Being new to the boat buying end of this ordeal, I figured I was protected using paypal.  WRONG!  Be careful if you are buying a boat especially one that wants a deposit at the end of the auction.  I went to send the deposit but ebay will only allow you to send the full amount, well I didn't want to send the full amount without inspecting the boat so I went to paypal, when I put in the ebay item number it still asked for the full amount.  So I chose to send the money via paypal as an other auction....bad idea.  When I went to inspect the boat, the boat ended up with some mechanical issues and I declined to complete the sale. I opened a claim with paypal and and lost (in this situation opening a claim is pretty much useless as far as I can tell).  Paypal responded saying the method I used to pay only covered shipment of goods and not condition.

I talked to someone at paypal and even after talking to them I am still a bit confused about it all, but to use paypal you have to be willing to pay the full amount.  Then if you dispute the transaction you are only covered up to $2000.00 by paypal, if the transaction was more than that you MAY be reimbursed after paypal takes legal action if they recover the funds.

I believe I explained it like they explained it to me.  The lady suggested before purchasing a big ticket item to call paypal customer service at 402-935-2050 to determine coverage limits.

It really would be nice if they would take the legalese out of some of this and tell you how much you are covered for in each transaction and under what conditions.

If anyone can explain this any better please do so........