Darn you eBay

I tried buying something from eBay for the first time ever a few weeks ago. I've always been an eBay lurker, but I had never bid before. After getting hooked on fashion blogs I wanted to try out eBay to find cute clothes at  prices I wouldn't mind paying. Well eBay failed me. I tried to buy these:

The lovely gray Toms I shall not be receiving.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Toms when I first saw them. They don't look like much when you just see them sitting in a shoe store, but they seem to look pretty cute once you put your feet into them. I'm terrible with shoes. I would live in flip flops if I could (and I do for the most part) but every now and then it gets a little chilly and possibly rainy here in LA and my feet don't like being left out in the open so these seemed like the next best thing to flip flops. I thought that $44 seemed pretty steep so I checked out eBay and I came across a pair for $18.99 (score!) with 5 minutes left. I went for it. I figured I could put a bid in and then someone else would probably outbid me so it wouldn't matter much if I just wanted to test the waters. Well I was the only bidder. So I paid the $18.99 plus $10 for shipping. Then eBay sent me an email saying that the seller was suspicious and the listing had been removed for security reasons. I had to make a claim to get my money back and now it's been close to 3 weeks and I'm still waiting for either my money or my Toms. According to eBay I should get a refund in a day or two. I'm very happy that I can get my money back, but I may have lost all faith in eBay. Once I get my money back I hope to be making a trip to Nordstrom to try on a pair of Toms and at least I'll know if I like them before I pay the $44 and I'll also know that once I pay I'll be handed a shoebox with my purchase immediately after.

Does anyone have any tips for eBay shopping?