Have been scammed on ebay once, got burned off around $900. Guy was from Romania. He was giving me great deal on a latest mobile handset, so i bought two. The only mistake i mad was, i sent him money via WU. So, from now on i never buy things from ebay untill i call them, check their website, and make sure the person is lacal and reachable etc. Make sure they are legit.
I've been very lucky so far on eBay, both as a seller and a buyer. I usually take the time to look at the reputation and transaction history. Bidding is addictive, eBay can get a little crazy sometimes. For example, I've seen Amazon Gift Certificates sell for more than their face value!
I also look at the reputation and the feedbacks before i buy. But when i got scammed, the guy who scammed me had 99.99% positive review and had sold more than 1500 items. So, i thought he has to be legit, and he scammed me. When i contacted ebay regarding this, they told me he was working from a hacked account. There are all kinda scumbags there on ebay.
I had my account stolen once. I fancy myself as someone who is pretty tech-savvy as well, but I fell for a phishing email. The guy immediately put up 2 auctions for Dell XPS laptops and an $80K Mercedes. I noticed it within 2 minutes and was able to patch things up over the next 15, but it was an intense moment. Now I always report auctions that are blatantly from someone who has had their account compromised. If you see someone selling and xbox360 who normally sells books and they want you to send the money to them other than via ebay/paypal info... ding ding ding.