Sign up for a pay pal premier account and get verified. It is a pain in the ass, but worth it.
Do not accept checks, and take money orders only if they are drawn on the USPS.
If you have (0) feedback, buy a few cheap items so that you can get your feedback up to 5 at least. Some people will not bid at all if you have a feedback of 0, and if you look at completed auctions you will see that people with higher feedback often sell their items for a proportionally higher amount than those with no feedback.
Ohh... Lastly, do not ship until the money has cleared!
Good luck!