Not excepting PayPal would be the first red flag. I haven't missed out on anything but rip offs by not buying from members that shun PayPal. Cars are another animal that none of this applies to. If you buy a car like it's a regular eBay item then you are bound to get substantially burned....
Generalizations again.
There are a lot of honest folk who are not willing to link a bank account to a PayPal account. In literally hundreds of transactions, I've only been ripped once on eBay, dealing for the most part with sellers I don't know. That's the same failure rate as I've had with transactions here on FGF.
I've bought 4 Firebirds on eBay now. Only one of them I saw and transacted in person (my project coupe) as it happened to be local. I've been perfectly satisfied with all of them, they were exactly as portrayed if not better once all the questions were answered and photos viewed. And I wired or mailed money to the seller in advance of shipping on each of them.
The problem of the thread poster was not receiving his item...ever. I present an answer, not just a generization..... If eBay has evolved to this point then PayPal is the only real answer. There's no debate of what's better if only one thing works....
