I hate this but i am almost afraid to buy anything anymore. The fraud is to epidemic levels.  Last year I just had to worry when they wanted me to ship it to a different address than that which was confirmed by paypal. Now, there is almost no way to tell except by looking at many details of the seller or buyers information. I have had a rash of sellers who I think are hijacking dormant accounts.

At first glance, I check the feedback and the date they signed up. If someone has 10 or more positive feebacks and had been a member for at least three months, i would think ok. i was there at one time. But now, I can look at that date and the feedback and it is not enough. Check when they last made a trade. check when they last got feedback. if they havent had feedback in 12 mos and they are suddenly selling LOT OF 5 IPHONES, UNLOCKED, i want to know where did this sudden urge to trade and trade big dollars come from? ask and they obviously won't tell u but you have to protect yourself.

I used to get solicitations from bogus chinese websites all the time. daily 5 or 10. so somehow ebay has worked to get those out. This is how sinister the theives are. If they are not just using one of the hijacked accounts above, they are going to give themselves an ebay id like "MaryElliot" --sure sign they are north american-- at least that is what they want you to think. Then they may have some bogus "about me" page that sounds like a Ward and June Cleaver moment. BUT HARD AS THEY TRIED, there will be telltail (?) signs of non-native speaker errors. if not there, in the emails they send.

and believe me, i am not speaking from a prejudiced or racist point of view. i don't care where u are from or what color u are or even if you like pogogi raw. As long as your money is green and your credit card is not stolen, you are welcome. but the frauds want us to think they are the least likely people to rip out our purchasing bellies.

Other obvious things. Don't think because they are nice that when they want u to send the package to their cousin in Jakarta for his wedding or bar mitsvah (sp) and they will pay the very highest of shipping to get it tomorrow, don't do it. its just a good rule.

Now too the fishers are getting sly. They want to send you something on your email address. or something to your address or they want to call you. I wouldnt do it. They mainly just want your information. it gives them one more  piece of a puzzle that eventually could be enough to pretend they are you.

clean ur cookies out. dont have windows save passwords. do not stray from the guidelines of both ebay and paypal that are there to protect you. if things don't add up, there is probably a reason.

i use prepay visas online. i put what i want to use on there and then its empty. its not my debit card and it wont hurt me if someone stole it somehow. i don't do it every time but i am beginning to do it.

we need an escrow system for big ticket items. i get hit hard so often because i buy and sell small expensive and extremely portable electronics and i have lots of "buyitnow" options in my inventory. It opens me up to people who jump on, find somethin as expensive as they can and they buy it and try to get it before they get caught. if someone pays you or OVERpays you and never asks for an explanation or any questions at all, 5 out of 10 times its fraud. i used to ship so fast, i  remember taking an order at 4:30 pm on a weekday and the customer had the product the next morning at 10am. it was uncannily and unusually fast. but if fraud hadbeen involved, i was that much more exposed and had taken myself and my business that much closer to bad practices.

CAVEAT EMPTOR. LET THE BUYER BEWARE FOR SURE. INTERNET FRAUD is only going to get worse before it gets better. eventually the way we trade is going to have to undergo changes that wll make it less convenient and it is too bad. I'm no private investigator or genius but if i can help you, email me. thru ebay. hehe.