I appreciate the voices of experience with Paypal.
Thanks for your helpful insights .

had two bad experiences with pay pal and cancelled account.i did have them get my money back one time by a bike seller in new york who tried to keep about $400 and not deliver.i like to buy bikes on e bay within 200 miles and pickup and pay cash when possible.

Except they then ding you with a maximum receipt on your paypal account of $500 per month. You cannot really get around it.

If that is is name. He sold two red/white bikes on eBay, an '87 Ironman to me and a different bike altogether to someone else. The photos were taken in the same place, ads were placed at the same time. The PayPal account was for michelleberkovitch.

I don't think he shipped either bike, his eBay feedback stopped at 4, and he gave me a couple of excuses, "my son died," "I work night shift," and then a couple of updates, "I took it to the post office, it looked funny on top of my car," and "I've got the box and will ship it on my next day off."

PayPal got me $200 of $250 back, his eBay privileges stopped, and his PayPal account is closed. His feedback stopped at 4, so his scam didn't last long.

I knew what was up when I offered to have him take it to a UPS store and ship it using my account, and he said no, he already had it packed. I'd already filed a dispute and upgraded it immediately and PayPal had 4/5 of my money back to me in a couple of days.

It was the last time I bought a bike on eBay.

Actualy it sounds like Paypal did good. Imagine if you had sent the guy a check or money order!!!!

I suppose what anyone needs to do as a buyer or seller is practice due diligence.

I had a guy who wanted to pay me with a Western Union money order. Western Union? Who uses them when you can get an almost good as cash USPS money order? I checked his feedback (99%) and his only negative was in regards to a kmoney order. Obviously I said no and he obviously didnt bid.

The same goes for buying. Look into the sellers past, if it doesnt seem right move along.

I'm always suspicious of people who dont use paypal. The first thing I ask myself is, "what are they trying to hide?" I get thing conspiracy theory feeling that the person things 'the man' is watching over them. My other theory is that they're drub dealers and trying to launder money.

I just dont understand the lack of trust and hatred some people have for Paypal. Just because they're internet based doesnt mean they should be free. Heck, BoA charges me more fees and interest than Paypal.

Regardless:

Paypal: Buy global, sell global.
No Paypal: Buy on CL, sell on CL