I have even purchased electronic stuff like points for online games for my son and have gotten a refund from PP when the purchase didn't work... 

Yes you can do it safely. 

Yes you have protection if you buy through pay pal

ive sent off invoices for unsold ebay items thru pp, and you are not breaking any fee avoidance ebay policys (you can do what you like) from memory in pp when making a invocie you can select the ebay item & type in the item number - the buyer recieves the the description of the ebay item in the pp invoice... yes the buyer has pp buyer protection.

depends on what the buyer wants, you can ask the seller to send an ebay invoice for the unsold item so youve got that added back up of feedback. the seller doesnt have to re-list the item. they have already paid for a insertion ebay fee 

well, there you go : I've learned something new today about PP

Acutally I just learnt pimpy could be right. 

could be? COULD BE RIGHT????

hmmmph

I always feel it is some kind of trap if a buyer asks me to send a paypal invoice for an unsold item, I agree with debra, ask the seller to create a buy it now listing that way the seller isn't violating any eBay policy. You really never know who is sending these messages - no offence intended bob.

If the seller is caught out and they could well be caught out now, they could have their account suspended or account restrictions.

It is actually avoiding ebay fees.  People seem to think that once an auction is over then the seller has the right to do an off ebay transaction but that isn't the case.

This is from the help pages.

http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html

so you can't dispute on paypal? I thought I save him paying for advertising costs again.

I have just won an off eBay dispute through Pay Pal - however, what you are thinking of doing is pretty unethical, ie assisting someone in circumventing eBay fees.

A seller is supposed to "advertise" list their item at the price they are happy to accept - he did just that, knowing full well that it might not sell, but obviously hoping it would.

The whole reason you are aware that his item is for sale is because of his "advertisement" on eBay - he got what he paid for.

Probably shouldn't have advertised on an eBay chat forum that you were considering entering into an off eBay sale.... Pretty sure they get a bit cranky about that kind of thing.

I have just won an off eBay dispute through Pay Pal - however, what you are thinking of doing is pretty unethical, ie assisting someone in circumventing eBay fees.   A seller is supposed to "advertise" list their item at the price they are happy to accept - he did just that, knowing full well that it might not sell, but obviously hoping it would.   The whole reason you are aware that his item is for sale is because of his "advertisement" on eBay - he got what he paid for.   Probably shouldn't have advertised on an eBay chat forum that you were considering entering into an off eBay sale.... Pretty sure they get a bit cranky about that kind of thing.

I thought if they relist and sells advertising is free anyways. 

It's amazing how little I know about how ebay works. How long have I been here. :^O