My breeder advertises purely by word of mouth. Her dogs are multiple BISS, Group, and Westminster BOB/BOS winners. She's currently the top Shiba breeder in the country, and one of the founders of the breed in the US. She doesn't NEED to advertise. Waiting lists for her puppies are generally several *years* long.
I would steer as far away as possible from any "breeder" that advertised on a site like petfinder. Personal websites don't bother me as much, but I want to see working animals with titles, references, and health checks. Furthermore, I would never buy a dog from a person I hadn't met in person. I want to meet the dogs, see the facilities, etc.
As a future breeder I feel it is my DUTY to be mistrustful of people. When you are sending your babies to new homes is NOT the time to have a sunshine, rainbows, candy canes and lollipops view of the world. There are vile and cunning people out there who know *just* what to say to separate you from a puppy, who have absolutely no intention in loving that animal as a family member, and every intention of reselling the dog to research facilities, BYBs, or petshops.
Maybe it's sad to you, but I would much rather be looking for the bad in people to prevent such a situation, rather than blindly trust people I've never met in my life. (E-mail conversations do not count). Point blank- I will never sell to anyone I haven't met face to face.
I've worked with enough rescues, talked to enough devestated breeders to realize that this is part of being a responsible breeder.