I've been using ebay for a year now, mostly buying power tools. You have to fully comprehend that eBay is a mediator, so if you get fucked you are on your own. There are ways to severely punish bad sellers/buyers, and there are ways to recuperate your money. If you bid early and bid high, or bid on JohnDeere tractor somewhere in malaysia with a seller who has 3 feedback for buying postcards, you dereve to be ripped off. I did a lot of calculations and comparisons of ebay VS amazon, and "couple of bucks versus time" argument is lame. Let's see why:

DC233KL hammerdrill: http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DC233KL-Heavy-Duty-Cordless-Lithium-Ion/dp/B000GA5YFK

$799 on amazon

$599 on ebay BuyItNow. They go for 550-650 on average. That's $200 savings.

I bought a Fluke 117 multimeter, new in box, $80 (+20 s/h) from a seller with some bad feedback. I got his phone number before bidding and used yellow pages to verify the address. It's fucking $250 here in Canada (180 in USA).

Riserbond handheld TDR. Won for $280, used but looks flawless, no scratches and calibrated. It's $1100 from online stores.

AKG K 701 headphones - $250 + 25 s/h on ebay. $500+ tax in Canada in retail, $400 online.

You are doing it wrong.