I haven't heard anything bad about Tayda, and in fact they are often recommended. Why not deal with them direct? I take every opportunity to avoid giving money to eBay.
http://www.taydaelectronics.com/
Well, I will say something bad about them... their customer service is non-existent... they just ignore email. I would still order from them, but they are not any better than a random eBay seller.
TaydaIt could be an off day (for them) or I am lucky. On one of my order, I had ordered two precision OpAmps and one came DOA. I contacted them on their site, I received a reply very quickly (next business day, 12 hours difference means same day he/she got the email.) A short exchange to verify my side of the story and I was credit via store credit exceeding the cost of the OpAmp for my trouble. I was very pleased with how quickly they responded and how professional they handled it.
Their inventory is small. But for their low price and quick response, they are my go-to guy for things. If they don't have it, (stuff beyond typical voltage regs, op amps, pin-headers...) I will hunt eBay/Mouser...
eBayeBay is like stores in any city. Some stores are good, some stores are horrible, and most are in between. $ makes the world go round. The better eBay sellers are more expensive. It would be as inappropriate to try to put all the stores in say San Francisco into a same group.
As you get to know the sellers, you will form your own "go-to" guys on eBay. Bare in mind however: I understand eBay sellers sell their ID as well. I suppose if something like Waldorf Astoria can change hands, why can't eBay seller ID change hands.
As for my experience with eBay overall, a mixed bag. Most are average no thrill experiences. Some very good and some very bad. I have more excellent experiences than I have horrible ones. I have had problems before, but most got resolve rather reasonably.
It is a matter of expectation. eBay is like flee market / cat street like thing. It is not the same as shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue or Tiffany. It is someone sitting at a "virtual table" with all his stuff, you come, you see, you paid, you leave, you try, you fix, you joy or you cry.
Mostly, it is with exaggerated capabilities. So scale that expectation. 300 lumens? Let see how much others are charging for a 300 lumens led... do the research.
With the right expectation, horrible experiences would be limited. I think my "disappointing transactions" is a small percentage of my total transaction dollars. Just to put on a perspective what I meant "horrible": Thus far, this are the top two worst, so I made out pretty good so far:
> One "close out" sale, $29.00 for a 3.5" 2TB drive. Ordered one, thinking about ordering more but decided against it since this was a seller I have not buy from before. My reservation was correct. A few days later, item was marked as shipped. Click on it, the seller is defunct. A few weeks later, I got a small envelop (still unopened today) with what feels like a stick of chewing gum folded to the size of a stamp.
> once I won a very low bid. I was give a story about out of stock. I was refunded but not full! The shipping was not refunded and of course being "out of stock" there was nothing shipped to begin with, I got $2.10 back out $3, I think. I am annoyed at myself. I got the dealers a mixed up and mistakenly given them a good review. I was unable to change the review.
I did not include those times when I simply got suckered. They were selling something that I didn't know I could have got it cheaper elsewhere - like 1/2 the price. I got careless and thought it was something else. (Damn it, I didn't know they have single-pack! I have always brought and only seen box of 4 in them... ) That is personal stupidity/carelessness, I can't blame the store on that.
Good luck - never submit a big order on the first go! Buy one little things, then more little things until you get a level of comfort. Take good notes. Note the bankcard creditor name. that will give you more info on if this one is selling under different hands.
Rick