Legit breeder?

Need some help. I am looking to purchase a Samoyed and i have been looking everywhere. I came across an ad in kijiji, the seller lists puppies for $500 each. I was quite surprised as they usually cost $800-$1000+.

I emailed the lister and he says he is a breeder but i cannot find any info on him. Can you guys pls give me soem advice. Should i take the drive down to see the puppy / owner? he is 4 hours away.

Here is his reply from an e-mail....

Thank you for the very quick reply. Unfortunately I do not have any
>> more males from the litter. mother Nature was rather perverse this
>> year. Usually i have lots of males and everyone want a female. Now
>> its VV. I am a breeder registered with the CKC. My kennel name is
>> Windyniche Samoyeds. I have not planned any more litters for 2010. If
>> you want to connect with me in the New Year I will be pleased to talk
>> then. My email is [email protected]. I'm sorry I cant help this year XXX XXXX.

Ask more questions.. such as:

Are the parents health tested?
What was the goal of the breeding?
What titles do the parents have?
How long has the breeder been breeding and can you have some referrals?
What kind of health contract comes with the puppy?
etc etc.

or just ask if CKC stands for Canadian Kennel Club. if they say yes go on w/ Dekka's questions.
if they say no it stands for Continental Kennel Club then accept you're dealing w/ a BYB whose dogs were unpapered or mixed somewhere along the way (possibly the "breeder" they got their dog from) and they had to register w/ one of the puppymill/byb loving junk registries.

I would rather pay more for a good health background .

personally im more interested in health testing than reg...

so you want to follow up on what health testing was done on the parents.

To add to Foxy's answer she is referring to genetic testing of the breeding pair before the breeding took place at some point in their lives.

If you were to ask them if they were health tested before the breeding the breeder could just turn around and say they were checked at the vets which means nothing unless genetic testing was done. If the breeder says they were genetically tested then ask to see the paperwork. At that point who ever did the genetic test call them to verify the papers are legit.

At this point I do not think that it will go past a phone call as it sounds like a BYB.