Pam, as a BUYER you should ALWAYS use your credit card. It is the buyer's best friend -- the credit card, the threat of doing a charge back in a dispute, and the actual use of it for a charge back if worse comes to worse. Even if you don't mention "charge back" in your dispute, it gives you great leverage as it is in the back of everyone's mind (the seller and the PayPal people).

And for the same reasons, a seller on eBay should never allow the use of PayPal for high ticket item auctions/sales.
Robert