Paypal...buyer protection fees didnt help me

Can you use a PayPal friends and family payment to buy things from strangers? 


Yes, but you really, really shouldn’t — and not just because it’s against PayPal’s user agreement.

The lack of fee makes it a tempting option for sellers to use instead of ‘goods and services,’ and you may be offered a discount on the agreed amount if you acquiesce. In theory that sounds great. You pay less, and the seller takes more — what’s not to like? 

Well, scammers can use this approach to take the money and run, knowing that you’ll have no recourse to open a fraud claim with PayPal. If you sign off someone as a friend or family member, PayPal reasons, then you’re vouching for the contact and therefore you’re not entitled to extra protections.

‘Goods and services’ payments are covered by PayPal Purchase Protection. Friends and family payments are not. While a seller asking you to use ‘friends and family’ may just be trying to save a few bucks (albeit in a slightly underhand way), it simply isn’t worth the risk: consider it a red flag and insist on using the ‘goods and services’ option or find someone else who will.

The friends and family option is typically used not for scamming buyers but to avoid IRS 1099 fillings and paying taxes...the paying with PP directly to get buyer protection obviously diesnt work hence this post.

@missioncoonery Based on my observations you're in a small minority, vast majority claim PP always on buyer's side. As others have mentioned and experienced, no real forensics undertaken by PP, most disputes resolved by algorithms.

I suppose I understand their finding for buyer in most cases, buyer happy, at least seller gets item returned to them. I've had two disputes as buyer with PP, won both cases without long delays.

The one thing I don't understand about your case is, I know seller cut off communications with you so you're distrust of him understandable. But how do you know damage wasn't caused by shipping? Did you talk about that possibility with seller? If not, I can more understand his intransigence, he may have perceived your initial contact as provocation.

Since seller won in what seems like rare case with PP, one has to assume he had documentation on his side, or a better story.

   Better story?...yea it worked when I sent it to him just fine,lol......My story isn't a story,it's the truth.There was no physical damage to the box or the unit so I assume his story should be it was distorting through one channel when I sent it.

   All I wanted was what I paid for, a working correctly int amp or  PP to  to do good on what I paid for and get my  funds back .There's no gray area here,no buyers remorse,no my wife is pissed and demanding I send it back....nothing but simply I got a unit that doesn't work properly and the buyers protection I paid for failed me.

Just because there is no exterior damage doesn't mean that something in the interior workings wasn't jogged loose.

Having it repaired may cost less than you think. Why not get an estimate?