As good as ebay's safe dept is there still seems to be quite a few scams running on ebay and are not always caught in time to save buyers from being scammed.  Please do yourself and friends a favor and thoroughly read the following.  I only caught onto these scams myself when a friend asked me to check out a laptop he was bidding on and it turned out to be a hijacked account, nearly costing him $700 and his passwords.  If you find it helpful feel free to rate it so others may benefit.  I also have a guide in eBay motors which discusses other types of scams currently in use.

There are a number of ones that are fairly easy to spot.  These are usually accounts that have been stolen.  One or more of the following may apply in signs of a hijacked account:

• The item is usually listed in the wrong category, always check it. Scammers try and throw security off their track by doing this, and it also takes less time to list in a general category.
•  Second, they make up some lame excuse that they can't receive emails through ebay's 'ask seller a question' and that's because it goes to the real seller, not the person who has hijacked their account.  Only ever use the 'ask seller a question' at top of page.
• the entire listing is a hyperlink to their email address
• they mention a 'buy it now' but there is no such option listed, unless you email them. 
• their email address is almost always in big letters and printed up to 3 times on the page!  It may also be shown as a JPEG file to make it harder for them to be found. They may also 'hide' it in their own 'ask seller a question' or 'contact me here' which can take you into a phishing scam where they'll get your personal info.  Their email address usually do not match the seller i.d. in anyway.  It's almost always a 'throw away' google or yahoo address.
• bidder's I.D's are almost always kept private, so other's may not warn their potential victims.  This also encourages you to contact them to be put on the bidding list,  and this is when they'll send you all sorts of fake ebay pages to get your password etc.
• Item location and seller location often differs, and if you do email the person they will say they are overseas right now and will eventually ask you to wire them funds in Romania, Italy, Spain, Hungary, or China, etc.  Never wire funds. 
• scammers will change their email address, their name and usually not recall what item they are selling you. They have hundreds of scams listed at once. Most of the scams currently running are tied to overseas mobsters.
• check 'items for sale' and you'll likely see up to 70 or more items all with low starting prices, usually free shipping,  and no actual 'buy it now' and all listed within minutes of each other. 
• fraudulent auctions are mainly 24hrs but sometimes up to 3 or 7 days.  (24 hr auctions should really be removed altogether).
• obvious multiple typos?  English is not their first language.
• a really hot item with low starting price, no reserve, and seller asking you to contact them before you bid, or they'll cancel your bid and leave you negative feedback?  Is no one else bidding on it?   .....Scam

The new sneakier scams change the page after clicking on an item.  So, let's say your looking at a Corvette in ebay motors, you click on the link, and for a second you see the real page, then it flickers as it changes websites and appears to be the same page but if you look up in the address bar you'll see that you are no longer in ebay motors.  This is still a stolen account, but the industrious scammer has now brought you into his own phishing scam, and anything you click on on that page will either send you to his email, or it will take your ebay sign-in info and soon you will be hosting some hot items that you didn't even know you had!

multiple new expensive items listed with low starting prices and no reserves?  Too good to be true?  It is.

If you want to see what a running scam looks like so you may guard yourself against them and hopefully warn others, try the following for an exercise;

1. On almost any given day type in the following key word searches into ebay's home page;  Kubota, Dell XPS, or Aibo.  These are only a few of the common scam auctions running.  Ebay motors has hundreds as well but you can check that info in my other review. 
2. Now, after typing one in, check the left hand column for categories. 
3. If you find for instance, Kubota, listed in womens clothing, click on that one. 
4. You'll likely see (if ebay hasn't shut it down) a bunch of items with the exact same low starting price, no reserves, and all listed in the wrong category, or a wrong second category.
5. The seller is usually legit, but has fallen victim to a phishing scam where they took his/her password. Sometimes if you view sellers items you'll either see a bunch of hot items or a mix of actual seller items and other  hot false items.  In either case you'll recognize it quickly as a scam.  
6. The best thing to do is to go through ebays Security center and under the proper category you can report it as a stolen account. 

Never, ever wire someone funds, and never give out your information, eBay does not ask for this.  Always check in the address bar to see if it's actually ebay that you are signing into and not some made up site.  If you find this sort of activity report it.  Good luck...