Classified ad seller wants me to pay for item using his friend's PayPal account

[Fred6789]

The seller of an item that I want to purchase from a classifieds ad told me that he does not want me to pay him for the item with his PayPal account because he is currently having technical problems with his PayPal account.  So he wants me to pay using his friend's PayPal account.  Should I still purchase the item using is friend's PayPal account?  If I pay using his friend's PayPal account do I still have buyer protection?  He may not want me to use his PayPal account because he may have a seller dispute going with PayPal, and PayPal may have blocked his use of his PayPal account for that reason.  Thanks for any replies. 

[sharpiemarker]

@Fred6789 

As long as you send payment as goods and services, you'll have buyer protection but realize that buyer protection is not a 100% guarantee, warranty or insurance has it's limitations so please read the terms, conditions, requirements:

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security

[Fred6789]

Which method of payment within PayPal should I use?  I can use my checking account, Bank Of America VISA, or Bank Of America debit card.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @Fred6789,

Thank you for your post! I would suggest extreme caution. If the person selling the item has disclosed that their PayPal account is limited, that means that they are currently circumventing the limitation by asking a third party to receive the payment for them. That means that you are conducting a transaction with a person who has violated the PayPal User Agreement, potentially multiple times.

The information that @sharpiemarker gave regarding protecting yourself is correct, but please also keep in mind that it's always higher risk when a party in the transaction is asking you to go outside the bounds of the User Agreement or to allow them to do so.

I hope this helps!

Olivia