There are crooks out there though. These are a couple of the things I look at when buying at eBay 1. See the price calculation scheme below. If it's not, I don't need to bother about this item. I would be a bit wary about someone selling expensive equipment with no history record available.
Most sellers have a huge rating record though.
I like pictures of the items I am about to buy. If there's anything I want to know about the item which isn't described, I send the seller a short e-mail with the questions before placing any bid. Placing the bid If the item looks good after the above evaluation, I might place a bid - if I am seriously interested in it. I normally don't place a bid much higher than the current maximum bid. This means that I can get a screen telling me that I'm outbid directly after placing it.