PayPal is one large, staggering horror story. As a frequent eBay seller and buyer, I have an elaborate system to protect myself from PayPal and the people who I do business with who insist on using it. I could probaby write a dissertation on how to use PayPal without taking on the risks of financial ruin.
Your primary dangers with PayPal are:
* As a buyer, dealing with fraudulent sellers, and not being able to seek the protection of the Fair Credit Act (if you do seek your legal protections, PayPal will ban you for life).
* As a seller, dealing with fraudulent chargebacks, which PayPal will wash their hands of.
* As either a buyer or seller, having your PayPal account emptied by hackers, which occasionally (but not usually) is an "inside job".
* As either a buyer or seller, having your PayPal account frozen, and/or your bank account raided by PayPal, over a dispute of some kind.
* Having no legal recourse to any of this, as when you accepted PayPal's Terms of Service, you agreed that in any dispute, the dispute must be settled by an arbiter of PayPal's choosing, and not in a court of law.
An increasing number of businesses and individuals are refusing to accept PayPal over the last year, because the track record has been deteriorating.
All that being said, I would NOT HESITATE to do a deal with PlasmaExtreme using PayPal. PlasmaExtreme has a very good reputation, and I think you would not be exposed to the normal PayPal risks by dealing with PlasmaExtreme.
Honestly, PlasmaExtreme is probably taking a greater risk with PayPal than you would be, since they are a known quantity with known business practices that are documented in this forum, and even though you are a very good and honest person, they don't know anything about you....