Peter Manners, 45, of Barnehurst, Kent, noticed last month that £680 had been fraudulently taken from his PayPal account to pay for a computer on eBay. The computer was collected from the seller in person, but not by Mr Manners.

“People need to know that dealing with eBay and PayPal may not be entirely safe, and when things go wrong they can expect little help,” he said.

PayPal refunded Mr Manners £150 after suggesting that he follow its “item not received” complaints procedure - even though he did not bid for the item.

Mr Manners, a contracts director with BT who is not a regular eBay shopper, must now wait to see if PayPal recovers the rest of the money from the seller's account to obtain a full refund. “It is not the seller's fault either. I have been the victim of a crime where an unauthorised transaction has taken place using my eBay account, and subsequently my PayPal account.”

PayPal said that had Mr Manners raised his claim after the new unlimited buyer protection came into force this Tuesday, he would have received a full refund.

Mr Manners said: “My case still shows major deficiencies with the complaints procedures, as what happened to me was about my account being hacked, not problems with an item.”

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