I’ve been scammed and PayPal is not helping

[Walsh20]

I have been scammed while buying a concert ticket... I sent the seller around $270CAD while buying a concert ticket which I never received (it was supposed to be transferred to me over ticketmaster but the ticket clearly didn’t exist because they kept telling me they sent it but I never did receive it)... the seller was texting me and telling me to send the money to his email but to choose the personal option so that there wouldn’t be a 21 day hold (I don’t use PayPal often so I wasn’t aware that I should have chosen goods and services). I have told PayPal this and even offered to send in copies of the text messages to verify that the person instructed me to choose that option. PayPal will not refund me my money because I chose the wrong option. I called PayPal a couple of days ago (the same day I sent the money to the person) and they told me they could not dispute it until 2-3 days after. I called back today and got nowhere with the whole situation. Now I am out all of this money and I am a poor student. This is ridiculous!

[kernowlass]

@Walsh20

A friends / family (or gift payment) is intended as a transfer of funds from family or friends to one another. For this reason, there is no processing fee when payment is made with bank or PayPal balance.
However as it is a “gift” payment, there is also no Buyer protection as no goods or services should have been exchanged.

If he was not a close mate or family member you should never use that option as it enables the seller to evade his paypal fees and negates your buyer protection at the same time.
You also risk having your account limited for using this option when you are purchasing goods as its against Paypal rules.

Your only hope is if you funded your paypal payment via a credit card then contact your card issuer and see if they will help you but unfortunately again as it was a 'gift' of money they may decline as well.