I find busting scammers with a pre-emptive negative to be a usefull way to make Ebay more safe for the "good guys".

I listed an electric wheelchair with a "buy it now" price of $595 and the "best offer" feature was included. Difficulties in packaging made the sale offered on a local pickup basis only with no shipping options.

To my suprise the "buy it now" button was pushed. Why would a buyer do that without first making an offer on a negotiable item? I became really concerned when I saw the buyer was 7,000 miles away on a local pickup item. Flags began flying when I saw the user id had only been current for hours..a sign of a hi-jacked account. The buyer had been registered for years, but the account inactive for over a year. I went to the site map to look at current bids of the buyer. In the last few hours he had won 93 auctions for over $50,000!

I was sure the buyer to be a scammer. Scammers feel they have days or weeks to operate before being exposed. I chose to not give that option. I gave an immediate negative. Within minutes other sellers took my lead and a dozen negatives shut down the scammer. A dozen sellers wrote asking how I could be so hard as to not allow the buyer an opportunity to perform. A few days later Ebay sent notice that the sale was void by reason of a hi-jacked account. Dozens of his potential victims..including those who had challenged me..wrote to offer their thanks.

My negative was neither inappropriate or accusing. It was just the facts. It stated a new user id had won 93 auction for $50K in hours and I chose not to play. Ebay and law enforcemnet are reactive and usually the scammer is long gone before they react. I feel a pre-emptive strike is useful when you are sure you are dealing with a scammer.