Be Cautious Paying With PayPal

PayPal has strict conditions on whether or not they offer Buyer Protection or will reimburse you for an item which is not delivered or is substantially different than what you ordered so make sure you meet the requirements. It is in no way "automatic!" They will only reimburse you for "certain tangible, physical goods" which does not include:

1. Intangible items, including Digital Goods 2. Services 3. Real estate, including residential property 4. Businesses 5. Vehicles, including motor vehicles, motorcycles, caravans, aircraft and boats 6. Custom made items 7. Travel tickets, including airline flight tickets 8. Items prohibited by the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy 9. Items which you collect in person, or arrange to be collected on your behalf 10. Items that violate eBay’s Prohibited or Restricted Items Policy 11. Industrial machinery used in manufacturing 12. Items equivalent to cash, including prepaid or gift cards 13. PayPal Direct Payments 14. Virtual Terminal Payments 15. Personal Payments

For example, if you pay for pet delivery or document translation or resume preparation, those would be considered services which are not covered, even if you are scammed.

There are other conditions you must comply with to get reimbursement:

You must:

Send the payment to the Seller through:

*the eBay “Pay Now” button or the eBay invoice; or *the “Send Money” button of your PayPal account by selecting “eBay Item” and entering your eBay User ID and the eBay item number for purchases on eBay website; or *the Send Money tab on the PayPal website, by clicking the “Purchase” tab, or by selecting the “Checkout with PayPal” button or otherwise selecting PayPal as part of a Seller’s checkout flow.

For example if you simply send the money to somebody's email address, that would not be covered. Consequently, if you pay for an item using PayPal it is always better to use a credit card because the chargeback provisions of your credit card are stronger than PayPal's Buyer Protection and have less requirements and restrictions. It is very important that you review all of Paypal's Buyer Protection provisions. See: Section 13 of the PayPal legal agreement.