I wrote a post a long time ago, which can be found here. This is one of my most viewed posts, and so it is very important that I get a message out there to any who might read it.
Don't sell any bitcoins using paypal on localbitcoins.com
For a long time everything was fine on there, and each sale went through completely fine. But then a few months ago, someone I sold to reversed the payment. I made a post about this already when it happened, and I advised that you only sell to buyers who have a lot of positive feedback.
This advice was poor, for I have since had two others reverse the payment after I have already released the bitcoins from escrow- and one of those thieves had excellent feedback.
I have since found a new way to sell on that website. Instead of using paypal, you can search for "cash deposit" as an option. I have yet to use this as I am first going to have to make up the deficit on the paypal account, but having looked into it, I intend to switch to this type of selling method afterwards.
It is bound to take a lot longer, as the way that this works is, while the bitcoins are in escrow, the buyer will physically go to your bank's branch in their local area, and then deposit the funds directly into your bank using cash.
This not only negates the risk one is forced to take when selling with paypal, but it also means you will not receive any paypal fees(which trust me, add up to a substantial amount over time).
To anyone who may have followed this tutorial of mine, and were scammed because of it; I can only apologise. If it makes you feel any better, they fucked me too.