Unlinking bank accounts and credit cards won't make a difference. PayPal can't just take money from your linked bank account or credit card without your permission, that would be highly illegal.
Clearing out the account quickly isn't going to solve anything either. If the buyer scams them after they've moved the money then they will have a negative balance, and they will need to repay it just like any other debt. If they refuse to pay then they will send debt collectors after them, and while they don't have any legal rights they aren't exactly well known for following the rules. At the very least it's going to be a major headache. If the debt collection agency fails then PayPal can take them to court to enforce it.
As I said, I'm speaking from experience. I've had to ditch a few PayPal accounts over the years over this sort of thing. For not insignificant amounts of money either.
From experience, they will send the sums to a debt collection agency, but the debt collection agency has little to no power to collect. You have no credit agreement, and agreed terms and conditions don't supercede law.
They absolutely do attempt to take money from your bank account in such a situation as well. It's why they insist so much that you set up a direct debit with them, it entitles them to make deposits and withdrawals as your account "needs." So when they put your account into negative balance, a direct debit attempt is made as an account top up to cover "needed" funds.
You take your bank card off the account as well just in case you need to pay for something with your card via PayPal. They won't process your card if it's currently attached to an account with a negative balance.
You did not answer what I asked
I have gone against PayPal (hacked account) but through the Financial Ombudsman Service as last resort after months of rejection from PayPal. It went to mediation and they offered a one-time payment and believe me after phone calls with the FO I believe this is a rare occurrence. Dont believe me I will quite happily post the redacted emails.
I did answer your question. My point, as I said before, is that if they do have grounds to make some sort of claim, you're still better off having the money they're disputing, rather than them having it and you being at their mercy.
Getting money out of PayPal is very hard, bjt fortunately it works the same the opposite way around.
That's likely why your experience differs, they had the money and you were trying to resolve it that way. I've had this happen enough times to know that PayPal doesn't do anything but sell it on to a toothless debt collection agency after a short while.
He can't guarantee there will be no future repercussions. They will definitely send debt collectors for a substantial amount, and if they take it to court then PayPal will win because you agreed to their terms and conditions. His position is that it's better to have the money in your account, make PayPal chase you and hope they don't take it to court.
https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdvic...aypal_calls_over_negative_balance_from_buyer/
I never said I guaranteed anything, obviously if you were to intentionally scam PayPal, they'd have recourse. But that isn't the point I'm making. It's extremely difficult for PayPal to actually recover funds once you've withdrawn them from your account, and unlinked your bank account.
I'm also not sure what you think that Reddit link proves. It's just people giving their opinions.
When it comes to pay, if it's not related to a credit agreement (PayPal credit) there's genuinely little they can do to recover money short of suing you, which 99% of the time isn't financially viable for them to do, and even then it's highly unlikely they would unless they thought they had a good case to prove you were scamming them or customers as seller.