Dispute request refused due to date of transactions.

[MalSabreur]

I placed an order last January with a seller whom I have dealt with before. I didn't receive my order, but eventually, in June, he told me he had been ill for a considerable time but was now able to work again and would have my order out by the end of the week. Being reassured by him that everything was now back to normal and that any additions would be sent out at the same time I added to the order, which combined came to around £100

, which may not seem much, but as a full time, carer for my wife is a lot of money.
The owner of the company STILL didn't send my order, but persuaded me to be patient, explaining that it was due to the pandemic and a relapse of his illness. This went on until the PayPal time limit was up, at which point he stopped replying to my emails.

To me, this is deliberate fraud, and yet Paypal are unwilling to make any accomodation for problems caused by a global pandemic.

Does anyone in the UK have any ideas on what my next step should be? I know I am not the only one who has been scammed by this man.

[kernowlass]

@MalSabreur 

You have up to 180 days to open a dispute a full 6 months which is often more than some credit card companies give you, after that you have not buyer protection.

If you had filed a dispute for non receipt of item on day 179 and won the dispute and received a refund and then the item was shipped and turned up then its easy enough to pay again, but if you don't open a dispute and get your money back and the item does not arrive you are sadly out of luck.