Let's say you post a WTB item here. Sits here for a while, then, say, "snoweev" (random example, wink, wink) contacts you that "Davies" (another random example) has one for sale. Heck, snoweev gets a bit confused and lets you know "Davies" also has one of your other WTBs. "Davies" has a bit of everything, it turns out.
You contact "Davies" at their email address ("daviesmaclean
@aol.com"), and obviously, the aol address is a dead giveaway this is an older gentleman. Once he agrees with your ask (very accommodating, very nice guy), he doesn't have a paypal, so he'll be using his son's (I'm assuming, middle aged himself). He doesn't take other than "friends and family," so I diligently look (there was also a rush thingie on this, as he's with his "son" for just a couple of days more!), and what do you know, his son's thingie is a commercial account, so I can't pay my friend Davies Mclean as the friend that he is to me. I ask, he checks, and it turns out his son is also his friend, who sends me a payment request from the same address ("dukeoke45@yahoo.com"). My new friend (Duke Onchonga, aka "dukeoke45@yahoo.com") now can have my money without the comm fees. We're family! Aren't we all.
My friendship with all these good folks kind of disappeared when I started asking questions. For instance, asking for pics of the resistor I want turned out eBay pics of the correct resistor but of a different value from one of the large instrumentation dealers in the US. I think my old friend was getting a little loose at this point. What's an order of magnitude between friends?
To my other request - what's his handle on here - he WAS on this community, but he forgot his password. Life's really complicated these days on the internets.