I have been looking at shells on Ebay for several months now, and have even offered a number of specimens for sale myself. The shells being offered on Ebay range from outstanding gem quality specimens to absolute trash. I would estimate I have seen at least 30 to 40 misidentified shells offered (like the Marginella sebastiani George just pointed out, listed as Marginella goodalli). But this mistake is at least understandable. The two species are both orange colored, white spotted Marginella species, coming from the same locality. I have seen some rather bizarre misidentifications though. The other day I e-mailed a seller and pointed out that the shell she had listed as a beautiful Philippine Cypraea was actually Cittarium pica, a Caribbean top shell. The same person had a handful of Cypraea caputserpentis listed as Cypraea eglantina. In some cases, a rather common shell has been listed as an uncommon species, such as the Fimbria fimbriata a few weeks back which was offered as Fimbria soverbii. One time I opened up a page listed as a "beautiful shell from Cape Cod", which "would look great on a chain" to find a picture of a single, badly beachworn Crepidula fornicata. Checking the feedback comments a seller has received is of little value in my opinion. A positive feedback simply means that the buyer was fully satisfied with his/her purchase. However, just as some sellers don't know the difference between quality specimens and commercial grade junk, the same is true of many buyers. Shells are very popular items, and it is not just serious collectors who buy them (as shown by the tons of commercial grade shells sold in bins at tourist shops). So, if a person offers a box of acid-dipped cone shells with ground lips as "beautiful specimens", and the buyer agrees that they are "beautiful specimens", then the buyer will post highly laudatory comments about the seller. There is no dishonesty at work here, either on the buyer's part or the seller's - just mutual ignorance. This seller is not likely to accumulate many negative comments because experienced collectors will recognize the shells as junk from viewing the image, and will not bid on them, while inexperienced collectors, or non-collectors, will be thrilled with them. So, the only time a seller is likely to receive negative feedback is when a serious collector makes the mistake of bidding on an inferior shell, which is not likely to happen very often. And even then, many buyers will not post negative feedback if their complaint is promptly addressed by the seller. So, it is definitely a case of "let the buyer beware". It takes a certain amount of experience to pick out a quality specimen, even in a shop, where you can hold the shell in your hands. It can be tricky indeed to make such judgements based on a picture, especially the quality of picture often encountered on Ebay. If you are in doubt about the identity or quality of a specimen being offered, perhaps it would be wise to ask a few other collectors to view the shell and offer an opinion. Just as the better mail order dealers eventually become known by the personal experience of many, and by word of mouth, so too, in time, the more reliable online dealers will get to be known the same way. Paul Monfils