Gaetan & Roger
Thank you for your posts. Ebay provided the seller with the option and a special button showed up on my account to confirm for Ebay when I had made the payment, so Ebay were aware at all times what method of payment the seller wanted when he listed the item. And Ebay was informed by me when I paid when I clicked on the special button to notify them.
Graetan you are quite right about Buyer protection through PayPal, so I took a risk. However, Ebay has acted in bad faith not the seller. The seller messaged me that he received payment and would ship the item on Monday. However, Ebay have closed his account so he will be unable to access my postal address through no fault of his own. Ebay is at fault here, whereas, the seller acted impeccably and, as is obvious, was still prepared to send the item even after it sold for under market value. Neither I nor the seller deserve to be treated in the way Ebay has acted in this instance.