First, I don't think there is any increase in fraud, either from buyers or from sellers, on eBay and I have been selling here since 2001.
If anything, the percentage of frauds has diminished as Billpoint and later Paypal took those fake Western Union payments out of the picture, Paypal made it possible for buyers to reclaim their payments on unsatisfactory goods, eBay removed the "revenge negative feedback" option for sellers, Detailed Seller Reports (a terrible system but a good concept) made it possible to see the weaknesses of a seller, the FVF on shipping made the phoney "one cent iPod with $500 shipping" a thing of the past, Paypal made it effectively mandatory that items be provably returned before a refund could be processed, the VERO program cut down perceptibly on counterfeits, and sellers were allowed to Block automatically large categories of unacceptable buyers.
Still there are some ways of protecting yourself as a seller.
Use those Blocks to prevent bids from buyers with Unpaid Item Strikes, buyers who do not have active Paypal accounts, and buyers from countries you may not want to ship to.
It has been suggested that Shipinsurance, a third party insurer, has a useful list of countries that they will accept as insurable. Use it.
Sell what you know- know what you sell. This means photographing and describing exactly what you are selling.
And don't dropship. You have no control over product, stock, or shipping.
Be friendly and polite. Avoid complex instructions. Make it easy to buy from you.
Give the customer information about when his item shipped.
Use insurance, including self-insurance. This is arguably more important that "tracking".
Keep in mind that for items under $250 (including postage) PP only requires Delivery Confirmation. Tracking is not essential.
Remember that it's business, not personal.
Oh, and, the minimum wage in Ontario is currently 17 cents a minute. If you spend more time than the item is worth, you lose.
