First - bought Chinese antique (made in metal) from seller in China. Opened package to see a hand-made tin-foil "something" that was an obvious fraud. Seller had hundreds of transactions and 99% approval rating. Ebay - "We can't do anything". Me - out $250. Second and Third. Twice now tried to sell an extra camera we had around the house. Never heard anything from the winning bidder - both times the approval ratings were high (have they found a way to fudge these approval ratings?). Are bidders just trying to make sure their competition doesn't get the item?
For #1 educate yourself about chargebacks... it is an incredibly powerful tool for consumers. Actually it's not a tool it's a weapon... use with care or your card (and possibly you) will end up on merchant blacklists. I used to have a merchant account... and basically if someone initiates a chargeback you either give the money back no questions asked... or you expose yourself to potentially business-destroying penalties by the CC issuers. The system is totally unfair to merchants... especially small timers like I was. After I learned this I got into it with a data center service provider who was trying to screw me out of a few hundred bucks. They started calling every day and hassling me. Basically as soon as I said "I am going to initiate a chargeback" the problem disappeared magically... they suddenly saw things my way and decided I was paid in full. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chargeback
The entry says a chargeback is the callback of a previously released payment of funds. The buyers in my case just bid a high number and never paid. How is it of interest to me to callback a payment? No payment was made by me (or him).
I have had good luck buying stuff on ebay. But I avoid Antiques and collectibles. I bought stuff like used equipment for pennies on the dollars.