eBay would not be where it is today if it were a relatively unsafe place to conduct business. When you hear about fraudulent activities, they're almost exclusively found off eBay from unscrupulous sellers who used email and phony web sites to conduct their illegal activity.

   You don't have to be a computer expert to protect yourself. Protection while online is easy. Here are 5 simple steps you can take now to guard your eBay activities:

1. Download and install eBay’s free toolbar located at http://pages.ebay.com/ebay_toolbar/ The toolbar monitors your Web surfing and ensures that you’re not sent to a phony eBay or PayPal site from an email that might appear to be legitimately from eBay or PayPal but is not. With the eBay toolbar installed, you won’t inadvertently be sent to a phony eBay site where someone can get your password.
   
2. Install a firewall and anti-spyware program and an anti-virus program. If that seems daunting, it can be but they generally work well and install easily. The best bet is to get all from the same company. For example, Symantec offers all those safety tools in several software packages. You only need to pay one company a subscription fee and updates are often easier than if you go with separate vendors. The drawback to a single company is that there isn’t a single company, including Symantec, that does all extremely well yet. Some excel at one or the other. For example, the ZoneAlarm firewall is stronger than Symantec’s but Symantec offers a superior anti-virus.
   
3. Update your operating system by downloading updates as they are available. For Windows-based operating systems (perhaps others), you can set these updates to install automatically.
   
4. Ignore all emails from eBay or PayPal that don’t address you by your name. Also, neither eBay nor PayPal nor any official email such as from a banking institution will ever ask for your name or password. They already know that information.
   
5. If you sell a high-priced item, only accept a PayPal payment from a confirmed mailing address and make sure that’s the address you mail to. Otherwise, if the buyer turns out to be fraudulent PayPal won’t refund your money. (They might not anyway but such a situation is rare as long as you followed PayPal’s policies.) If you accept checks or money orders, hold the item until either the check or money order clears before you send the item to the buyer. 

   Don't wait to protect yourself. Starting really is as simple as following these 5 steps.

   I write a lot about computers and eBay. In addition, one of my primary strengths is teaching how to implement simple Direct Marketing techniques that maximize your eBay sales. Yet, what good are eBay sales if you are not working inside a secure environment?