Always look at other ebayers feedback rating, this is important becasue it tells you their trading history on Ebay. If they have numerous negative comments which make them sound un-trustworthy, then its best to contact them first or leave it and look else where. If they have no feedback and are new, it is best again to contact them.

Never buy or sell to places from abroad such as Nigeria, Africa etc. These are again fraudsters using stolen credit cards and if they do pay you, well that money is guaranteed to be stolen which will be retracted from your account so you would lose out basically.

Always email or contact them some other way if unsure. At least this way, you'll know about their communication standards. Ask for a tracking number for a valuable item. This way you can track the item and you'll know that they have sent it.

Never bid/buy from ebayers who claim to have 20* Nokia 8800's, 20* Samsung D600's etc (you get the picture). This is becasue it is all fraudulent. They do not have an verified email address which is why they ask you to email them from another email address stated on the listing, once they recieved the money they will withdraw this and close the account, and theyu wont send anything. Plus Ebay cannot do anything as it is too early for them to do anything.

If you do get into a fraudulent situation, contact the seller/buyer, if they dont reply, contact Ebay and paypal, then if they cannot do anything, contact your credit card company (by law you are protected from any fraudulent activity for 7/14 days) Dont leave it too late. You can contact the police as well, they will issue you a crime number, send this to the fraudulent ebayer, they may read your emails but just wont reply, if you show them a crime number, they would probably be scared and give you the money back. Request their contact details as well by searching it on help, at least you'll know where they live and their contact number. Always pay using paypal, you know you'll be covered. Dont use outside companys such as Nochex and western union, you wont be covered.

Wonder why people put a reserve on their listings, well it is to protect themselves from bid shielding. This is where two and more ebayers target a listing for example, samsung D600 with a starting price of 0.99 and no reserve. The first fraudster will come along and place a bid of 0.99, the second fraudster will come along and place a bid of about