With 100 million items on sale, eBay is the king of online auctions. But almost half of the eBay buyers that Consumer Reports surveyed encountered deceptions, according to a report in the August issue.

Buyers indicated that some sellers took their money and ran, failed to disclose key details about the merchandise, or overstated the item's condition. However, deceptions weren't the only pitfalls for folks to avoid when participating in an online auction. Although eBay prohibits trade in illegal goods, buyers can end up with unsafe products. CR's secret shoppers had no problem buying lawn darts, a game banned in the U.S., and they tracked down car seats, strollers and other child products recalled for possible safety defects.

"eBay has 2,000 staff members policing its site around the clock, but with 6.4 million new listings per day, their employees can't find all the iffy auctions and shut them down instantly," said Tod Marks, Senior Editor for Consumer Reports. "Buyers must take precautions and learn as much as possible about who they are dealing with." To help online auction buyers play it safe and win, the Consumer Reports National Research Center recently asked more than 2,500 subscribers about eBay purchases in the past year.

Among the findings:

- Despite their complaints, 70 percent of those surveyed were highly satisfied overall when buying on eBay. About 90 percent of purchases arrived on time, were accurately described and were perceived a good deal. Nearly half of respondents characterized eBay as an excellent
source of hard-to-find items.

- Forty percent of survey respondents termed eBay fair or poor for help and customer support. Most victims of unscrupulous sellers tried to fight back, but of those who tried to settle problems with the seller directly, which eBay recommends, only 38 percent were successful.

- PayPal, owned by eBay, was by far the most popular payment method and was used for 89 percent of the purchases in Consumer Reports survey.

- Complaining directly to eBay authorities satisfied 60 percent of survey respondents who took that action. But the most effective way to deal with dishonesty was among the least used: filing a formal complaint with PayPal. Although only 23 percent of unhappy respondents took that step, 66 percent of those who did said it worked.

A site for sellers:

- Sixty-four percent of the 700 survey respondents who sold on eBay in the past year were highly satisfied with their transactions.

- Twenty-seven percent of sellers said their auction ad cost far more than expected.

- Only about 10 percent of respondents said their freight costs exceeded those computed by the site's shipping calculator.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Online auction aficionados can't eliminate the risk when dealing with strangers, but they can lessen it. Consumer Reports offers the following tips to protect folks from traps and pitfalls:
Check Feedback. The most important step buyers told CR was to check feedback. More experienced buyers did extra research requesting more photos from the seller. eBay recommends trading with members that have a high positive feedback score. Look for at least 99 percent.