Greetings all!

I pride myself on having become an experienced, long-term eBay BUYER.

The following is a bit of advice which may help all BUYERS in their eBay endeavors.

Whenever possible, try to buy only from SELLERS with between 75 & 5000 Feedbacks and having above a 99.0 percentage Feedback rating. 

Reason:

In the rare event you experience a  'severe'  problem with a SELLER who may be unwilling, for whatever reason, to accommodate you as a BUYER and solve the issue in YOUR BEST INTEREST EQUITABLY;  as the BUYER,  you can and should, as a LAST RESORT, consider adversely affecting the Seller's reputation by posting Negative Feedback. 

This action should be done with care and only after ALL remedies have been sought.  When responsibly used, this important decision will aid the entire Buying community.

"""I REPEAT: THIS DECISION SHOULD ONLY BE USED AS A LAST RESORT ."""

However, given eBay's new rules governing Feedback and the inability for a SELLER to post retaliatory Feedback against an honest BUYER , this may work in the BUYER's favor, in the form of leverage. 

Once your money has passed into the hands of the Seller, the Buyer has few choices, all of which involve a protracted, drawn-out dispute process.  This is the unspoken fact which all unscrupulous Sellers know and often use to their sole advantage.

Also, throughout ANY dispute and/or mis-communication with a SELLER, it is critical that you use the eBay messaging system only and not private emails.  This will creat a record and allow eBay to investigate on their own if necessary.

Please to be as courteous as possible under the individual circumstances.  Remember the old line:  'Good things come to those who wait!'  (However, YOU as the BUYER should determine the waiting time).

Thank you for taking time to read this post and I wish you a wonderful eBay experience!