Actually there is a more evil reason for this. I have delt with Paypal on this issue before, and in fact I do believe they were sued because of their credit card antics.

See, when you by something via paypal they are acting as the seller's agent. Visa/Mastercard have VERY strong consumer protections and Paypal must agree to abide by them if they are to take them as a form of payment.

When you pay via credit card Paypal agrees that if for any reason(and there are a lot) you are not happy with the deal they will cover the cost when you do a chargeback through the card company(Evil term for vendors, I know)

Basically, as a buyer your butt is covered if you charge it. Paypal will have to go after the guy that stiffed you and you have your money back very quickly.

Now if you fall for that crap they feed you about using your bank account, guess who's court the ball is in if the deal goes sour? Paypal already has your money and you really have no way to get it back other than playing by Paypal's rules, i.e. making a claim via the paypal claim method, and even then they have a limit as to how much you get back.

Plus, you have to meet the requirements to even file a claim. Was the email you sent the money to the same as the ebay account? If not, too bad.. that is one of the rules, no money back for you!

USE YOUR CREDIT CARD IF YOU CAN!

If something goes wrong all you have to do is call your card company and in most cases you have your money back in a couple days and Paypal can worry about cleaning up the mess, not you.