FAKE REPUTATION - FAKE Feedback

Hi, I have been e baying for the past couple of years, its only recently that I have actually started to sell on here myself and its been a hard task to retain a good reputation and retain a good feedback score. When i first started out on eBay a few years ago i was very naive to how it all worked and thought that you could grab some unbelievable bargains on here - well you still can, but i picked up that items that seem too good to be true, generally are too good to be true. On one of my very first ebay transactions i purchased what i thought was the lastest Sony In Car Entertainment system with an RRP of over 1400, well i paid 300 for this via paypal. Well any way a couple of days later the parcel arrived on my door, very excited opened the box and to my horror i found what was a cheap and nasty head unit worth around 40. I contacted the seller, but he insisted that he had sent the correct item, he had after all had the proof from the post office that the posted an item, but there was no proof of what the item actually was, so it was his word against mine. I didnt pay via paypal, I paid by cheque and there was nothing that I could do...... GUTTED!!From this day on i was very dubious for a long time of ebay, as i kept on hearing reports of people been ripped off and conned on here. Well there are some very simple steps that you can follow to ensure that you protect yourself - Check peoples feedback, ensure that they have some past transactions, especially if they are selling high value goodsAlways where you can pay via paypal, this is the safest way to pay as you are covered for up to 500Never pay for items via Western UnionCheck for negative feedbackAlso i have noticed that feedback can be faked, people set up various bogus accounts and list items with hardly any value, these accounts are very easy to spot, as the people that have left feedback themselves either have a 0 rating or a very small rating.I hope that this helps, Help to get this to No1 by voting!