Agreed Les.
I have only ever been a buyer on ebay, I should make a point of trying to get some selling done too but then again I don't have a lot to sell
I personally have had more problems on Amazon than ebay.
As you say use respected retailers, anyone with 99% or more should be fine, to ebay newbies check their replies on the bad feedback and see if they feel hurt, a lot of them do feel hurt by bad feedback.
I quite often buy high value items and that is obviously a worry, so I try to be as sure as I possibly can be.
My recent experience on ebay has been great though, very happy all round.