As a long time collector and vendor of Jigsaw Puzzles on ebay, there are a lot of pitfalls you need to watch out for here but with a few helpful hints you should end up with a positive buying experience.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when shopping for Jigsaw Puzzles on Ebay:

1) Where possible try and buy the puzzles new, as this will decrease the likely hood of missing pieces or damaged goods. If you must buy a used puzzle, make sure the seller guarantees that there are no missing pieces and clearly describes the items condition.

2) Always research the sellers feeback rating and look for one as close to 100% positive as possible

3) See if sellers offer discounts on multi-order shippments and if so buy in bulk... this will save you lots of money

4) Try and stick with buying quality puzzles from manufacturers like Ravensburger, Buffalo Games, Master Pieces, Wrebbit and American Puzzles. The quality on these puzzles is usually guarenteed by these manufacturers. There are a lot of import puzzles available on ebay from Hong Kong and other parts of Asia where the quality is sub standard.

5) Pay with PayPal instead of money orders or checks. PayPal offer buyer protection levels that these forms of payments do not! If you pay with a money order all the seller has to do is say he/she never received it and you have no proof that a payment was made. With PayPal you provide clear proof of payment.

6) If the seller offers insurance, spend the extra $1.35 as this will guarentee you won't be left out in the cold if ever a package goes missing.

7) If you are unsure of anything, ask the seller a question! It is better to get all of the answers you need to make an informed purchase decision rather than perhaps being disappointed later. If the seller doesn't answer your questions move on to another seller!

8) Always look at both the listing price and the shipping price to determine the actual cost. Beware of the sellers that offer a lower than average listing price only to surprise you with an extremely high back end shipping cost.

9) Shop for common puzzles at retail stores like Wal Mart and Target as they will have the best prices and reserve ebay as a buying marketplace for rare and hard to find puzzles (Wal Mart and Taget carry puzzles but not a big selection).