With Fillmore Fuels it is becoming easier to know who are the quality sellers of oil and who could be a scam.

By providing feedback after having a transaction between a buy and seller you have the ability to keep people honest and establish integrity to the market. If a seller sells you something that is not upto par with what they listed for sale you have the option to work it out with the other party or if you cannot compromise you can leave negative feedback that will be viewed by others. This negative feedback will let the rest of the community beaware of the dangers that have come from past transactions with this particular seller. If enough negative feedback is supplied to individuals it will cause damage to there name and people will avoid doing business with them. FeedBack is very valuable and it is important to maintain the best possible feedback you can.

In addition to using the feedback to do research on particular sellers you should protect your money by setting up some safety nets. Most of the scams that have to do with purchasing oil usually require money upfront or some form of untraceable money transfer such as a wire transfer. I would recomend avoiding any form of pre-payment unless you know the company is a legitamite and professional company. If the company is not in the same country there are other legal issues that could never be resolved and all money and/or resources could be lost for good with no form of retribution. Avoid sending any money to other countries especially wire transfers.

Utilizing an escrow service on larger orders is a very useful option if both parties can agree on it. There are many escrow services to chose from and I would stick to the larger established ones. One popular escrow company that is used frequently by online auction sites is Escrow.com . When using an escrow service make sure you completley understand there terms and fees. 

Another option or technique is the Cash on Delivery (C.O.D.) option. You can request to pay cash once the product has been delivered to the agreed location and after the product has been inspected and approved. Some sellers do not like this option because it can place them at risk of having to pay for shipping cost to the location and have the product denied and sent back adding to there risk of paying for double shipping and there order being rejected. It also puts them at risk of being manipulated to adjust there prices once product gets to the location and buyer decides he doesn't want to pay the originaly agreed upon price. With Fillmore Fuels the seller also has the ability to place feedback on a buyers profile, so if these things do happen a seller can warn the rest of the community of unethical behavior of buyers.

If working with an unkown seller it could always be a good idea to work with smaller orders untill the relationship and trust can be built upon to do bigger orders. I would avoid going into any longterm contracts with an unknown company until you are confident in there ability to deliver there goods or services as agreed. Any contract is a very serious commitment and should be taking with responsibility. When purchasing items such as WVO it must be understood that it becomes difficult for companies to provide a completly consistent product. They can recieve oil from mulitiple vendors and the vendors can be changing all the time. To go into longterm contracts with WVO suppliers may not be appropriate for every company it could be more beneficial to maintain single orders until you can judge the consistency if you need consistency.

When paying for your items purchased it is recommended to utilize payment options such as the major credit cards or other third party services such as PayPal.com. This can provide another level of insurance to your transactions and provide another level of security to your identity. By no sercumstances should you ever provide a social security number to any seller or bank account information. 

Not sure of the quality of the oil? Don't hesitate to ask for oil samples or detailed descriptions of quality of the oil. Not all oil is created equal. When working with WVO it can be very inconsistant and one batch can be almost completly different from another. Another thing to pay attention to with WVO is that sometimes the top layer of oil could be higher quality then the lower layer. It is the buyers responsiablity to determine these issues before buying the oil. 

Summary:

1) Check sellers feedback

2) Never send money (No Pre Payment - Wire Transfers) 

3) Use an Escrow Service

4) Establish a relationship with smaller orders first, then work up to larger orders

5) Use a credit card or third party payment service such as PayPal

6) Use COD (cash on delivery) if not using a credit card or escrow

7) Understand what the quality of the oil is you are purchasing.  Ask for samples or detailed description.

This website has some of the common terminology http://www.worldcargoalliance.com/Library/globaldata/Acronyms/c.htm