item not received and 30 days for money back are up, what do I do?

[madamtakara]

So, it's one long story but I think I've been scammed.

I paid for some boots back in December, and after a few days of them not being marked as despatched, I got in touch with the seller. She told me she had been rushed to hospital for an emergency opp and would send the package the next day...so naturally I took pity on her. Few more weeks passed and no word or package, so I got in touch again and she assured me she had posted the boots the previous day. Couple more weeks and same story. So I get in touch again, twice, and she doesn't answer. A bit more looking and it seems her account is no longer active. This all took long enough that when she's stopped talking to me, the 30days eBay give you to get your money back were up.

I probably make myself look a bit naïve but I've had similar situations before where the seller has had genuine problems and the item has made it to me just fine, so I wasn't as suspicious as I probably should have been when giving her a second chance.

I get the feeling she purposely dragged it all out so it would be too late to do anything about it by the time I'd realised what she'd done. So EBay says I'm no longer eligible for my money back, and PayPal says to take it up with eBay. The seller herself is no longer talking to me, so is there any way I can get my money back? I've never had to go through the process before and feel a bit lost here.