I sold my father in laws laptop last week on Ebay, for £385 which was about what he needed.

The final buyer only registered on the day paid my paypal with an instant payment, presumably a credit card.

Feeling happy that I was paid I sent the Laptop to his address insured recorded delivery with tracking.

Having now looked further at other anti paypal sites I think that if the machine was bought with a stolen credit card then paupal will take the money back off me. Is this correct.

If the cards abuse is not noticed until the next statement, potentially I need to worry for another month, How safe is paypal.

To wait for a cheque in the post and then clear it must be the only safe way?

i would be interested to see those anti-paypal links, as far as fraud then as long as u shipped the package to his confirmed address (with online tracking) there should be no problem....

of couse i havent used paypal recently

Paypal will protect you from credt card fraud only if you ship to a verified buyer with a verified address.

A verified address means you ship to their credit card's billing address. Most people have items shipped to their billing address, so this is usually not a problem. If their address says "unverified", then you have shipped the item to another address other than where their credit card is billed. This opens up the possibility for credit theft and PayPal will not cover unverified addresses.

In case of credit theft, I think PayPal only protects their buyers up to 100 or 200 dollars.

You, as a seller ANYWHERE (not just PayPal) are fully responsible for any felonious credit card payments. Despite what you sold, how much it was and where you sold it, the seller is always responsible. If this was indeed a stolen credit card, the payment is stopped and you will not recieve the money. Your goods will not be returned or reimbursed, unless you can find a way to get them back yourself.

PayPal does go the extra step, offering payment protection of a couple hundred dollars, but is HAS to be sent to a verified address.

They wont verify addresses outside the USA I think.

I just get a bad feeling about this deal and dont know how long I need worry about it.

Pay pal have thanked me for recommending a customer and have credited my a/c with $5 !!!

Just wait and see I expect.

I wouldnt worry about it to much. Paypal is a pretty secure site to deal with. I have been selling high priced items for years on ebay accepting payments via paypal and I have never gotten a chargeback. I wouldnt worry to much. Alot of first time users will do exactly what your buyer did.

Well I think I have waited long enough and all is well.
phew it was a worry for a while, I think folks on the antipaypal site scaremonger a bit.