Well, I'm up in Aberdeen, 3 hours away from the nearest "big" shops, and even then sometimes they can suck. So I know exactly where you're coming from, including the overinflated local second hand market (which only seems to be overinflated when I'm buying stuff, never when I'm selling).
All I can tell you is that I have rolled the dice many times - out of the 58 basses I have owned, the vast majority of them have been bought unseen, at distance, from a variety of vendors, both shops and individuals. I've never returned a bass just because I didn't quite like it, only ever because it was faulty in some way (which is different). What I tend to do is keep a hold of a bass for a while then sell it on. Any losses I write off as "bass rent".
You do you, but I have no qualms about buying anything at distance, because where I live, I don't have many palatable other choices. Order with confidence, you'll be (mostly) fine. If you're looking for cast iron guarantees that everything's going to go great, you'll never buy anything!