So the other day my mother won something that looked absolutely fabulous and primitive. She won the auction for over $400, paid for overnight because she was sooooo excited and couldn't wait to see it.....and then it came in the mail.

In a poorly packed box, in different paper bags, and one dufflebag, was the item. Slowly we unwrapped the different paper bags sealed with saran wrap and placed the objects on the table. My mother wasn't saying anything and neither was I. We put all the pieces together and just looked at the item.

"It's not antique, those are rivets.", I said to my mother. "No, it's not antique, is it?", my mother replied.

It most definitely was not an antique, primitive, or anything other word to describe something that is old. It was a silvery metal mass of something relatively new. What's more, is that it was dented. Dented where the rivets had been put in, dented on the concaved back metal piece. Dented. Not antique, not primitive, and dented.

So my mother went over to the auction listing and looked to see if there was a return policy, surely if there was she'd return it and all would be fine. There it was, in plain view that the seller accepts returns. Yippee! My mother was happy, all was going to be ok. So we carefully packed repacked all the items, sent an email to the seller and let her know it would be returned today via 2 day air. Everything should have been fine, right?

It wasn't. Five frantic, rambling, almost berserk emails later from the seller, and things aren't fine.

The moral of this guide is this, check feedback, check it, check it, check it. Check it again for all the negatives and the neutrals, this way you can find the true personality of certain sellers. "Damaged during shipping" repeatedly plagued the screen for this seller. "Poor packaging material". "Crazy emails, rambling and nonsense". "Misrepresented item". Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Another note, photographs can also be very misleading with poor light. Please take a look at the following two pictures of the same item:

Big difference in the look of the metal, and note the dent on the true representation of the item on it's right side. Note how the side doesn't continue a curve, it comes in slightly. Dent.

So please, check feedback and think about whether you really want to take the chance on an expensive item, or even an inexpensive item. Look at the positive feedback and the negative and the neutral and decide if you really want to be the one that ends up having to leave that negative, positive, or neutral. But also, check the comments against the auction if it's still showing. Because a lot of the time you can figure out whether bad feedback was left unwarranted or not.

Remember, ebay can be a fun and exciting place to sell and buy if everyone would take the time to read everything thoroughly!