This is a guide for buyers and sellers alike.

The whole concept that you can buy anything without seeing (the actual item) or touching it and without ever leaving your house is phoenominal. I have only been a buyer for a few months and just started selling last week. I have already learned several very valuable lessons, as I was such an enthusiastic buyer. This concept only works if you can believe what you read and see in a picture.

 Thanks to photoshop pictures can be touched up and some use pictures of a similar item, but fail to mention that it is not the actual item. Descriptions can be very misleading, either by being very vague or over embellishing and sometimes intentionally deceitful. The most important thing to remember is that this whole concept is based on trust.

Sellers Be - Honest!

 If a seller is not totally honest such as stateing flaws, showing actual clear pictures, or misrepresenting items, then the buyer will be purchasing an item under false pretenses. This can only lead to quarreling by e-mail, negative feedback and unhappy buyers that want their money back, and probably the S&H also (and if they pay with paypal will definately get it) the seller will be out the S&H and lose a potential repeat buyer. On top of all this it makes buyers more skeptical and sometimes afraid to purchase online. When that happens everyone loses. 

There are a lot of great sellers out there and I know I have had 10 times the amount of good experiences as I have bad, but I almost gave up after one pretty expensive bad purchase and it may have been partly my own fault. This leads to my great tip for buyers.

Buyers Beware -y!

If you see something you want to bid on but the picture is not clear or the description is vague, you can contact the seller to ask questions. Just give them enough time to respond and put the item in your watched list until you get your answer. Most sellers are honest and will be happy to supply you with any info you need. It they don't respond then it probably is good that you didn't bid.

Watch out for high shipping cost. Many sellers will offer an item at a low price and the shipping will be very high. Sometimes high enough to double the price of what the item is worth. My very first purchase was a bid I won for a shirt and when I went to check out I almost had a stroke (ha ha) I won the item for $9.99 and it was $50.99 with shipping. This was a very good lesson and I am glad it was my first. I never actually bought the item though, I contacted the seller and explained that it was my first time and that I did not realize she was not in this country and the shipping was so high. I asked if she would please remove the item from my pay list and that I would not make this mistake again. I did tell her if she refused I would pay and I realized it was my error. She was very kind and took it off. If you are polite when dealing with sellers and give them the benefit of the doubt when there is a mistake, they will almost always be more than willing to fix any mistake. I learned this valuable lesson the hard way.

Don't be too hasty

On another auction I received something other than what I expected, I tried to contact seller and when they didn't respond by the next day I left a negatve f/b. They responded to that by leaving me a negative f/b, (- = -) after a week of emails and bad feelings on both sides it was resolved, but the bad feelings still linger. I admit I was too hasty and did not give them a fair chance to reply, which is probably why they were not very accomodating and I still feel guilty.

Use good judgement

Even thought I believe most of the sellers are good and just trying to make some extra money, or start their own business, you will no doubtably come across some that are selling replica's while swearing authenticity, or shipping gougers, or some product from another country that won't work in your country. But you can avoid some of these problems by using your own common sense. My Dad always said " if something seems too good to be true it probably is" this is a phrase that has come back to haunt me many times. I am a basically trusting person by nature and learn almost everything the hard way. But if you see something on ebay that you know cost $1000.00 and you get it for $50.00, Don't expect it to be real, original or authentic. You can find good deals on ebay but they don't give the stuff away. I have no solutions for the shipping gougers except don't bid if it's high and when no one bids on there stuff, maybe they will get a clue. If you know you are bidding on something from another country contact seller to find out if it will work where you live. That doesn't mean you won't ever get a bad product but it takes the resposibility of being decieved off your shoulders, then you can fairly place the blame where it belongs, and if you  use paypal, you will always be able to get your money back.

Conclusion

It is important for sellers to be honest about their products and fair with shipping costs. I know sellers have problems also, with buyers that don't pay, complain, or want their money back, even though you did your best to clearly display and describe you item. This will alway happen in this kind of business, but the frequency will be far less if you are fair and truthful about your products. Accomodating a buyer that is unhappy will make them more likely to return to buy another time, and all sellers want repeat buyers. The whole concept of buying on ebay depends truthfulness.