When you are covered:

1Your transaction is marked either eligible or partially eligible. You can check the status on the Transaction Details page.
2Your primary residence, as listed in your PayPal account, is in the United States.
3The item is a physical, tangible good that can be shipped.

AND you do the following:

You ship the item to the shipping address listed on the PayPal Transaction Details page. If you’re not selling on eBay, make sure you ship to a Confirmed Address. This means that you’re shipping to an address that PayPal has validated to help reduce chances of fraud.
We recommend you ship within 7days of receipt of payment.
For all transactions, keep proof of shipment and delivery that can be tracked online. If your buyer picks the item up in person, or you can't provide traceable proof of delivery, your transaction won’t qualify.
For payments over $250 USD (or local currency equivalent, including shipping and tax) or more, be sure that you have signature confirmation of delivery in addition to proof of shipment (See above). If a buyer files a claim, you must respond to our requests for information as outlined in our communications to you.

When you are not covered:

Items are picked up locally or delivered in person.
You sell services, intangible items, or digital goods.
You receive multiple payments for the same item.
You've received a claim or a chargeback, and the shipped item is found to be significantly different than it was described.
Example: You describe a new laptop, but send a used one.
PayPal Direct Payments
Virtual Terminal Payments
PayPal Business Payments
Items that are not shipped to the recipient shipping address on the transaction details page. If you originally ship the item to the shipping address but the item is later redirected to a different address, you will not be eligible for PayPal Seller protection. We therefore recommend not using a shipping service that is arranged by the buyer, so that you will be able to provide valid proof of shipping and delivery.

It happens occasionally. Seems like it is usually someone nearby but not always. In one case I had tons of miniatures from a closed miniatures store. There were these little porcelain vases. I had about 1600 of them. I was selling them on ebay in lots of 5 then 10 then 20, each time a slightly better deal because I wanted to get rid of them. I think the lots of 20 were $25.00. I would list 10 lots of 20 and the same person would buy them all. We finally exchanged phone numbers and made a deal off ebay for the rest of them. I think I had almost 1500 left at that point and she paid me $1400 for them. No fees. I do make sure to never make a deal in writing though. For me it's nice to avoid fees but not sure what the benefit is for the buyer.

once someone buys from you, at that point you have their email address so can safely just email them right off ebay, say hey you been buying all my such and such, we've had a few successful transactions. if we take this off ebay it saves me 13% in fees and I can pass some of that savings along to you.

the problem i think travis was facing is if someone hasn't bought from you, you don't have any contact info from them, all you know is their ebay name and only have the abiliity to message or contact them through the ebay system

Make sure you never leave a papertrail through ebay organizing an off ebay transaction. If I'm not mistaken ebay also forbids you to exchange personal emails through ebay messaging which makes it hard to communicate with a buyer to arrange an off ebay deal.

The plus side to you is you avoid ebay fees. You still have Paypal seller protection and buyer still has Paypal buyer protection. I guess there really is no negative to you.

I have an 800 number not sure how they feel about personal numbers but if someone asks for larger quantities or something and I think they are trying to go off ebay I'll normally say I have my 800 number on all my listings, please contact me to discuss. They will calla nd I can arrange that way with no paper trail.

If I do write back I'll say something like contact me to discuss and I can put up a special listing just for you, so on papaer looks like I'm goinna go through ebay even though they gonna call me and we can arrange something off ebay

the least attented auctions in my area are the ones where the facility conducts the auction themself. maybe they have a small contact list of people to call, maybe they place the required newspaper ad but not much beyond that. on the other hand the auctions who hire an auctioneeer have big crowds. probably because a. the auctioneer has their own following and own website and does their own advertising outside of what the facility does. aslo oftentimes these are done on a circuit so to speak where a caravan of cars goes to all the auctions. maybe one facility is sorta out of the way so normally people wouldn't attent but because its a caravan you cant exactly skip one auciton and then catchup with the group later because you never really know how long things will take

i used to have one but switched to the capital one cash card for business

Yes, A lot of people have been looking for their packages, USPS lost a few, and yes, people wanting refunds when the package did not get there during it's estimated time period even though it was free shipping. Funny how people think small sellers on Ebay actually somehow control the U.S.P.S. or U.P.S.

thats what annoys me. i ship all my packages within 24 hours max, generally within a few hours. i've gotten a few neutral feedbacks stating slow shiping time. ive requested feedback revisions saying i printed your label within 2 hours and shipped same day, how long the post office takes is out of my control, we'll see if they revise.

Obviously mail is slower during the Holidays. I'm seeing some first class packages taking like 10 days, even priority which was guranteed in 1,2 or 3 days is now 4 days. I have so many buyers wanting refunds. One guy I actually gave a refund to and package showed up very next day so I'm out payment and product. Now I'm telling people I gurantee I will refund or reship but will wait appropraite time to make sure package truly is lost and not just slow. what a headache. i love how people wanna do my free shipping option and then wanna cry they didnt get item next day when if they wanted to they could upgrade for an additional fee. im also annoyed usps is now calling delivery confirmation tracking, its misleading. i get at least 3 messages a day saying hey my package is still sitting at such and such or my package is still in this state. i have to give them the whoel spiel about ussp is delivery confirmation not tracking.