It's too good to be true and involves paying BTC to a stranger. Do you really need someone else's gut here?

Just don't. Buy for ~2.5 BTC from Bitmain if you must or just HODL.
Paying to a stranger will be no problem here as I wouldn't pay anything before seeing the miners.
Do you really think it's too good to be true?
I've been reading all S9 threads and they don't seem very reliable. That's my main fear.
I'm less inclined to follow with this deal but not for being too good to be true.
Do you think they will ship without you paying first?
There are many other red flags in that listing, I wouldn't touch it even if paying by PayPal, especially after it's been bid up to $1575 last time I looked.
Location - London, I doubt any mining farm could be located there
Delivery - by mid-October (at least to the US, not sure of other locations)
Stock photo
30%+ discount for no reason (there is no newer hardware to upgrade to)
That's just from memory, too lazy to open that link again.