Paypal has extended its refund rules to include people who have bought goods from sites other than Ebay.

Now buyer protection for goods not received covers people who have bought goods using Paypal from other online retailers.

The online payment provider said the change was “small but significant”

If a claim for a refund is upheld, the consumer gets a full refund, including postage and packaging; even if there are no funds in the seller’s Paypal account.

However, the change does not cover goods that are not as described, damaged or incomplete.

Paypal told Computeractive that the change was voluntary and it had not been forced to extend the rights because of regulatory changes such as the Payment Services Regulations (PSR).

These regulations, which came into force on 1 November, include the remedial action that firms must take if a payment goes wrong.

“We have been thinking about extending the protection for buyers for a long time and now that so many different online retailers are using Paypal alongside other traditional payment methods, we felt it was the right thing to do,” a representative said.

The way to make a claim remains the same. Customers raise a dispute for goods not received on the Paypal site. If the seller can’t prove that the goods have been delivered and signed for, Paypal said the buyer’s complaint would probably be upheld.

Paypal said it had not placed a limit on what a refund could be and it would be for the full amount of the transaction.