Hi, I would like to know a little information before proceeding with a payment for an auction. The seller only accepts cashier's checks or money orders. My question is, do either of these offer any sort of protection in the event that the item is not shipped or received? Or am I simply out the money?
Your help is much appreciated.

If you send a cashier's check or money order, your only recourse is against the seller. If I remember correctly, EBay and others warn against sellers that try to steer you away from payment options such as PayPal and credit cards. If I were you, I would proceed VERY CAREFULLY.

Thank you for your answer, do you know if I can get some sort of insurance or assurance for a cashier's check?

Frank -

Can you request the transaction be handled "COD"?

He only accepts Money Orders and Cashier's Checks. Here is the information I do have. I have his phone number and have spoken with him. I did a reverse address directory search on the address, called the landlord who confirmed he is a tennant.
This should make things a bit safer, yes?

Many people don't realize it, but if you purchase a personal money order from a bank (one that you sign and make out except for the dollar amount), most states recognize this as a one-time checking account for the remitter, and stop payments can be obtained from many banks.

If you decide to go the personal money order route, be very sure that the issuing bank will honor a stop payment in the event you might need it.

You cannot stop payment on a cashier's check.

Speaking as a Banker and an Ebay buyer and seller, many sellers only accept cashier checks or money orders.One reason they don't use PayPal,etc is they do not want to pay the fees to accept your payment. You should read the sellers feedback to get some history. Once you send the money order you just have to put your faith in the seller that they will honor their obligation. Ebay offers some protection for you in the event you do not receive your purchase but there are "rules" to this. You should read the Buyers information. I have been buying for 8 years and only lost money once. Most sellers are very honest prople.
Hope this information helps you.

Another option is to escrow the funds and merchandise. You may want to research different escrow-agents, and select your own. If this really is a scam, you don't want to use the seller's escrow agent, as they're probably in on it.

There will be a fee for the escrow, however, so depending on the value of the item you're purchasing, it may not be worth it.

Based on the information that I have of the seller (telephone number, 2 email addresses and confirmation of address), what kind of legal recourse would I have in the event that the item is not as described or is a no show? Would it be as simple as reporting to the police, or would I have to involve an attorney, etc?

How about buying the item locally? If it's that good of a deal - it's too good to be true. Want is it worthto you to be this worried about it? If this is really a valuable item - then make other arrangements. If this is a fraud and you send the money - 99.99% of the time you will never see your money again. It's a risk - you need to decide whether to take it or not.

Yes, that is true, I could buy the item locally. True the price turned out to be much cheaper, however, I have verification of the serial number of the item. I have an appraisal of the item and I have confirmed the serial number with the vendor. However, the seller was unfortunate in his bid. He wanted 2600 for the item (no reserve) but only had the item up for auction for 12 hours, therefore the price didn't rise to a sufficiently high value.
The deal I am getting is far superior than any I could get, and it just happened to be luck...

You are smart to be concerned about any transaction of this nature. You should also ask youself, is it luck or could the transaction have been manipulated to look like luck? The advice about escrow agents is right on target, there have been cases where the escrow agent was part of the scam.

I can honestly say that I would not consider using an Escrow service, unless it was one of my chosing.
I have asked to handle the item via "COD" and told the seller that I would pay for the costs of the COD. I am now awaiting the answer. I will update you all as to what happens, and with which method I went with, and how it all turned out.
I appreciate all of your comments.