reply to u/dragonfenixbird at https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1vuht9b/about_to_buy_my_first_ibm_selectric_supposedly/

Honestly, unless you're in the game to spend months/years learning IBM repair and maintenance, the single best thing you can do for yourself is to buy a refurbished machine from a repair shop.

Chances are almost 100% that your machine will require some level of servicing and in addition to the $30 you'll have lost you'll end up paying as much or more to have it serviced than you might have done just buying refurbished from the start, especially if you just want to start typing.

Save yourself a lot of time, effort, and heartache and just buy one that you know works: https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-repair.html