Joe,
First thing you need to do is get a few white border tobacco cards. Once you have seen, held, handled a few real ones, then it becomes easier to spot reprints and trimmed cards. At that point you can buy ungraded T206s without great fear.
I'd suggest that once you've bought a few, stay with 3 or 4 of the sellers that you trust.
There are a few guys here on the board that won't mind an occasional email from someone new to T206s, asking them about the authenticity of certain eBay auctions. I've answered about 100 such inquiries over the years for several different guys. They eventually get a few cards and can make decisions on their own. It is a neat progression, seeing them start out with "what about this auction", to "I'm not too sure about the look of the back of this one, what do you think?", to "this is an obvious fake".
The other thing you could do is find a collector near where you live, who has T206s. There is nothing like spending a few hours with an old dinosaur of a collector, listening to tales about how things used to be. A fellow could look and listen, could learn quite a bit...
I have 3 or 4 T206s on eBay now, and will list a few more in the next few days. I've not responded to you to get you to bid on my auctions, although someone may well think that.
Wish you well with it.
Frank W.
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