I have been dealing on forums for many, many years, have purchased hundreds of items from private sellers using PayPal, & actually only got burned 2x - both times the item I received was not as represented. Both times PayPal refunded my money when the seller refused to rectify the situation...
There used to be a PAD 'Pay After Delivery' option you could set in your PP account, but quite certain that will only work if the Seller is accepting payments in this manner. Generally,PayPal will NOT hold your funds until you receive your items and confirm that everything is OK. Your payment goes directly into their account as soon as you send it
With that scenario the buyer could easily receive the item, state he never did (but secretly keep the item) and then the seller would be out the money AND his items
Works just like you were purchasing an item from any online store or actually purchasing at the store. No one gives you the goods without you 1st paying (no COD)
And frankly, as a seller of many items big and small over the years, I would NEVER ship an item until the funds actually clear my account
Basically, as a buyer you need to do your due diligence researching the seller and the items shown till you are satisfied enough to fork over your $$ If a deal seems to good to be true - it usually is...
Yes, you still may get screwed - but PayPal almost always sides with the Buyer in a dispute so you will get refunded eventually. It's just the cost of doing business online - if you don't want to take that risk, no matter how small = don't buy items needing shipped from Private sellers. As always there are no guarantees in life
You can check my rating = excellent. Most times my buyers send the money as gift so no fees for me without us even talking about it & they trust me based on my rep. But I never demand it - I'm fine if they pay regular way & just add 3-4% to cover the fees = whatever makes my buyer happy
I will only deal thru PP, not using any other method of payment when buying. If seller no agree - I no buy, simple as that