PayPal closed my dispute, but how can I tell if they sided with me or with the scammer?

[Chuckfops]

I found a website that was selling an item I’ve been looking for. So I do the normal steps and pay through PayPal. I wait and wait and they never send me an invoice or anything. So I mail them through PayPal options. I never get a response. I go back to the web page and the phone number on their page is fake. No reply from the person I sent the payment to. So I decided to dispute it. It was closed in one day. And in the email PayPal sent me, it really doesn’t say what the outcome was. Just that it is closed. All the info in the email I knew already. I came here to the website and again I can’t tell who they sided with. How can I tell? I’m so lost. I haven’t used PayPal in years. I’m starting to remember why. My son says I’m **bleep** because they tricked me into sending money to family and friends. It’s not really a transaction or receipt of my purchase. All I know is there is a lot of Chinese characters everywhere. Yet the email I sent payment to was in English. Can someone just give me enough info to tell if they sided with me or the scammer? Am I really **bleep**?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@Chuckfops 

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 paying his Paypal fees and negates your buyer protection at the same time.

You would also not be able to open a dispute (apart from one citing an unauthorised transaction), which would be automatically closed as you did authorise the initial payment.

Be careful as using that option for purchasing goods is against Paypal rules and can lead to account limitation.

If you funded your Paypal payment via a credit card then contact your card issuer and see if they will help you but unfortunately they may decline as well as it was a gift payment.

[Chuckfops]

Thank you sir for explaining that to me. Lesson learned I guess. Luckily it was only for $35ish