Check description of the item.

Research other websites for the same item. Some of the shopping websites to research would be shopping.yahoo.com, overture.com and shopping.msn.com. These sites are adequate for researching items and get the description that you need. The eBay description should match item description on other sites.

Be careful using a SPAM filter

Unfortunately once you start buying and selling on eBay, your email gets out there and your volume of spam increases. Eudora has a great free email program called Eudora Lite, free at www.eudora.com, which allows you to direct all your eBay related email into a special mailbox where you can filter it. Microsoft outlook has this feature.

There are also new services available on the Internet to filter out spam;but they are not 100% reliable. They sometimes filter out legitimate messages and still let a lot of spam through. That can be a problem --you might not get legitimate emails from sellers, bidders or buyers. So get in the habit of checking your spam filter regularly.

Also be sure and use the same email address for both your PayPal and your eBay account. Using different email addresses can really confuse people you are doing business with. (However for security reasons always use a different password for your eBay and PayPal account).

Use PayPal

Sellers want to be paid quickly and everyone is concerned about fraud. There is no faster or safer way to complete an eBay transaction than PayPal (owned by eBay). PayPal is now used by over 100 Million users around the world and now processes more debit and credit card payments than Citibank. Over 80% of registered eBay users accept PayPal and eBay has fully integrated PayPal into their systems. Take the time to become a verified seller and always give your verified shipping address. This gets you the fraud protection. Go to www.paypal.com .

Did you know you can also use PayPal as a savings account? According to Money Magazine, PayPal now pays the highest rate on ordinary savings accounts. I know once PayPal was paying 4.8% while my bank, Wells Fargo, was only paying 3.3% .