okay so my opinion is - meet the seller. I can usually decide if i want to deal with a person simply by talking to him or her. Other factors come in to play, such as appearance, gender, cost of shipping, convenience of retrieval. Hypothetically, these factors are irrelevant to the scenario, but in real life they simply aren't going to be.

I'm not saying Adam and a small time guy are functionally the same. There are pros and cons to every arrangement, and it's by balancing those pros and cons that you decide who is going to get your purchase. People go for the familiar names because they're trustworthy. I try not to forget that someone less obvious might be just as worthy of my business. It all depends on how i feel after i've examined all the facts. I would like to sell my snakes someday, and i'm obviously not going to go from my bedroom operation to Adam's facility overnight. I will need some customers and opportunity to be able to make that transition, which means i will need some faith. As i require faith, i must also remember to occasionally give it when everything else checks out normally.