Here's a question for you:

If you buy an item from a vendor and pay using PayPal and the item is not listed or sold on eBay but from the vendor's on line store are you covered by PayPal Protection?  Answer?

Have you read the PayPal fine print?  The answer is no!

I recently bought some items from a vendor in England and used PayPal to pay for the items thinking that it was safer to pay that way and I would have PayPal Protection in case there was a problem.  All went well except one item was broken on arrival (damage was not caused by the shipper but was defective).  I bought it from their e-store (not on eBay) and filed a item problem with PayPal.  (Silly me, I apparently, according to a PayPal supervisor, am the only one in the universe who doesn't know that is not like a credit card company that has a chargeback policy or will help you recover any money that you used in your PayPal to purchase non-eBay items.  Nor, even if you do not receive any email notices from PayPal saying the 20 day period for a dispute, the dispute closes automatically and you cannot do anything to re-open the case.  PayPal can't prove they sent the messages and you didn't receive them so too bad, soo sad--you are on your own.  On top of that, I found out today the dispute closed, the vendor said they could not refund my return through PayPal because it had the total I paid for all five items and they were not going to return that money.  So what is a poor person to do?  I joined PayPal when it first started (before eBay bought the company)  and found out today that:

1) They hold money in your account but they are not responsible for recovering the money you paid for any non-eBay item...they are not a bank or a credit card company and do not have to abide by the banking rules set for those institutions.

2) Nothing that you purchase using your cash in the PayPal account is covered by any "Protection Policy" and they cannot make any vendor or seller (except e-Bay sellers) return your money.

3) Touted as the "safe way to pay"-(a sales pitch) only means that PayPal retains your financial information and it is not sent any further.  Other than that fact-it is just a payment service without any resort other than eBay items.

4) If you are going to purchase non-Bay items with PayPal use your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express) then if a problem arises you are cover by you credit card protection and have an actual process that will work to recover your money.  That way you contact your credit card company customer service rather than try to deal with PayPal reps and supervisors that can be less that customer service oriented.  In addition you have more recovery rights and consumer protection than PayPal offers.

5) I knew this before but note that PayPal charges and fees are more than most Merchant accounts.

So kids, I have been in business for over 12 years and had a merchant account that long and only once have I had anything near the problems I have had with PayPal.  Paypal has done a great job of using peoples fears about financial information on line to increase the number of people using the service, however, I don't feel that they have made more than a minimum effort to ensure people understand the limits of using PayPal both as a buyer and/or seller.  Myth and PayPal (the story of eBay)