I professionally sell Apple iPods and other electronics on eBay, but I have also purchased a ton of them too.  Here's a few tricks to keep in mind so you don't get taken by some scumbag seller.  Pardon me, but I'm a little sour from my own experience with these chumps.

Check Feedback... (of course)

Watch out for fake feedback.  Sometimes, (especially from countries in Asia) a seller will pad their own feedback on a new account by using a bunch of other new bogus accounts to provide feedback to each other for transactions that were never real.  A simple way to avoid this bad guy is to look at the feedback and click on the item numbers to see what the person actually bought or sold.  Most of the time it will be items sold for only a few cents - a perfect sign of setting up legitimate buyers for a scam.  These sellers are more than willing to sacrifice their bogus account for your money. 

Check to make sure the seller you're dealing with has a 98% or better positive rating with at least a few ratings from BUYERS.  Hopefully there's a few buyer ratings in there, seller ratings don't count much since you are now buying.  If there's not much buyer feedback, consider that when bidding.  Read some of the feedback comments, you'd be surprised at how accurate they are when determining what to expect from a seller.

What's your payment method?

PayPal, credit cards and money orders are the safest way for you to buy on eBay.  When you use these methods, there is a traceable way to see that the buyer got his money.  You'll need that if you end up filing a claim with eBay. Don't use payment types not supported by eBay, because you'll have no recourse if things go wrong.  eBay's hanging us on a string with that rule, I would sure like to be able to use that new payment method from that big, reliable company that starts with a 'G', but oh well.

BE WARY of any seller who doesn't accept certain payment methods.  Just check to make sure these sellers have tons of positive feedback specifically from Buyers before deciding to bid.

Know your protection level

If you buy anything from eBay using accepted methods, you are protected up to $200 for items not delivered or not as described. Take $25 off of that for some crazy fee they feel like charging you every time (no matter what) and you can get back up to $175.  If your item was $50 you'll only get back $25.

If you use PayPal, they may allow up to $2000 of protection depending on the type of seller and the item.  If you see 'Free PayPal Buyer Protection' on a listing, there's a pretty good chance you'll never have a problem because PayPal does not like parting with their money, and they won't support sellers who pose a risk to them.

Read the description fully

Just like lawyers, unscrupulous sellers like to bury the real story in small, hard-to-find print somewhere on the page where you won't be looking.  That way, when you think you've just made a great bid on a new iPod, you've actually just bid on a GUIDE to getting an iPod - or maybe a broken one.  Just be careful, there is some of this type of stuff out there.

Good luck, keep your eyes peeled-

Jake

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