I haven't had problems with most of the eBay sellers I've bought stuff from or interacted with. But although few and far between, there are exceptions. Here are 3 situations I've encountered:
1. Being sent the wrong item. This has happened a few times. I've been sent a different card from what was listed, what I was expecting and what I bid and paid for. Fortunately I've been able to resolve these - typically by returning the wrong card (which in itself can be a bit of a pain in the ass) and either being sent a replacement or sent a refund. One seller sent me a refund and promised to let me know when the card I wanted was available again (they had clearly sent the card I wanted to someone else, and that person's card to me) - but they never got back to me. That sucks.
2. Putting an item up for auction, delisting the item (the reason stated being something like "no longer available") then relisting the item at a higher price. I've seen this a couple of times, and it is a really scummy thing to do. If I see something I want, I typically add it to my watchlist. Sometimes items can just randomly disappear from my watchlist - typically because the seller has pulled the item from the auction because the bids are less than what they want. But I also have saved searches so that I'm notified when certain items come on the market - so I see when the same seller puts the same item back on the market, with a much higher starting price. I won't buy from someone who pulls that kind of cheap trick.
3. False advertising. This is what has put me in a bad mood today. I won an auction for what was very clearly listed as a complete set of 47 cards. I got the item today, and it wasn't complete. There were only 45 cards. Perhaps this was a genuine mistake, but I am mightily suspicious because the 2 cards missing are by far the most valuable cards in the set and the reason I got it. It feels like they were almost intentionally excluded. Had I known, there is no way I would have bid as much as I did in the auction. I don't know how this is going to resolve yet - I'd happily keep the set if they refund me most of what I paid, but I suspect I'm more likely to return them. Disappointing, and another pain in the ass to deal with.
