Posted on May 22 2006 04:44 PM
I've had two experiences with Chinese sellers on eBay. Both of them turned out to be sellers with LOTS of duplicate product; as soon as one item was sold, they put another identical one up for sale.
The first time, I "won" what was supposed to be a "Seamaster" wristwatch for only 2 cents (!!!), and paid $20 postage to get it delivered. When it arrived, the watch turned out to be a very, very cheap-sh*t copy of an Omega Seamaster (the real thing normally sells for over a grand), but it actually keeps good time and, after swapping out its worthless metal band for a nice leather one, I'm wearing it even as I type this.
The second time, I "won" a box set of six DVDs for $12 and paid $10 postage to get it by mail. Although the actual box was pretty nice, complete with gold foil embossing, the DVDs were crummy Region Zero home-made copies. One of them won't play all the way through and two of them are mis-labeled (they have each other's artwork printed on the discs). You open the big box (which is about the size of a VHS sleeve) and what you find inside is the six ripped DVDs, shrouded in bubble wrap. I found out that this is actually a copy of a legit Japanese set which featured an individual booklet and jewel case for each movie. <sigh>
Naturally, these experiences taught me to avoid such sellers.
As for sellers with zero feedback, I've had a couple of experiences with a couple of those too. In EVERY case, immediately AFTER the auction was closed I got a stern note from eBay's Loss Prevention Department telling me NOT to pay for the item that I'd just "won."
Here's a quotation from one of those messages:
"Our records show that you were a bidder or buyer of one or more of this seller's items. We recently removed this seller's active listings and suspended the seller's trading privileges. Due to privacy concerns we cannot share further details about this seller. If the seller asks you to complete this transaction outside of eBay, we strongly recommend that you do not proceed with the transaction."
Caveat emptor!! 
—
GREGORY NICOLL, Southern Surf Syndicate Agent # 44
February Birthdays 
...wouldn't touch either bidder/seller with a 10-foot pole.
