Greetings;

      After "winning" several items which were listed by Sellers on ebay as being "Original" and "Authentic", I realized the hard way that some - a small percentage - of "Power Sellers" and "99% Positive Feedback" Sellers are not necessarily honest in their description or photos of items they list.

   What motivates Sellers such as these? Of course, it's the Money, the Profits. The Cash. Their PayPal Account getting larger from your purchase of their item which you (eventually) realize was actually misrepresented.

    Well, there are some methods that will minimize your chances of being "taken" that have worked for many long-time collectors, which may be worthwhile to newer collectors.

   One of the best ways to avoid a bad purchase is to "buddy-up" with someone on the Internet or locally who is an accomplished and knowledgeable person in his or her field, Ask them to give their opinion as best they can on something you're considering bidding on. This can save you a lot of disappointment in the future. Even skilled collectors will compare with others knowledgeable in their field, to be as certain as they can be about a collectible's originality and authenticity.

   Learn as much as you can about what you're considering before you bid. The Internet's search capabilities have prevented me from making mistakes many times,  because I found out the truth about something on ebay before I (recklessly) bid!

   I don't think that a seller's feedback rating, "Power-Seller" status, or anything else is a SURE guarantee about something they are offering...I recently wrote someone with a very high ebay "status", and they responded to my question as if I was someone who had threatened them by my "daring" to ask a simple question about the authenticity of what they had listed, and which I was interested in. I later found that I could prove it was a reproduction, by virtue of finding the same one with the same photgraph they used; from a Business website dealing in reproduction militaria. This seller's still on ebay, selling reproduction World War Two U.S. Miltaria as "original" (by listing them under "Original Period Items") and still using photographs "borrowed" from another legitimate business's website. There are several others on ebay who do the same thing, and have no problem with it! I have a problem with it, and that's why I'm writing this guide.

  Watch out for phrases that are designed to "excite" you, like "RARE!" and "WOW" in a listing's Title. That means little and is to me a "Code word" employed to catch your emotions instead of your common sense; just like a Movie Trailer or a loud car commercial tries to.        

  If you can't see a good picture in someone's listing, either ask that they send you one or move away from the listing. In my experience, a picture says a Thousand Words about something.....and a poor, or blurred-dark picture says to me that the seller is saying "I don't want you to really see the details of this thing very clearly...you might not want to buy it!"

  It all comes down to using the same common sense that most would use in the "real" world; but more caution is needed in the "Internet" world.

     Thanks and best of luck. Be careful out there; it's an ebay world, also.

                                         danww2    Daniel S.