de-havilland-designs wrote: "you should be able to view certain items before purchase surely????"

Sometimes the way that eBay operates makes no sense unless you know why or can work out why. It's like being on a lateral quiz show. @jonatjonatjonat message #5 explains the reason - once you know why, it's understandable. Years ago I learned why only by reading the discussion boards.

Another example is the Buyer Protection fee (a poorly chosen term). In this country it's an ingrained norm that buyers don't pay a fee to shop. Why did eBay introduce it? - read the discussion boards (where posters also discuss/theorise the 'surface' and 'real' reasons eBay introduced it).

May I suggest that a way to help arm yourself against "odd" eBay methods, and hopefully avoid problems in future, is to re-read the fAQs. Keep occasionally re-reading them as eBay amends things from time to time. It can save being "ambushed"!

I also suggest regularly browsing the discussion boards; there's a search box and categories if you're looking for a particular topic. A fAQ can be very 'dry' reading, but in the discussion boards, as you know, you have access to real people and have issues discussed conversationally, with a large pool of eBayer knowledge and experience. The only thing is that the site fAQs are available 24/7 but eBayers have to sleep!