Kent; All of us don't have R#'s after our name. Some may have "LM", "CH", or "A" prefixes before our club membership numbers. It has been my personal experience that I have found an overwhelmingly high number of club members have exhibited extremely high standards of integrity and trust among fellow club members.

No, I'm not saying that anyone who does not belong to the club does not possess these qualities that I look for when selecting folks to deal with .... but look at it this way. If one who is very active in the hobby and does NOT hold membership in CCGTCC... there is no one to go to with a complaint against such persons.... such as to the club's Claims Director to resolve occassional disputes between individuals who are among 2500+ club members. No action can be taken by the club against a non-member who has committed unethical acts.... so why would a person who has a track-record history of complaints against him/her want to join such an organization and have to abide by a code of conduct that is part of the ByLaws?

My advice is to skip the occassional bargain and deal with other club members. We'll all be better off in the long run.