need ebay advice, first time user

[Mary]

i am about to buy something on ebay for the first time (new cellphone) and im scared! how do i know if a seller is shady and if im getting something crappy? what do i do if its not what they advertized? how do i keep myself from getting screwed?

thanks!!
mary

[Faith]

Did you check their feedback? Do they have a lot, or just a few? Is it all positive or do they have negatives?

That's what I always check, and I will read through some of the feedback. I prefer zero negatives but if there are some I will read them and check out the user that gave the negative.

Feedback is a very handy thing. You may also want to contact the seller and confirm that they will accept a bid from a user (you) with no feedback yet.

[Sue]

Good luck I was nervous the 1st time i ever bought off of ebay but now i love it... but i havent purchased high end items just things like cloth diapers and covers:)

[gloria]

feedback is what makes or breaks a seller.........

so read them.......

and dont pay lots for your first item if you are scared.

[Sasha]

Yep feedback is wonderful. I like people that have been a member of ebay for awhile so that they have good feedback. One thing be very careful of make sure you get the postage cost before bidding alot of people have it listed but you can also email them and ask if they dont have the postage listed for your area. Some people might only have an item listed as $1.00 but then when you go to ask about postage they say it's something like $50.00 that happened to me when I enquired about some small little chinese fan luckily someone else had warned me to get the postage cost before bidding so I didn't bid but once you bid you are in a contract so just becareful. most ebay users are on the level you just have to becareful. I personally dont buy much except for DVD, CDs and little things that dont cost much. I've only ever paid for one item that didn't come the ebay seller wasn't listed anymore when I went back but other then that most of the people I've dealt with have been great. I got a dvd that was scractched and the person replaced it immediately. Ebay can be lots of fun I love seeing stuff arrive in the mail.

love

Sasha