as I am that I don't see the address (is this a hash?) when I search for it at either blockchain.info or blockexplorer.  B.E. returned a report that the address was "First Seen/Never used on the network" and B.C. shows "No. of Transactions - 0"

The BTC should have been sent about 7 hours ago.  I have checked my wallet against the BlockExplorer block count and they are both showing 229662.  I sort of understand that the transactions are verified as a function of their block being mined/solved(?) and I guess it could be that it hasn't yet, but shouldn't it have appeared somewhere in these records by now if the send was initiated on his end?  I am told it will need 6 verifications, so I also am wondering will it only show after all 6 or after the very first?

My wallet is set to .0001 for transaction fee but I guess maybe that's only if I am sending?

Finally, I have the Electrum wallet installed and running but no other software installed as I haven't started mining.  Is this a problem for receiving?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I promise I am a quick learner and you won't have to tell me twice 

Hi, I'm new (obviously) to mining, but very interested in the decentralized nature of BTC.  I'm a bit of an econ geek and it's been really exciting to see a currency take root organically, so I've decided to join the party.  Of course joining the mining party makes me wish I were a computer geek instead!  So I have a question and I've seen it maybe answered before but without the specifics I am interested in addressed, so please bear with me if this has been asked and answered a thousand times:

I purchased 5 BTC from a private seller and gave them my Electrum generated 'receive' address.  This was last night.  I am not so much worried that I have not received the BTC as I am that I don't see the address (is this a hash?) when I search for it at either blockchain.info or blockexplorer.  B.E. returned a report that the address was "First Seen/Never used on the network" and B.C. shows "No. of Transactions - 0"

The BTC should have been sent about 7 hours ago.  I have checked my wallet against the BlockExplorer block count and they are both showing 229662.  I sort of understand that the transactions are verified as a function of their block being mined/solved(?) and I guess it could be that it hasn't yet, but shouldn't it have appeared somewhere in these records by now if the send was initiated on his end?  I am told it will need 6 verifications, so I also am wondering will it only show after all 6 or after the very first?

My wallet is set to .0001 for transaction fee but I guess maybe that's only if I am sending?

Finally, I have the Electrum wallet installed and running but no other software installed as I haven't started mining.  Is this a problem for receiving?

I know it's a lot of questions, but I promise I am a quick learner and you won't have to tell me twice