Pay Pal Protection?

I do not trust paypal and never register any of my personal or business accounts. I use prepaid debit cards instead.

Never use Paypal! I had a friend who sold a gold coin on eBay. Paypal holds the money so he was paid some time after the buyer had paid. When he could, he took the money out of his account. Soon after, he received a complaint that the buyer had not received the coin, but he sent it such a way that he knew the coin had arrived, and been signed for. Paypal insisted he return the payment, despite his evidence that it had arrived safely. If the money had still been in the account, Paypal would have just taken it! My eBay and Paypal accounts were hacked, the best thing that ever happened to me...I got over the bidding madness. I have found many Paypal users will also accept credit cards. Also, I have been screwed by buying from strangers online, but most people are honest and reasonable.

Thank-you everyone who has responded to my post. This was all good info to know and thank you for sharing your experiences.

Use Paypal with the Credit card only! Don't ever use your bank account or debit card or echeck to pay through paypal because paypal won't protect you 100% and chances of funds recovery by PayPal are slim if something gone wrong with your purchase.

You can't expect paypal to protect you if you use don't use a credit card to fund the payment.

In this day of digital age, no one should really send a Check or Money Order to a complete stranger and only uses PayPal with credit card for purchase protection.

Cash on pickup is the way to go. I've used PayPal as both a seller and buyer. Typically payments do not become available to sellers for 30 days, including banking clearance. PayPal takes their fees on the day the buyer pays, talk about self interest.