Do You Shop on EBay?

Recently -ok, not so recently, -last month, I read in this article by FT titled 'Fashion labels sue Ebay over sales of fakes'. If you're not bothered to read it, basically the article says that Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior (both part of LVMH) are sueing Ebay as they believe that most of the products sold on Ebay bearing their names were fakes. The article mentions that Ebay is currently also being sued by Tiffany. And, in the past, Louis Vuitton had successfully sued Google for linking to sites that sold counterfeit versions of LV products.

Now obviously, I'm no lawyer or expert, so I'm not going to talk about the legal issues involved here. (If any of you know anything, feel free to comment.) This article just got me wondering, do any of YOU currently shop, or have shopped on Ebay? What did you buy and how much did you pay? Did the product turn out to be the same as shown in the sellers' photos? Basically, what was your experience like?

Personally, I've browsed Ebay before, hoping to understand why some people actually get addicted to Ebay, but I really don't get how anyone could ever tell if a product is real or fake, esp by only looking at the sellers' photos. And to be honest, why would anyone why to buy shoes that have been worn by someone else (?) -talk about unhygienic!

I realise that some people like shopping on Ebay for second-hand stuff so the product will be cheaper than buying first-hand, and that some people find products that aren't in stores anymore and want to get them. Also, I've heard many personal and magazine stories where shoppers are happy with EBay. But at the end of the day, I'm just too 'playing it safe' to shop on Ebay. Oh well.