Originally Posted by
Tankhobby
Yup, I bought a grey market i-robot that advertised to be the world's best floor vacuum, what I received was a joke, it wasn't even a good "toy". PayPal refunded my money then I did some research on it and many people had the same outcome, what they received was junk and did not represent what was advertised, like that tank you bought. I must have bought it as soon as they started the scam (the advertisement was really done well and I fell for it). I use PayPal exclusively for items like that and if PayPal is not an option I turn away. You're not going to get service like that from your credit card. So as much as I hate Ebay and PayPal in my opinion they are tools necessary for doing business/hobby.
There are a whole lot of scammers out there, so just about anyone can get burned by them unless you make sure to protect yourself. Sounds like you have it down pat, Tankhobby. There's a good reason why many of us adhere to the rule, "No Paypal, No Sale". There are of course, exceptions and I do use a CC with aliexpress, but I try to find what I'm looking for at a vendor that has paypal first.