Originally Posted by vampyrebyte

I really wish I could have been there to take pictures of everything. I would have had my friend ship everything that needed to be shipped, just like the one that she picked out for me from him.
I recently heard from someone else who is out a lot of money also and no geckos to show for any of it. They were also asked to pay through PayPal as "friends and family", which since that is done and since more than 180 days have passed, it can't be sent through a claim and resolution process in PayPal.

I remind all of you, unless you are sending money to some one you completely trust, to send money as "goods and services". That person is acting as a business and should accept the small fees that paypal askes for. If they don't want to accept the fees then add 3% to your purchase and still send it as "goods and services", that way they get the full amount and the fees are still on the purchaser (which shouldn't be the case in my opinion). You will then be protected with your purchase also as long as 180 days has not passed.
Even if it has been longer than 180 days, you should still open a dispute so PayPal can track their performance.

I've never asked anyone to pay as friends and family. That in my opinion is very unprofessional.