The reason ebay does this so readlily is to ward off real-world fraud, if they broker a deal gone bad, and those people cry fraud, cops do their job. The idea of policing ebay is rather silly, some 10,000 wrist watches sell each week on ebay, how many do you think are stolen? There is much worse crime on ebay than buying HID's and hydro-huts; I'd be more worried about buying those items from an undercover cop posing on ebay then worry about them tracking me down for it; But, I do see your point, great post!