Auction sites involve a lot of different people, and your are secure to a degree. There are refunds when things go wrong on ebay and other places. I would recommend looking for machines locally, bring them home in the back seat or trunk of your car. Have bit of patience and the most unexpected jems turn up. For shipping and mailing, that's the biggest risk; make a point of it and ask seller for double packaging; loads of bubble wrap, bags of styrofoam pellets, pack each loose item like accessory box and pedal in bubble wrap. The box and insulation has to be drop proof; it will more than likely be handled roughly.
The models with these decals are solid cast iron and replacement parts can be found, if you go for machines in good cosmetic condition most other things can be sorted out. I'm thinking of 15s, 66, 27/127, 28/128. It can be a bit of a fuzz to identify the right chrome or nickle finish for spool pins or plates, but generally they can be tracked down.
Last edited by Mickey2; 07-11-2018 at 06:48 AM.