I agree, great post by Swami (Chris)
I am the Nigel chap in the UK whom he mentions and I wouldn't have found a Pace Royal Comet as good as the one he sold me were it not for eBay.
I have had a few bad experiences on eBay but they are FAR, FAR outweighed by the good ones, I sell and buy fairly infrequently but they tend to be $1000 + items when I do!
I think most of the savvy people who use eBay just use it for a shop window to reach out to a niche audience that no other medium, that I know of, can.
I think around 80% of my eBay transactions end up being a private deal so I don't have to pay those ridiculous fees.
When you have had an account for 15 years with 100% Positive its a great advertisement and I think people will pay a higher price for goods that you sell because of this!
Most realise you are not a crook and trust you!
I think its a shame that a few US sellers on eBay refuse to ship a machine internationally even if you agree to have it picked up by a crating company and you organize everything.
Not quite sure why, I guess a few still think foreign sale = scam artist?
That's a great shame as Coin op colleting is truly international now!