I have bought many times successfully through ebay.
There is no risk there since they have the Buyer protection program
and the funds are reserved at the seller's side for 21 Days.
So he must be a moron if he tries to screw you in any case
This original post is about selling not buying. Agian, buyers are ulta-protected, sellers are not, regardless what eBay says.
eBay & PayPal are the same company even though they claim not to be. They have been known to be very unfair to sellers for a long time now.