fIND AN ITEM THAT HAS AN AWESOME PRICE? TO GOOD TO BE TRUE???????? It prob is, Ive seen several where unknown to the seller( their account had been boosted and a fraudulant listing was created) with invitations to goto "MY PERSONAL EMAIL LINK" OR SOME SUCH...

On one I immediately checked the feedback of the seller, looked ok....Then I checked what they had sold by clicking the item listings......WHOA all the items were relatively small ticket, 20-45$......I emailed the seller about my suspitions via the ask seller button,NOT THE EMAIL IN THE LISTING, and sure enough she had been burgled. I actually talked to her on the phone, and as a nice power seller, instructed her on properly protecting her account.  All was well

On another I checked the feedback, all looked ok, all high ticket simular items 1000$ electronics, THEN I noticed a correlation between some of the "BUYERS" there were repeats, several....I then checked THEIR FEEDBACKS....AND FOUND ALL THE OTHER BUYERS AND SELLERS.........I THEN CHECKED THE MEMBER SINCE DATE...........ALL 10 ACCOUNTS WERE CREATED THE VERY SAME DAY!!!!!!!! I reported what I found to ebay and all accounts were closed.....

These were from China, big surprise.....

I also warned off a couple of bidders that were bidding on the auctions, they were very gratefull, low feedback Ebay newcomers........

To sum up, do not stop your checkout of a seller at the feedback, go deeper, look into the feedback of those that left feedback, and look into theirs. If you start to see patterns, something is amuk, report it and let Ebay deal with it, sometimes its shill bidders, remember repeat patronage is out there, I have it, but look carefully at all patterns. If there is no malfeasance then Ebay will identify it as such, if there is they will shut em down.

Also , if its a high dollar item and its a new seller, offer to cover the COD fees at the post office or cover escrow fees, if they flat turn you down, take your cash elsewhere. You'll find your deal again later.

Hope this was helpfull

Michael, jackmanmachineandtool , Power Seller Gold.