Rickmur...that's one hell of a run-on sentence..lol.

Basically, you must protect yourself in the description section and payment section of your item.

What I do, I say I will ship the item as soon as I receive 100% payment. Fore-warn the bidders in the description that you will accept paypal, and once verified of received payment..the item will be shipped as described. For money orders/checks, describe to bidders that you will ship the item once the money order/check is 100% cleared at a certified bank of your choice. Verification of paymenthas precedentover shipping the item. That's the name of the game on ebay.

If you ship an item before being 100% sure you have been paid, you will get ripped off in no time. Scammers are everywhere on ebay. You must protect yourself against them by setting the standards of which payment/shipment are to occur.