[jwalkerblack]

I agree with both of you, you have to be careful whom you buy form, e-mail them, look at their feedback, ask any question you can possibly think of when buying an item !
I have had very good luck on e-bay with over 70 transactions, most buying some selling. I even bought a quad and another frame from ebay flawlessly, just pick and choose who you bid from, feedback is helpful, but not a tell all, as some people don't leave it for whatever reasons and others simply leave good feedback even if it wasn't good because they are afraid they will get negative in return.
Unfortunately that helps out nobody!
When buying high priced items I always try to get a phone cal in, see if the person sounds sincere person to person, unfortunately not everyone is willing to do this, the way I look at it if I am willing to bid on an engine or a machine I want to hear from you personally just to see if you sound honest and to hear a verbal description, ask questions, etc.
I hope your first ebay experience doesn't ruin it for you, there are a lot of good buys on there and a lot of good honest people, just ask lots of questions and avoid anything that seems to good to be true, they usually are