I bot several thousand dollars worth of truck heaters..........from dealer in western Canada.........with whom I had never done business before, and knew absolutely nothing about.

Dealer gave option of the usual payment methods.......including credit card.

Talked with credit card company about the potential............and they acknowledged in writing........that I was fully protected from any "funny" business on part of dealer.......not being in business, not shipping timely, etc etc.

Also by using cr cd, extended the warranties.........so if the actual product was crapped out, had element of protection for that.

Knowledgeable individual at cr cd company (at least she seemed to be) told me I was a fool if I handled such a transaction otherwise-----------

Transaction came out just fine, dealer was A-ok, but knowing the protection existed made saving the money by such a "far away" transaction a lot easier.