Ridgerunner nothing wrong with buying off ebay as long as there is a full inspection of both the aircraft and the logs before committing to a bid. I know one Ppruner who bought a wonderfully built (if slightly bizarre) single seater a while back.
IO540 totally agree that it's not eBay's concern but it would sharpen up the seller if the question was automatically posted and sat there for all the world to see.
Flap 40 sounds like a good theory. If it (or something similar) is the case then it could open up a whole can of worms
