Some thought on Snuffles and some experiences lately

Recently I bought a large 30" Millenium Snuffles from someone online who had excellent feedback established over a long period of time on Ebay and the Snuffles Forum. However, I never received the item, and there is absolutely no response by email. A paypal dispute ended unanswered, and paypal agreed that I am entitled to a refund, however, they cannot refund me because the person has no funds in their account. How funny is that? Strange behaviour of the seller to say the least. Is this a sign of the economy? Even in this hobby of lovely cute teddybears we have to watch out not to get screwed? I wonder what is next? This is just infinitely sad.