Buy anything expensive on Ebay?

I don't entirely trust buying on ebay unless it says NIB (new in box). If I get something and it doesn't work I can't send it back. The most I have spent is $60 Canadian for a pair of men's golf shoes and that included shipping. Cheaper than if I went to a store. The least I have spent was something like .05c for a book. I paid a total of $4+ as it was all in the shipping. I like it when I can get a book online for cheaper than at a garage sale, except when you include postage it works out to be the same. It's the same with Amazon. I checked out a couple of new books at the local book chain and then checked online. The books were cheaper online. I could have got the shipping for free if I spent $39 or more, which I did originally, but then one of the items wasn't available and I ended out having to pay shipping. I wasn't too pleased about that.