1) ALWAYS pay with PayPal. No matter how good the deal is (this is usually on cameras), a seller requesting you pay with Western Union is probably running a scam, regardless of their feedback rating. As always, if you’re spending an amount your not comfortable losing, contact the seller. Check the limitations on PayPal refunding your money. eBay offers a fraud refund as well, but there’s lots of paper work and limitations and you won’t get all of your money back.

2) If you’re selling on eBay, alot of people use the credit card option through PayPal, which requires you to upgrade your PayPal account (which is actually free) to a “business account” (I don’t really remember the name). You can forewarn future buyers by limiting the types of PayPal payment that you accept.

3) Some sellers will now hold off on leaving a buyer’s feedback, using it to influence the buyer’s actions/feedback. Case in point: I bought a few books from eBay. One replied saying that he received my payment and was shipping my book. After a few weeks it didn’t come and he hadn’t left feedback. I sent him an email and he said he hadn’t shipped the book yet because didn’t have it but asked for me to not leave negative feedback. I told him he should refund my money or I’ll leave negative feedback. He replied saying he had a similar book, never mentioned a refund. In this case, similar book meant nothing so I left negative feedback saying he took my money and never had the book. The next day he left negative feedback on me saying I had poor communication skills and was very difficult. Long story short, I contacted eBay, got my money back, but the most interesting part was that our transaction was voided and the feedbacks were wiped from BOTH of our feedback scores.

Moral of the story: don’t trust all feedback ratings. Especially don’t trust them when you feel like you’re getting the ‘deal of a century’ on an expensive camera or electronics. The eBay forums are full of sad stories of people getting ripped off.