The last time I had a conflict, I was eventually able to get a refund through PayPal's Buyer Protection. However, it required several follow-ups after I filed the initial claim and took almost two months. Then, after I gave negative feedback to the seller (he changed the terms of the sale after the auction ended and even admitted that he didn't send the knife after I paid), he gave me a retaliatory negative feedback.

That site then said that they wouldn't do anything about the feedback, so I no longer have a 100% rating, and even though it's been over a year and I have 526 total positives from 389 different sellers, that one negative means I'll never have a 100% rating again.

I've heard through email correspondence with sellers that there are a lot of buyer scams out there, which is why I am understanding when sellers delay a bit before sending items to ensure payment clears. I also know that it's not necessarily fair to discriminate against new sellers. However, I feel like the problem that I've described above cost me at least $50 worth of time to get about $80 back, and it had a lasting impact on my reputation, so I'm more careful about who I buy from now.