There are 2 things eBay sellers should always do, routinely, in their practices as an eBay seller in order to protect themselves from rampant fraud. One will protect you from the jerks who want to scam you for both the item and the money involved and the other will protect you from phishers who want your valuable personal information.

Failure to make these 2 pratices routine will definitely catch you up eventually, because these evil demonic replicas of humanity never give up. It's such a game for them and you should find great satisfaction in foiling them at every attempt. If you often feel frustrated by eBay's corporate attitudes and overwhelming greed, feel even more threatened by phishers. They are the virtual equivalent of home invaders and burglars and what I'm telling you is the equivalent of handing you the best possible virtual guns and alarms to protect your virtual home.

I am NOT an employee of eBay. In fact, I am often at odds with them and am not a big fan of any huge corporation, so don't view my advice as pro eBay in any way. I'm alerting you to your best means for protecting yourself and you should do these 2 things so routinely, that you don't even have to stop and think about it.

• With every shipment you send out for any item you sell - always pay for a Delivery Confirmation. Don't even offer it as an option to the buyer. Just include the cost with your shipping fee along with the cost of shipping materials and make it an essential part of shipping every single item. If you insist on mentioning it, promote it as a safeguard for the buyer - they usually appreciate it. DCs are CHEAP. I don't know what the post office is charging for it these days and I'm not going to bother looking it up for you, because this is a resource you should be using so go look into it (after reading my illuminating review here). I will tell you this - it's only going to cost you 14 CENTS for every delivery confirmation if you pay for shipping through PayPal (for your sold items that were paid through PP) and if you use an electronic service to pre-pay shipping (Stamps.com, Indicia, Pitney Bowes, etc.) it will only be 14 CENTS per confirmation. This covers you when some numskull thinks they can file a complaint that they never received the item they paid for. You'll have a tracking number and that will be the documentation requested when YOU contact eBay or PayPal to defend yourself. It also gives you an impressive answer when they email to ask why their item hasn't arrived. Forward the tracking number if you haven't already along with the link to the tracking page at USPS. Familiarize yourself  with this procedure. If you sell much on eBay, you will need it.  This is so essential, I don't know why anyone would neglect to include a DC unless they are uninformed and unaware or rediculously cheap. So, now consider yourself informed and aware and DO IT.
  

• NEVER, NEVER, Never  communicate by email with anyone who emails you privately outside your MyEbay Messages. Get used to using the Messages area on a daily basis because it's there to protect you. It's not there so eBay can spy on you or read your email. Don't give eBay that much credit for being that sophisticated, having that much time to waste, or caring that much about what YOU are up to. Messages is your only safeguard against phishers and I see this proven daily, often several times a day when I get phishing emails in my email. These evil little phishers just never give up and they come up with one "clever" attempt after another to make you panic or flatter you into hitting the link on their email. DON'T do it. If you have any question, go directly to Messages in your My eBay to see if there's an identical message. eBay may send one to your email, but it's not safe to answer them directly anymore now that the phishers are using that scam. If the email really came from eBay or a potential buyer or even a current or past buyer - it should be in your Messages. In the event that a legitimate buyer contacts me directly, and they do, I don't answer until I confirm that this is my buyer and if I'm suspicious I answer them through Messages or through a link in my Sold listings. I'm nearly always suspicious or err on the side of safety. Checking Messages in both my eBay stores is a routine chore every day while checking email and sales reports.
  

Remember that if eBay wants you to know anything, they'll send duplicate emails through your Messages area. Sure, I know that you probably think Messages is just their way of trying to keep you from making "illegal" sales outside the system and maybe that's part of it, BUT, it's more useful as a way to protect you from OUT-OF-CONTROL fraudulent email scams.

If you haven't been utilizing My eBay, it's time to start. You won't be contacted for sensitive information in any other way, so always verify that anything having to do with eBay, including your own buyers, is in your Messages and make it a habit to correspond there. It's your only portal to safe communication. I will admit that I prefer to take a buyer's email address and send email through my private email, because the Message form is limited to length and you can't use some characters, but then it's up to the receiver to be cautious when they receive MY email.

Finally, when you receive anything that can't be verified in Messages - forward it to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com, depending on which the phisher claims to be. I don't know what they do with all the stuff I forward, if anything, but it gives me a shred of satisfaction to be turning the little creeps in over and over and over again. At least it's something.