[cliffdodger]

For art you may want to try craftster.org, otherwise kijiji or craigslist.

I'm a fan of craigslist for reasons others have mentioned... easier to find local items and sellers and you can have some face to face contact and actually see and touch an item before you buy it. Well it may not help, it's comforting to know where you bought something from in case something goes wrong.

I've never heard of ebay's arbitration process helping out any of my friends who've paid for items that never arrived.