I only sell on ebay rarely, but I buy stuff all the time, big, small, expensive, foreign and domestic, from big sellers (lots of feedback) and new ones. I have never had any problems, some times I am disappointed by the cheap junk I buy from China, but generally I am quite satisfied. I have had to request a refund once or twice because something was not as described, but I don't think I have ever had to escalate to ebay or PayPal on anything.

All this being said, anecdotes aren't data, and I worry every time I read an article like this that I am going to get burned bad one day.