Paying for ebay item indirectly using paypal?

[Bob]

Hi, I would like to know if I would be fully buyer protected if I agree a price with a seller on ebay but then pay for the item directly with paypal outside of ebay with "make a payment" option on the paypal website.

For example, normally when I purchase an item through ebay and win an auction it will show "pay now" within ebay. But this time the listing is still active but the seller has agreed a price with me and told me to pay directly with paypal. Am I being scammed?

Thank you for the help.

[Kittysue]

You have ZERO protection if you do this. You can pay for the item, the seller will keep your money, and you are SOL getting your money back. Scammers know this but hope you don't. It's an offsite transaction which negates all protection by both Ebay and Paypal. Anything listed on Ebay has to be paid for on Ebay. If he didn't want fees, he could have sold the item through any other site that doesn't charge fees or sell on Craigslist or another local marketplace.

In fact, if you were to report being scammed, Ebay would immediately shut your account for breach of their Terms

You have NO protection if you do not pay through Ebay's checkout page. Period. If you pay him directly he will keep your money and not send you anything.

Do not go through with this transaction for any reason. Tell him you are paying through Ebay or he can cancel the sale

A guy I used to work with lost $3000 through this exact scam. He was trying to buy an antique watch and believed the seller when he said to pay him directly through Paypal to avoid the fees. This guy was stupid enough to do it and then the seller deleted the listing, closed his Paypal account and took my friend's money. And when my friend reported it to Ebay thinking they would help him, Ebay closed his account and banned his IP from opening another account because he did an offsite transaction. And the police couldn't help because the seller was overseas.