Is there any protection inplace when a merchant use paypal as method of payment

you can't base it on pay pal. a business's reputation is in itself it's own reputation. all pay pal is there for is a safe interaction between buyin, selling, and transfer of funds online. if you buy from this company pay pal is not responsible for the items you purchased from the company. the company you purchased them from are responsible. just like you wouldn't declare target guilty if walmart was the one that did it. anyways, that's just an example. if you read through pay pal they have a buyers protection policy if i'm not mistaken. you can also call pay pal on there customer service line and speak with them directly about your concerns. just like when you buy something off of ebay. ebay is just the means in which they provide a service . if you post something on ebay for sale you're supposed to describe it accurately or ebay can terminate you from being associated with them. if you don't know the company and it's not on a sight or from a sight that you trust. check the BBB where they are located and see if they are registered or have had any complaints against them. do you research on the company and don't just take one answer from a website and if you're that insecure about buying the product from that company, don't buy it, find it from some where that you are comfortable buying from. do your research.