Buyer beware II - a resolution

It pisses me off when I pick up something online and don't get the item within a certain, noted time - but I guess I can understand if a seller occasionally goofs up, as long as there doesn't seem to be any malicious intent on their part.

I thought I got skunked on a 2014 Allen and Ginter hand collated set purchase on eBay - in-between the 'dead period' where I didn't know what happened, I went and picked up another set from another seller just to have something, if I had to go fight for a refund.

I contacted the seller where I bought the first set from through eBay's Resolution Center last week - I was surprised to actually get a response a few days later.

The seller said he'd forgotten to ship my set and would do so using Priority shipping - there was finally a tracking number to indicate the set had been shipped and after a few days, my set finally was in-hand.

Buyer beware

I got skunked on a 2014 Allen and Ginter hand collated set purchase on eBay - the seller gave me positive feedback within 10 minutes after I hit the 'buy it now' and after a couple of weeks, there has been nothing to indicate the set has been shipped or on it's way.

I think I was a little desperate to pull the trigger, so I could get some new cards in-hand, so I didn't consider one or more of the following:

1.) Feedback - a seller with 1,000 positive feedbacks doesn't mean anything; does the seller have any recent negatives, things that particularly sticks out?

2.) What are the things a seller up for sale - I take a look at a seller's inventory and if see a seller doesn't have much of whatever it is I'm looking for [I maybe looking for a hand collated set for example, but the seller has mostly a bunch of singles listed instead or even non-card stuff], then it maybe a warning sign that they might not have the expertise to have something in-hand, ready to ship.

3.) Item description - the less there is said about something, the more I suspect that a seller might not be able to follow through.

I guess I want a seller to know what he or she is selling and if there is no basic description - it may mean I might not get the exact item.

4.) Buying from a list of trusted sellers - I have to pick up things from sellers that are basically strangers, but it may help to have a list of sellers on eBay that seem to be dependable, whether I'm going to be looking for singles, commons, hand collated sets, unopened boxes or other things.