I've seen plenty of wrong advice given in these forums over time!

As for 'chatting with sellers' and customers, I get a lot of messages and reply but I keep it all above board and haven't had any problems. I recognise that one day I could be blamed for someone a potential customer does that's out of my control but there's no point worrying about something I have no control over.

I would never use ebay messaging to chat with other sellers! That's just asking for trouble.