If you want to see every Negative Feedback comment a seller has, but don't want to wade through pages of comments, you can see every Neutral and Negative Feedback an eBay member has ever received at this URL: http://www.toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs.

Have a look at the Feedback the seller has left for buyers, too. This may tell you a lot about the seller -- especially if he's the vindictive type.

And don't be afraid to cancel a sale if you are uncertain about a deal. One Negative Feedback isn't going to ruin you, and it's better that than lose a substantial amount of money.

David: How can an eBay seller protect himself or herself from getting ripped off?

Michael: The best protection is to collect your payment before you send the item to the buyer. After you receive payment, send the item promptly.

Doing this will eliminate potential problems in over 99 percent of your transactions. Unfortunately, there are buyers who will try to get something for nothing, or at least for less. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes you get someone who wants to bargain. When this happens, tell the buyer that he agreed to buy the item for the price he bid, per eBay's rules.

Tell him he can cancel the sale if he wishes, but you will be forced to leave Negative Feedback in order to recover your listing and final value fees. He may threaten you with Negative Feedback, in which case you can report him to eBay for Feedback extortion. You can also offer a mutual Feedback deal: you'll cancel the deal, leave Positive Feedback, and eat the eBay charges (if they're small) provided he leaves Positive Feedback for you first. Then block the buyer from bidding on your auctions.

On occasion, a buyer may try to scam you after she's received the item, complaining that you misrepresented the item. But she'll "settle" for a 50 percent refund. ("Gee, if the item's so bad, why do you want to keep it?") Tell her to send it back for a refund, minus shipping charges. If she balks and threatens Negative Feedback, report her for Feedback extortion. Most scammers will back down at this point.

Sometimes a buyer will say an item was broken in the mail, and that it's your fault because you didn't pack it properly. When this happens, ask for a photo of the broken item, and/or ask the buyer to ship it back for a refund. If the buyer is trying to con you, you'll probably never hear from him again.

Of course, if an expensive item is involved, the insurance will make up for the loss. You did insure the item, didn't you?

David: I get a ton of phishing emails that claim to be from eBay or PayPal. I normally just spam-filter them. But how can I distinguish real eBay and PayPal messages from the scams?

Michael: I'll keep this simple: any email that asks for a credit card number, checking account number, user ID, and/or password is phishing. Period. Neither eBay nor PayPal will ever ask you to send such information by email. Delete the email and get on with your day.

Likewise, any email that asks you to click on a link and log in to your eBay or PayPal or bank account is a scam. Don't even bother to try to figure out the link. If the email says there's some problem with your account, go to the eBay or PayPal Web site and log in normally to see if there really is a problem. (There won't be a problem.)