eBay Linked PayPal Acccount?

[dlfallen]

I do much of my pre-war buying on the BST board, but will bid on eBay items I need and are uncommon. I just had two snipe bids rejected because "Pending bid for auction xxxxxxxxxxxx failed because the seller requires bidders have a linked PayPal account." This is the first time in well over 1,000 eBay bids that this has happened. WTF? The seller left money on the table as two of my bids were substantially higher than the hammer price.

I have googled the issue and while I can find many references to HOW to link eBay and PayPal accounts, I can find nothing that explained exactly WHAT a linked PayPal account is, or what the advantages/disadvantages might be. Actually, I thought I WAS linked. For example, I just bought a BIN item and just clicked on the "pay by PayPal" button. Presto, the item was paid for -- I was not taken to the PayPal site nor required to log in to PayPal. So, what the heck IS a linked account?

If anyone can unconfuse me, I would appreciate it.