If you paid for this with a credit card registered with PayPal (as opposed to a debit card or a direct access to a bank account for ACH transfers to PayPal), then you might be OK since you can depend on the credit card company's protection which is far more effective than PayPal and without any gotchas at PayPal like closing a dispute as you did which was a mistake. If it was a scam, then the seller could have just generated a valid tracking number and not shipped anything.
There are several scenarios that can happen:
1. You don't receive anything for a long time. Don't worry about the tracking number. Sometimes, it takes a week or more for the tracking to become available. if you paid by a credit card, find out right away what is the period within which you can file a dispute with the bank from the date of transaction (typically 45-60 days). If the shipment does not arrive within that time, immediately file a dispute a few days before the deadline with the bank for a chargeback. Most banks that issued the credit card allow you to do that online directly from your online account access. Give the reason as item never received. If you did not use a credit card, try calling PayPal customer support before the 45 days dispute period post-transaction expires and insist on opening a dispute for non-receipt and file away a note for the future NEVER to close a dispute with PayPal voluntarily until you have the item in hand and and it is satisfactory and you are done with the transaction.
2. You receive some trinket or an item that has nothing to do with what you ordered. For the credit card scenario, do the same as 1 above and if you had already done it before, update the bank with the new information of what was received. You should get a refund from the bank. If you did not use a credit card, do the same as 1 above to call PayPal and insist on opening a dispute for incorrect item shipped. It will not help you much if it is a scam because you will not get a refund from PayPal until you ship that trinket back with tracking number where delivery can be conirmed. If it is a scam, you will get an invalid address to ship back and it may be difficult to get PayPal to manually review this but possible if you are insistent.
3. You receive, as is most likely to happen in this case, a product that somewhat resembles what you ordered but is a piece of crap or will crap out soon. While you can do the same procedure with a credit card company, you are in a much more vulnerable position in this case and you may or may not get a refund from the credit card company. Consider this a lesson for not being a smart consumer and file away the following notes in your head for the future:
a. Never purchase anything online without a credit card protection.
b. Never provide a credit card to an online site you have no idea about or cannot verify that it is legit. Never give a credit card to an international site directly.
c. PayPal Buyer protection is mostly useless for international purchases especially from China/Hong Kong if the seller intends to scam you.
d. The online dispute resolution at PayPal is very automated and full of gotchas and holes if you are being scammed. Get used to talking to PayPal support over the phone.
e. If it is too good to be true in pricing, it is a scam. Don't rely on PayPal Buyer Protection or any other assurances to take that chance that it may be a great deal unless you are entirely ready to lose that money.
