My son has bought and sold on e-bay quite frequently. His last purchase was not done through paypal (I'm not sure I even understand the concept as I don't visit e-bay). Unfortunately he was scammed out of $700! Apparently there were something like 29 other people also scammed by this person. He tells me he will recover a small amout of money because e-bay has some sort of insurance.

My daughter has bought several things from e-bay and they are very unique types of things that you really couldn't find anywhere else. She used it a lot at Christmas. Like anywhere else I guess the key is 'the buyer beware.'