Ebay is not once what it used to be that is for sure.
I agree with that there are too many wallies on there now that ruin it for the genuine buyers.
I have experience of fleabay from the buying and selling perspective and I have been messed about both ways, I won't go into details here but lets say the 3 year old excuse came up more than once.
Its got to the point now where I would rather advertise my wares on facebook and gumtree than risk getting burned on ebay, as the so called buyer and seller protection is a joke.
Having said that there are still a fair few honest ebayers out there and I have had the pleasure of dealing with a lot of them, one seller was so good that I bought 2 cars from him (allbeit 2 years apart). Its seems that there is a case of the few ruining it for the many, as with most things in modern life.