My current situation:
1—Paid $250 to a scam artist for a pair of shoes (don’t harass me about my spending habits! I can afford it!) Shoes never sent, Filed dispute, no response, week or so later escalated to claim. Seller told me to drop the dispute and he would ship. BS. I have documentation of all conversations. Result, Im waiting, but for now im out $250.

2- Bought True religion jeans, advertised as real, sold as fake. same response and actions. jeans received, and can easily prove they are fake. no results yet, filed dispute, now a claim, left negative feedback. im out ~$90.

3- I had a bank transfer go bad, so my PP account is $300 negative. Im am at a possible $340 loss. so I never added funds so at worst case scenario, I lose only $40.

I want to buy stuff, but im fed up with paypal at this point. Is there another way to securely send money? i heard postal service money order? how do these work? what about bad/unsent claims? Will i be covered similarly?
Can I still send payments from my linked bank account with the neg balance?

The people I had transactions with are no longer active on ebay or the forum where i was scammed. I fear they have emptied their accounts. Will i still get my money?

Thanks
Oh, and is the neg balance that I am using for collateral worth it? is it hurting my situation?
In response to YAGURU’s excellent answer, to clear up any confusion, and misrepresentation of character…please excuse my improper english, I simply do not care to respond in proper english.

“start buying clothes in a store like a normal person.”
I do. Georgetown DC is my closet. I just had to add more than i can get in person. dip$hit. less than 10% of my wardrobe is from online sources. And will always be that way bcoz i prefer to try stuff on. you are making ASSumptions out of your a$$.
BTW im a college student (paying to learn to better myself) and my corvette is in the repair shop getting repairs to the paint that some jealous a$$ like u probably ruined to begin with.

“Why are you trying to buy cheap stuff if you are so great and can afford expensive things.”

I think im the greatest i can be. You should think you are too unless u have issues. you sound kinda jealous

“I think you deserve what you got for being so vain.”
yeah…
i have a similar conclusion:
F* you too..
I just got off the line w/ a paypal rep. She said im covered up to $250 on the ~$90 jeans. but im not coverod on the shoes because it was not a ebay transaction. They said they will send him over to debt collection, and will ask soon if i had been paid. Where can I file a criminal or similar charge aginast this dude? I think im just going to pay the balance so i dont mess up my credit.
thanks for the fast and generally very informative replies.
I did all my research. I was paranoid about these people. the ebay dude had 125+ 100% positive feedback. the other dude had references on Nikeskateboarding.org. and since the transaction was thru paypal I assumed i was safe and covered up to $250. The jeans are no prob. I am covered no matter what, the shoes, I am “covered” but not guaranteed anything

i sent 3000.00 dollars to secure a loan by western union and i dont have my loan and cant get the bank to call me back what should i do