I think it all comes down to how people should approach buying off ebay.
If you regard it as somewhere you ought to be checking every possibility, every single factor no matter how anal-retentive* it sounds, you probably shouldn't buy from ebay.
However if you regard it as it should be by everyone, as in people not out to screw other people over, then it should be considered an ok place to buy from.
* - by this I mean, if you were buying from a company, checking their registration in Companies House (UK registration of UK-based businesses), checking the directors for fraud-related criminal records, scouring the net for bad user experiences with the company, insuring everything left right and centre, asking for two references, etc. :-)
If I were shipping a load of motherboards that didn't have their own packaging and boxes, I'd include that in the packaging fee and specify that in the description. What kind of stupid twat would sellotape boards together.
Having said that, there is a pic showing the boards taped together. Was that added after your purchase redrumloa?
I've bought from ebay once and it turned out ok. It's a last resort for me.