Posted By:
davidcyclebackDrJ,
My impression is that that majority of eBay sellers are honest if imperfect, and that most of the scams are done by only a handful of people. The most common problem involves a seller who is honest but is not knowledgeable about the item being sold.
I'm a regular eBay bidder. I read people's descriptions-- you can usually tell if the seller is knowledgeable or full of it from reading the description. The more you know about the area, the better he can judge the description, picture and seller. For people I don't know, I check the feedback and see what other stuff they sell to see their level of experience in the general area. For sellers I don't know, I gravitate towards sellers with good and large feedback, or at least sellers who obviously know what they are talking about. I expect the seller to state that the item is guaranteed vintage or original or authentic-- and most reputable sellers do.
I have bookmarked or otherwise remember the eBay ids of my favorite sellers and regularly check what they have. I occasionally buy less expensive items from sellers I haven't dealt with before and am ordarilly satisfied with my purchase.
I only buy certain items from sellers who I know and trust or who otherwise have stellar reputations. I only buy autographs from a handful of sellers. I don't care how good the item looks, I'm never going place a $700 bid on an item from an eBay seller with 0 feedback.
My practice with a seller I am not familiar with who sells a lot of stuff I like is to buy one or two items and see how the purchases go ... Yes, sellers, it's a test, and how you treat a new customer and how closely the item and the sales description does directly effect your repeate business ... Most of my bookmarked favorite sellers are people who I started by buying one or two items. The reason I bookmark these people is that they sell hard to find items I like, are honest, very very knowledgeable and experienced in the area, their descriptions are accurate and you get the items.
Some eBay sellers are top experts in their field. A beginning collector can go onto eBay and buy a baseball card from Lew Lipset or an autograph from Richard Simon. I've bought on eBay significant original photographs by well known photographers from the actual photographers. If a collector does some research and asks around, he can be buying on eBay from some of the most prominent and knowledgeable people in the world ... As a photograph collector, it's a sign that the seller is knowledgeable about the item he sold you when he says, "I remember the day I shot that photograph. It started to rain and my assistant forgot to bring the umbrellas."