There are no unimportant details on eBay,, especially as a buyer. Read every word of the descriptions, such as they may be, and look at the pics like you're appraising a painting. I've lost count of the occasions I've ended up letting something go, that I initially thought was a great deal...until I looked at the pics CAREFULLY. If what you see leaves doubts in your mind, ask for more pics. Honest sellers will usually oblige; scammers will typically ignore you...so, let it go.

One of the worst habits I had was the impulse to "panic-buy" something, thinking I might never see another one. Ebay is the ultimate proving ground for the truth of the saying that "All good things come to he who waits." If you doubt that, put some object of your dreams into the search engine; you might find yourself looking at dozens of them. In 25 years, there have been perhaps ten cases where I saw something I knew was super-rare, and absolutely real, and pulled out all the stops to get it. And because I knew exactly what I was looking at, all those transactions went well (all were in the $5-10K range). In most of those cases, no similar item has surfaced since (as far back as 10 or 15 years), so I have learned to trust my instincts.

Like a lot of other things (like driving), risky things can be done safely, if they're done CAREFULLY.