I was recently burned on Ebay while looking for a digital camera. The "seller" put up a quality product at a reasonable (just slightly lower than retail) price. The only stipulation to bidding was to contact him first for "additional" instructions via email. Unfortunately, I emailed him (personal account not Ebay Message application) and within 48 hours bombarded with emails from pushers pushing everything under the sun at me. The bid was removed and I was warned by Ebay of the fraudulant bidder activity but was too late. Lesson: if you are using ebay, stay within ebay to communicate w/sellers or buyers and always use the "HIDE your email address" option from your contacts.