If you are new to buying and/or haven't been ripped off there are a few tidbits of info that may make your buying experience safer and more enjoyable.

Let the buyer beware.  Sage advice that must be heeded when buying anywhere online.  But beware of what?

There are some subtle and some not-so-subtle tipoffs that a seller is playing fast and loose with the concept of honesty and fairness in their dealings.  Let's first deal with the basics.

Feedback, feedback, feedback - this one is so basic I hate to even include it.  But the reality is many buyers don't know what to look for in feedback.  If you just look at the % positive feedback and maybe flip thru a page or two of the feedback messages, you are misleading yourself.  A very common trick is to handle a high volume of break-even trinkets imported from China making a few dollars on shipping on each transaction just to keep the Pos feedback numbers up.  The real rip-off is on the higher dollar scams, usually misleading adertising to make you think you are getting a familiar item which ends up being a cheap copy.  The seller usually gets away with it because there is no mention of the brand in the ad.  Usually you will see a phrase like -as seen on TV selling for$$$- or -retails for$$$- to try to convince you that the item has a certain value.  In reality the cheap copies are nearly worthless and most buyers will not put forth the effort to chase down their money. 

So what to look for-    TIP #1 look how many ratings were mutually withdrawn.  This is listed at the top of the list of feedback messages.  If you see more than a few - BIG RED FLAG !!!  These were very negative feedbacks that the seller did not want on their ratings.  I will never again buy from any vendor who has more than a few withdrawn feedbacks.  And for your future reference - never withdraw a neg feedback until the seller has completed a refund or other satisfactory correction.  A very common trick is for the seller to contact you and tell you that you MUST remove neg feedback before your refund can be processed.  Once it is gone you can't put it back, and you will probably never see your refund either.  Now you got suckered twice!

TIP#2  Power Seller does not equal Honest Seller - Ebay is totally swamped in trying to police the tens of thousands of different seller accounts.  Don't mistake the power seller status for anything except a volume statistic.

TIP#3 Look at all of the items that the seller has offered.  Is it a guy selling his waterskies and welder to make room in his garage or a high volume seller peddling stuff that looks like it all comes from a Kmart bargain bin.

TIP#4  Shipping costs - for the seller who deals in bargain bin crapola, this is where the money is.  Check your total cost carefully and remember if you don't like what you get you may have to ship it back for a refund.  You get suckered twice on shipping worthless trinkets.

TIP#5  PRIVATE AUCTIONS - bidders ID are not visible.  This you can see on the listing or on the feedback pages.  Private auctions are a valuable tool for unique and/or high-value items.  If the bidders IDs are kept private for items under $500 and for items that are available in larger numbers - ANOTHER RED FLAG !  Stay away from that seller.  They are trying to avoid other ebayers from contacting their victims about repeat scams and cheap merchandise.

TIP#6  Ignore -Square Trade- and other so-called badges of virtue.  They offer nothing except a false sense of security.

TIP#7  Protected by PayPal - think again.  The cost of protection is high and the results are subject to a lengthy and ridgid proceedure.  Even a slam-dunk case of fraud may fall flat if you cant prove it by their ill-defined guidelines.  You will most likely be out your shipping costs as well.

TIP#8 Other payment methods.  PayPal only - is sometimes a sign of a well tuned scammer skirting the edge between misleading and fraudulent advertising.  You have a better chance of recovery if you use a good credit card and you don't have a bad habit of contesting lots of charges.

TIP#9 Record your phone conversations - if it is legal where you live - and save all email correspondence.  If a deal goes bad you will be glad.  I had threats to myself and family that I would have proof of if I had been given this advice 3 months ago.

TIP#10 Use all of the tools that you have if you end up on the bad end of a deal.  Email, complaints, claims with Ebay and PayPal, police reports, internet crime report, even Ebay Guides on avoiding fraud!

Check out all of my guides, there are some other useful tips there too.

And please vote below, the more people who click yes below the higher up on the list of guides it will be - and more people will be aware of these scams.  I would like to put a BIG dent in the amount of cash these thieves are stealing from their victims.  Besides, it only takes a click and will let me know if it was worth my time to write this.

Thanks