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"Used from reputable gray..."
"... vs going with a reputable grey dealer ..."
"there are reputable sellers with impeccable reputations that I fully trust"
"It is not hard to find a completely reputable Trusted Seller ..."
"... I’d definitely go with a trusted seller ..."
"Half the reason people use/join this forum is for the trusted dealers ..."
"Peace of mind is also from a trusted seller here."
"Between a trusted independent reseller ..."
" ... buy a used piece from a reputable source ..."
" ... a trusted seller on TRF."
"They don't have knowledge of trusted sellers ..."
"People can always buy from a reputable secondary seller ..."
"There are reputable Grey Market and Trusted Sellers ..."
"I bought a CPO DSSD for within $500 of what three trusted sellers ..."
"... buy from a trusted seller rather than CPO..."
Slight tangent.
Whenever I hear, "Trusted/reputable dealer/seller," the last place my brain rushes to is a place of trust.
When I hear, "Trusted dealer," my brain immediately leaps to two conclusions. First, that this dealer is distinguishing himself from all other dealers because he's trusted, implying that most other dealers are not. Second, if most dealers are not to be trusted, then why should I believe you when you say you are? I'm automatically in a place of scepticism. There's a subtle ... manipulation at play. Or at least, I feel someone's trying to short-circuit my defences.
If someone said about a politician, "He's an incorruptible politician," I wouldn't find myself immediately admiring the politician's morality. I'd find myself thinking that he's claiming the politician incorruptible in a sea of corruptible politicians. That is: most politicians are corruptible. So why would I belive this politician?
If an airline advertised itself by saying, "Fly our fleet of safe planes," I wouldn't think of safety. I'd think: hang on, aren't all planes safe? Does this mean planes aren't safe, but this airline is claiming the safe ones? Why would I believe that?
I wouldn't get laser-eye-surgery from a surgeon who advertised, "We're the steady-hands surgeons!" Wait, so other surgeons don't have steady hands?
I know I'm belabouring the point, but to do a little reductio-ad-absurdum (and who doesn't like that?), what would you think of a dealer advertising himself as, "I am a living dealer." I guarantee you, your brain didn't rush to a place of warm, fuzzy comfort that that dealer was reassuringly alive. Instead, at the very least, you thought, "What on earth does that mean?"
Not that I'm crapping on dealers, just this curious way of adressing them without adding, "Trusted/reputable."
Another way of describing a dealer is, "Buy box-and-papers from a bricks-and-mortar dealer who's been in business for more than five years." What isn't said here is anything about trustedness. No one's trying to short-circuit your thinking. Quite the opposite. This description hints that you may be dealing with a horribly corrupt dealer, BUT that dealer is operating under certain constraints. And those constraints work to your benefit, not his.
The first constraint is box and papers. Yes, if not omitted entirely, these can be forged, but that forging can take just a little more effort than obtaining the real thing, especially believable examples. And effort is what untrustworthy people are trying to avoid. Second, and more importantly, is bricks-and-mortar. A dealer's compulsion to defraud you is hugely dampened when he knows that you know where he'll be working tomorrow, when you discover he's sold you a fake or stolen watch. You'll happily pop back for a refund with your two larger brothers and a baseball bat. Not that you ever would - you're a sophisticated citizen of the modern world - but HE doesn't know that. Thirdly, if he's been in business for five years in that store, then he's either dodged a lot of baseball bats or he's operated without their threat. The latter being more probable.
I imagine untrusted dealers feel sadly left-out when reading this thread.
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