Public Service Announcement
eBay's Buyer Protection works, but you're not guaranteed to have it as a buyer on eBay. If eBay determines (the criteria for which is a secret, apparently) that your purchases have been "risky," then they'll revoke Buyer Protection on your purchases without warning.
I discovered this recently when an item from China was overdue by a month. Going to "Item didn't arrive" greets you with a message that Buyer Protection is not available on your purchase. Thanks, eBay, for punishing me for things outside my control.
Thankfully, the item arrived after all. I guess it's AliExpress from now on for buying goods from China.