Just a note here, I am a buyer and seller on ebay with a paypal account and I have done hundreds of transactions. You have very little protection from paypal if you make a transaction outside ebay. The time limit to open a dispute is 45 days, however all the the seller has to do when he receives the money is to transfer it into his bank account. If the buyer wins the dispute and the seller has no money in his paypal acount you are out of luck and you will not get a refund. Paypal will only refund from what is left in the seller's paypal account. Then the bad seller opens a new paypal account and he's back in bussiness. Never return an item before opening a dispute. Remember returning it is at your own costs you will not be refunded for the return shipping. Either way win or lose and you haven't been refunded you still have the item, at least you haven't sent it back at your expense so the seller can scam another person! For example I had bought a 400$ item and paying with paypal. the seller never sent the item and I finally won the dispute. All I got for a refund was 7$ from what was left in his account. Don't fool yourself that you are protected on ebay as well, there are many ways to get screwed and paypal doesn't back you up on most applications.