With managed payments you need the account linked to be able to sell. When you have a sale, the Ebay fees will be deducted from the sale amount so only the net amount will be deposited directly into that account. It is highly unlikely that Ebay would need to access your account to withdraw funds, perhaps if there is a refund due.
Paying by cheque is not an option. If you think about it, there are millions of sellers and if they wanted to pay be cheque it would be a logistical nightmare. Not to mention the bounced cheques that are inevitable.
I would also recommend finding some cheapo items from a big seller that you can see leaves feedback for buyers. The big guys from China, etc. have that automated and it show up right away. Find some free shipping q-tips or elastics, whatever. It is just to get rid of the big 0 in your feedback when you are trying to sell.
For your first sales, keep it to lower value items to start. It takes a bit of time to build up a track record and feedback score as a seller, and you get to learn the ins and outs without to much risk.
