I got taken even though I thought I was being careful. There was an add for a pair of rebuilt Holley 4223's on EBay. They were advertised by someone called HotRod62554 who had a 100% rating with just under a hundred transactions.
The auction expired with no sale so I emailed the seller with a purchase offer which was accepted. The first red flag that I ignored was that the seller didn't accept PayPal. Anyway, I had my bank send a cashiers check. I didn't hear a word from the seller for almost a month (even though I'd sent numerous email inquires). Then, last Saturday, FedEx delivered a box. I opened it and there were two shinny Holleys... one of which had a broken throttle plate.
When I examined the carbs more closely, the unbroken throttle plate was so sticky I could't believe it. It looked like someone had "cleaned" the carbs with a sand blaster (bad enough) and not done any clean up of the debris. These carbs are junk, net even usable for parts.
The seller goes by at least 3 names that I can track down,
[email protected],
[email protected], and Alice Sleth of Decatur, Il.
Beware, don't take the bait like I did.