Hi wc, welcome to the forums!
The truth is that in any marketplace or selling venue, the seller usually ends up reaching farther toward compromise than the buyer. If you walked into a store with a boxed-up lamp and said "when I got home and plugged this lamp in, it did not work" then the store would take the lamp back and either give you your money back or a new lamp. A buyer who is shopping online has to have the same expectation of recourse, or that buyer will have no reason to buy online - they'll just go to that brick and mortar store where they can hold the item in their hands before committing to buy, and can return it if something is wrong.
I can definitely understand your concern. There is some exposure for the seller if a buyer is being dishonest. This is true online, and it's true in person. In selling, the default assumption has to be that a buyer's claim is honest. Obviously there are situations where additional information will disprove that honesty, but in the absence of sufficient information to prove the buyer's dishonesty, the onus is on the seller to make things right.
Now, if a buyer is in the habit of acting this way, PayPal is going to notice, and look more deeply into the buyer's activities. Buyers who are discovered to be abusing the dispute process face the possibility of account limitation or other actions.
The best recommendation I can make is to be as forthcoming as possible in the dispute process, and offer the information you have. Even if it doesn't win you the claim, it shows the circumstances and contributes to the big picture.
I hope this helps!
Olivia
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