[935fanatic]

As mentioned above, if a buyer uses their card to make the Paypal payment, then the way it works where I live, the buyer is also protected through their card issuer.

I also got burned once on some computer equipment I bought on eBay - the seller never shipped the goods, and the seller had no funds in their Paypal account - I didn't get a refund. I had paid the seller from my Paypal balance, not from my card.

I spoke to my bank about it, and they told me that if I pay for goods via Paypal and use my card as the funding source for the payment, then if the seller doesn't deliver and the seller has no funds in their Paypal account for Paypal to do a refund from, then I contact my bank and the bank reverses the card transaction. So the bank takes the money back from Paypal and credits the funds back to my card.

Since that incident, whenever I buy parts using Paypal I never pay from my Paypal balance - I always select my card as the payment source for the payment via Paypal.

That way it is no different to any other time I use my card, and I have protection from my card issuer.