Furthermore, I can visit a sampling of his/her posts to see what kind of person they seem to be (imperfect but better than nothing).
Oh....crap. I'm in trouble.
Now, if there was a dual system: # of posts and # of successful sales then maybe the post count would count less. But as for now, I use what I have in front of me kinda like a reference system.
Don't forget we have the feedback forum. You can always do a search there before buying. That's what it's there for!