Buying something from a private seller?

[Lunchables]

Hi, I am trying to buy a $200.00 jacket from a private seller and he wants to be paid through paypal. He said that I should pay him and he will ship the item to me, then when i recieve the item , the transaction will complete and my payment will clear.

I am not buying through ebay or any other auction type place i believe, so I'm not sure how I pay him or find his account name, etc. help?

[snowshoe · Accepted solution]

Suggest asking the seller to send you an email invoice.  All you need to do is provide the seller with your email address.  This provides you with better documentation if the jacket turns out to be something other than you think it should be.  If you simply use the Send Money feature, PayPal sees this as basically friend sending money to another friend, not a purchase.  The seller could simply accept the money and never ship you your item.

[Lunchables]

Well, I used the send money option but i chose it as making a payment for goods/services. I should have asked for an invoice though but I already paid. I feel like i may get scammed now. Paypals terms/fine details are a bit confusing, am i protected at all though? I used my credit card to pay through paypal instead of using my bank account funds so could i possibly just do a chargeback through my credit card company if they dont send me anything or what should i do then/how long should I wait, because the seller is not responding at all to me. Thanks again.