Any time you buy or sell sight unseen, you take a lot of risks even if you do your homework. That is fact of life and eBay has it all. For sellers, the buyers could encounter personal problems (deaths, job loss, divorce, etc) just prior to winning a bid or they could be bored and just playing games. It won't matter that it is a contract, that becomes unimportant. And then there are the sellers who sweeten the item descriptions such as like new when it is actually quite worn out. eBay allows buyers/sellers to get away with just about anything short of fraud (and only if enough people complain) where the seller accepts money but won't ship or refund. Keep in mind that that is actually a criminal offense! But it's unlikely that eBay or Paypal will get your money back. The best thing to resolve the situation would be for eBay/Paypal to have free automatic buyer/seller escrow accounts. However, I save enough $$ that I'm willing to accept the situation as it is.