I am buying from ebay since 2005 and bought 100 or so products. I agree to a good extent with the majority view on ebay.It is quite risky for a naive buyer to buy from there. ebay actually acts as a controller of transaction between buyer and seller.
They act like boss both of customers and sellers. Forget seller, it seems to me they are not answerable to buyers for their any action.And you contact their customer service on any issue, unless you are very lucky you will get some patent answer...." we understand your concern........this is the policy of ebay.......we are sorry for inconvenience..." etc etc. Forget solve, there is very little chance that they will even address your issue.
But the question is despite all these why I am buying from ebay? The foremost reason is there is just no substitute of ebay...online or offline. In many cases you do not get any alternative of ebay to procure a particular product you want to buy.you either buy from ebay or you will not get it.
The second reason is after a little bit experience you will mostly be able to scuttle fradulent sellers and thereby avoid contact with customer service. They also have a very well organised system to complete the transaction. From sending sms to customers at every step of transaction to a pro-customer feed back system.Before ordering any high value item (though I will not recommend a very high value item) you need to know the environment and the way ebay works. you must know the facts like you can not legally make ebay responsible for fraud of a seller. A thorough reading of their terms and condition is necessary to understand the environment.
My opinion about ebay is it is not a fraud company but a huge multinational company having monopoly power.