Exactly. Don't get me wrong I have purchased numerous items through Ebay, mostly not auctions though. Rarely had any problems.

I prefer Ebay over Amazon for several reasons. When you buy from Ebay you are dealing directly with the vendor. Ebay just lists in their behalf. Also, Ebay uses PayPal so only they have your credit card info.

On two occasions I had problems with poor response/delivery. When I notified PayPal I had a refund within hours.

Amazon pushes their Prime service at extra cost. For regular users it makes sense but not for me. Delivery estimate dates for Amazon are almost always always several days later than actual delivery. Tracking and shipping from Ebay is usually more accurate.

eBay has gift cards available at my supermarket. I use them because I get cash back from American Express for "groceries".
I recently sold a broken car radio on eBay for $40 (was going to throw away then thought what the hell, start bidding at 99 cents "for parts", shipping not included. Accepted $40 offer by changing to buy it now. eBay had the money directly in my bank checking two days later.
I enjoy eBay also and have always had pleasant experiences.
Finally, for those not familiar with eBay, you can easily set up notification via email of a particular item being listed - works great (don't need to continually monitor for listings of interest). Get help if interested. Have found many highly unusual items not available by other means.

Maybe this thread's heading should be changed ...........Casper

Maybe a fool, but I bought our Barth and our Foretravel on Ebay Sight unseen. The price was low enough to take the chance.

Nick