It seems that of my 10 or so transactions (always as a buyer) about half were perfectly smooth. The other 4 or 5 were hassles in babysitting. Having to get on sellers to reply to questions BEFORE close of auction, getting things sent, getting things sorted out, having items shipped, or not getting feedback left for me for 7-8 weeks. I've always paid within 24 hours of auction close, and try to be respectful of others. Plus, if it SAYS that processing can take 5-7 days and is sent parcel post; I can't complain if it takes 7 days processing and 9 days shipping- it was explained up front, right? So I'm going based on what the specific expectation is from the seller's info.
Then there was the case where I had SEXUALLY EXPLICIT feedback comments left that were totally unwarranted (and a negative left for me). I had others from the eBay community contact me (as a recent buyer from this seller) asking if I had problems. I left it alone until I DID have problems. Others said they'd complained before and tried to get this sick, perverted guy off eBay. He was leaving comments that I could hardly handle reading.
Well, I decided he had met his match when I was a victim. I wrote to eBay (e-mail), sent a feedback dispute (e-mail to eBay), and also emailed PayPay (they had to pay resolutions in about a dozen other cases before me- so they had a financial interest in getting him off'ed I figured). Maybe PayPal made things swing. The SAME DAY PayPal responded to me, he was ousted from the eBay community.
Of course, eBay cannot legally say what action they took, so did not even inform me, but while I was writing e-mails to others that he left disgusting feedback for; I was informed by a couple people that I should check his account on eBay, because they couldn't find him anymore under his user ID.
My best advice: ALWAYS write a question to the seller a couple days before close if it's a "big-enough" ticket item you're worried about getting scammed (my buying 5 foreign coins for $4 plus $2 shipping doesn't qualify for this). I mean it, find SOMETHING to ask about (info not listed in the description). If they are responsive, it can only help to assure you they are paying attention. As a buyer DON'T leave feedback until your transaction is complete- meaning you've received the item and know it is as specified. After all, you've already paid THEM, so have them leave your feedback first. Lastly, read ALL the info in the auction CAREFULLY. If they say they leave feedback for all their auctions once every four weeks, this probably means you should expect exactly that. If they say they only ship on Tuesdays and your auction closes on Wednesday, don't email asking for an exception, they wrote the deal. If you bid, you're agreeing to the terms they explained.
As a seller, beware of money order scams (especially from international bidders). Craigslist.org has detailed info about how fraudulent money orders become the responsibility of the party CASHING them. I'll tell you, I've posted a few things on CL (like cell phones) and gotten DOZENS of people asking for me to send them the phones overseas (especially to African countries). They even tell me they would add $20-40 for handling- beyond all shipping charges. BEWARE!
If you want more info on how I got this seller off eBay, drop me a line.