Who should not bother
Every site in this space has a disclaimer nobody reads. This is the argument instead, and it is meant seriously.
If you will not do the setup
The load bearing steps produce nothing visible at the time you do them. Pinning a fingerprint shows you no result. Checking a signature on arrival changes nothing on a normal day. Somebody unwilling to spend an hour on parts with no visible payoff will skip them later when it is inconvenient, and later is exactly when they matter. This is the single strongest predictor of a bad outcome and it is a decision you make before you start.
If you are in a hurry
Nothing here rewards speed and most of what goes wrong happens to people compressing a week into an afternoon. Urgency is also the lever every manipulation on this subject pulls, which means a reader who is already rushing is pre-loaded for exactly the attacks that work. If there is a reason you need this to work today, that reason is working against you.
If the money matters
There is no chargeback, no regulator and no support line. Escrow makes the common cases survivable and does nothing about the uncommon ones. Any amount you are relying on is the wrong amount.
If somebody else is pushing you
Somebody offering to set this up for you, walk you through it, or handle the money part is taking on exposure that ends up in a strange place, and a reader being guided is a reader who will not build the habits themselves. If you are here because of somebody else rather than your own decision, the useful page is helping somebody else, and it should be them reading it.
If you cannot control the machine
A shared computer, a managed work device, or anything you do not fully control undermines every protection described on this site. Verification runs locally, so a machine that can be made to lie about the result makes the whole exercise theatre. This is one of the few genuinely hard blockers, and no amount of care elsewhere compensates.
If you expect it to be like ordinary shopping
It is slower, plainer and more manual than people expect, and the parts that feel like friction are mostly load bearing. Waiting is normal. Being unable to reach anyone is normal. An interface that looks a decade old is normal and often deliberate.
Readers who expect a smooth experience tend to interpret every rough edge as something being wrong, and then act on that interpretation, usually by hurrying. The rough edges are the design.
If none of these apply
Then this page has done its job and the first time path is the right starting point. Being talked out of something you would have done badly is a better outcome than a guide that assumed you were already committed.