> eBay protects the buyer and will almost always rule in the buyers favour.

Exactly so. I've done a bit of buying and selling acoustic guitars, and would now only do "buyer collects".

I do this because several acquaintances have been scammed, mostly with the buyer claiming that the guitar wasn't in the case when it arrived. In each case, eBay has sided with the buyer.

So I've now given up eBay and found a local auction house that does regular musical instrument auctions... much less chance of being scammed there!