Paypal does not protect animal purchases that point a lot of people think to forget, which mean you are really not protected.
What it comes down to regardless of who you are dealing with is sending your money to someone reputable.
One of my pet peeves are sellers asking their customer to cover Paypal fees, first of all it is AGAINST their TOS, secondable as a business owner this is just the cost of doing business which is way cheaper still then processing credit card and having a merchant account. Would he ask you to pay for gas so he can go to the bank and deposit your check? (Like I said big turn off for me)
I actually do not do business with people who chose to be cheap and don’t understand the cost of business.
As for fees it’s 2.9% plus $0.30 per transation