I've never had any run ins with paypal and rarely hear anything bad about it to be honest. And if there is a problem with a transaction, in most stories I hear, they tend to side more with the seller than the buyer.
Unless you take cash or checks, there's not much else you can do since direct checkout isn't available to anyone outside the US. To be honest I've heard more bad things about DC than paypal - though they've been mostly opinions and preferences than actual problems.