Do note, there are many scams with expensive items on ebay. Always go right through the seller's profile. Feedback is sometimes manipulated- lots of newbie "buyers". Check the sort of things the seller sells, I have seen a number of times where an ebay identity has been hijacked - they will take the money, the person who has had their identity hijacked is left with the negative feedback. Sometimes the item loction is different from all the others. Large numbers of expensive items on sale at the same time also should raise suspicion. Some of the more low tech crims copy legitimate seller's piccies. China? scam capital of the world. Eastern europe, Africa, Indonesia not much better. Remember the golden rule- if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Also beware of fake "second chance" offers. it is easy for scammers to send these saying the winning bidder fell through with the sale. I have had a couple of successful second chance transactions- by pickup. One very expensive piece of professional gear I bid on I received 4 separate fake second chance offers from 4 potential scammers! By the same token, I have had some great purchases from the US of A on Ebay eg my Fujinon 16 x 70s (US $400 beats the heck out of $AUS 2k)and some nice meteorite specimens amongst others
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