I purchased electronic kits to complete a contract project. The merchant uses PayPal for online transactions. The merchant did not fill the order correctly, and after 4 months of endless unanswered emails and phone calls to remedy the situation with the merchant, I began the process of dispute claims with PayPal, my debit card company and the BBB. After two weeks of collecting all the saved data and documentation, PayPal said, "Well, this was not a transaction through eBay, and our buyer protection only applies to eBay purchases."
Why does PayPal even allow transactions outside of eBay if it is not going to protect them, yet it is so willing to be the middleman handling the money for these merchants? It lets them easily, and even encourages them, to rip people off, using PayPal as a "buffer safety zone" to get away with it.
What a nice arrangement for both PayPal and merchants who are there to just take your money and run. And why not? They have big companies that handle transactions, like PayPal, to hide behind, and they won't have to worry.
I consider PayPal to be just as responsible and as guilty for allowing such a demented policy of no protection for buyers making purchases from merchants outside of eBay, and for purposely not having any policy for non-eBay transactions.
If PayPal is only going to protect eBay customers, then PayPal should not allow merchants who are not doing business within eBay to use PayPal at all.
The way I see it, PayPal is merely doing what all these corrupt politicians and bankers have done: ripped off trillions from the public with a smile and a three-piece suit behind podiums, convincing everyone it is your fault.
Fair warning to anyone using PayPal: don't.
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