After reading my guide, please answer whether it is helpful or not at the bottom of the page.  Thanks!!!

NOTE:  If you try to contact me with questions or help, please include your email or I will probably be unable to respond.  Ebay has been blocking me from replying since I have no open transactions with the people asking questions.  Thanks.

If you do a search for a 5th generation IPod you will get hundreds or even thousands of results.  The problem is the majority of them are actually a scam.  Since the IPod is the most popular tech item and is fairly high priced, scammers list hundreds of IPod scams on Ebay every day.  I found this out when searching for my own IPod to buy and I gave up and went to the store.  Here are my eleven ten tips to finding an IPod that is legitimate.  Sometimes you may eliminate a legitimate auction but it is better to be safe than sorry.

1. Don't buy from international sellers.  The majority of scams are based in other countries especially China.  IPods are popular items both in the US and internationally so the sellers usually have no reason to try to export the item.

2. Be wary of the special edition U2 IPods.  Many of the scammers use the U2 IPod to catch peoples attention.  The U2 IPods were just released this summer(and cost $30 extra to buy new) so there aren't a huge amount of them in circulation.

3. Research the refurbished items.  An IPod that has been refurbished officially by Apple will have no scratches, it will have all original boxes and materials, can not be engraved or have an engraving, and otherwise it will be indistinguishable from an original IPod.  Also, I do not believe Apple sells any officially refurbished U2 IPods yet.  So if you see an auction saying this, its probably not refurbished by Apple.

4. Watch for pyramid schemes.  If you see an auction that says they aren't actually selling any merchandise or anything else suspicious don't bid.  You must read the descriptions to check for stuff like this.

5. Check the calculated shipping.  When a seller sets up the calculated shipping they can add handling fees of any amount they choose.  If you don't calculate it, you may end up with a $100 shipping fee when you thought it was going to be the actual shipping cost.

6. Don't buy if it has unusually high shipping or really low Buy It Now prices.  If you see an IPod with a higher shipping cost than a bidding price, it is almost always going to be a scam.

7.  Don't buy from a seller with private feedback or a seller whose account is less than a year old.  I would never consider a seller that doesn't want to show their feedback.  Also, the 'disposable' accounts that are used for most of the scamming are generally created recently.  Dont think you are safe just because they have been around though.

8.  Check the sellers feedback thoroughly.  Many of the scammers will have 10 feedback points exactly and if you look at the auctions they were involved in, they were fake auctions.  Sometimes all 10 auctions were completed within a minute of each other and the item descriptions are blank.

9.  Check for an absurd number of IPods for sale by the same seller listed at the same time.  To catch people off guard they will usually list a high number of auctions at once so they can scam people before they get shut down.  A true seller would rarely list several auctions for the same item to end at the same time. 

10. Be watchful for as-is/defective items.  There are some legitimate sellers that sell as-is/defective items and make it clear that it is defective and just sell for parts.  Other sellers try to hide it and state in the small print that it is defective.

11. And finally, I would recommend just going to the store and paying the extra money unless you are confident in your seller.  Taking the chance just isn't worth it with the number of scams there are right now.

After reading my guide, please answer whether it is helpful or not at the bottom of the page.  Thanks!!!