Maybe they just say they know nothing about it just to look innocent and so you won't think they intentionally scammed you when you get it home and see all the problems. Actually pretty common. "Meet me at the wal mart and I'll let you look at my Camaro, It makes a little noise sometimes, But I know absolutely nothing about cars. A guy told me it was probably just a bad air filter....I even have one in the trunk I'll throw in"
Buyer Beware.
I've known a lot of folks in different hobbies over the years that say they buy, fix, and sell things and make a lot of money....Or that it totally supports their hobby, But unfortunately its not easy and although everyone can list one deal they killed on if they listed all the deals they did it is more than likely a dollar a hour average or in the red. Most the time people wont admit shipping, fuel cost to pick it up across town off CL, fuel cost to go get the parts, you had to buy two tubes of grease for $10 to do the job, but you only had to use 1/2 of one so you only have $2.50 in it right? You had to go buy AA batteries to test the TX and you figured you're making $20 on the sale so why not just give them to the buyer? Sometimes you have to try to shoot your own idea down so you can see all the faults or positives.
I build full size auto transmissions for a living and have had lots of cars GIVEN to me for free or bought a nice car with a bad trans for $100. It would seem like you could make a killing, but unfortunately its a hard row to hoe even when it seems like a free car worth $2500 that only needs $300 in parts.
If you enjoy it and/or it feels like it helps your hobby survive give it a try....I truly hope you make some cash. But stop every once in a while and try to include every expense you can think of and how much time you sink into it and you might find you'd be better off mowing a yard to pocket a $20 every week or so. Todd