Buyers used to be able to try articles before buying, but so many buyers and sellers then completed the sale privately to evade paying eBay's fees that this practice was outlawed. Members are no longer even allowed to give any contact details until after the item has been sold and paid for.

The only alternative today is for the buyer to buy the item, then ask the seller to cancel the sale and refund them if it's not what they wanted. As the saying goes, what could possibly go wrong with this?