You are only protected if you bid thru ebay and pay via paypal. But if you do a transaction on the side without going through Ebay and pay by paypal, you wont get your money back
Yup absolutely. eBay has all the scams you can think of. The thing that sucks most is that they don t care either. Complain as you want..they are a monopoly. I suggest you try www.Bonanzle.com as they are a better site. They will eventually BOOM in a few months and eBay will be long gone.