RE: PayPal
I too can chime in with nothing but trouble free transactions using PayPal.
But, I have been cautious and have stayed away from eBay items/sellers that
raise red flags.  In fact I just passed up on bidding on a camera lens that
went for a very, very good price BUT would not accept PayPal and the seller
was located in Indonesia.  He was probably totally legit but if there was a
problem I had no recourse, no local authorities that would have had
jurisdiction.