Never been bothered by EBay spam, but if you buy from some large dealer through them, there is a chance the seller will peddle the names. As a collector and member of packrats anonymous, I have some 100 buys on EBay, without problems (except for a $5.00 manual for a camera which was torn and badly taped- from one of the larger camera dealers, too).
Several months ago (or more?), EBay provided a chance for you to review your bid before finalizing it. It is pretty hard to make a mistake now.