My DH and I have purchased many sewing machines through ebay. The very first one we purchased was a Viking Designer SE. UPS was the shipper and the box came in the door rattling... I was totally freaked out. I told the driver that he needed to inspect the box. Basically, he just said if there was a problem that ALL we needed to do is file a claim. :roll: Well...sadly, the machine was VERY broken. :evil: We filed a claim and to make a long and very frustrating story short, we were paid back for most of the cost, but we got to keep the machine. My DH, being a sewing machine technician, was able to fix the machine by buying parts and reconstructing it. Works like a dream now. Since that time, we always do business with sellers with 100% positive feedback and many sales, and let them know that we prefer FedEx for shipping. All of that should protect you, but not a guarantee. We recently bought another machine off of ebay, and not too many days later, got an email from a detective, telling us the machine we bought was stolen! We have to give the machine back (of course!!!), and we were worried we would be out the $999 we paid for it. Fortunately, we have the buyers protection from PayPal, and we always pay our PayPal with our Visa card and have buyers protection from them too. So, we will get our money back from one place or the other. There was no indication anywhere on that listing that the machine was stolen. The seller didn't know it was stolen either. He bought it from some clearing house in Chicago. I guess, words of wisdom are "Buyer beware", and if you can, pay with a credit card through PayPal and you will be protected from losing your money.