I mostly obey your last comment -- I simply avoid eBay now.
It was a good site some years ago. But now the place is mostly a wasteland of knock-offs, broken crap (or "as is" crap -- meaning broken), fakes, and overpriced items you can find cheaper on more legit sites (Amazon, for example). I've pretty much stopped my hobby-related buying (action figures) -- I filled my office, the space I allowed myself for my toys. So I've no reason to visit. I was mostly pissed 2-3 years ago when I saw my DVD sets being sold, so I long ago quit bothering.
Once in a great while, I find something small that I want -- such as an overstock USB Compaq mouse that I want, new, and for all of $9 shipped. Being on a budget, being so busy working, there's just no reason to go there. I'd only be tempted by something I can't afford, don't need, and don't have space for anyhow.
I did try to win a camera lens in December. I'm still pretty pissed about it. I put in a bid for $300. The auction went to $400+. I'd have been willing to do $350, after a bit more thought. The lens was $600 new. The winning bidder was a no-pay, so the auction closed for the previous high bid of $305. Had some jerk not gone on there, I'd be the proud owner of that camera lens, not the guy still looking for one. Non-payers are a big problem for BOTH buyer and seller.
I put in a bid for a VCR last month, won, and when it came time to ship, the seller discovered that the item was broken. Whether that was true is unknown. I put in $200 for it, which is about $25 over normal selling price. But since most auctions are bid wars, and she allowed me to Buy Now (changed the auction after an e-mail from me), I won with convenience of not wasting time in bidding and waiting for auction close. Luckily, I was allowed to borrow the deck I wanted from work, so I don't need to buy it anyway.
Then there was me selling my camera, and getting a great bid, only to have those bastards cancel the auction because "like new" is supposedly a "spam keyword". Complete asshats run that site.
I blame that c--t CEO Meg Whitman for it all going downhill. She's supposed to retire this month. Good riddance! I hope the door hits her in the butt on her way out.
But almost everything about eBay pisses me off.