alternatives to paypal

At this point what appears to be the case is that for a peer-to-peer sale (not through an internet storefront) the only option that provides "buyer protection" is PayPal. Everything else whether electronic or paper is a mixture of common sense on the reliability and reputation of the seller, and confidence in the general goodness of mankind that they will deliver the item on what is essentially a handshake deal.

A bit of reading indicates that the "misinformation" portion of the End User Agreement has been in place for a year or more (??) and the $2,500 was a new occurrence with unclear relationship to the previous misinformation statement. Am I getting that right?