Without knowing the actual details of the transaction, it's possible a more apt analogy would be buying a Picasso and receiving a Matisse - not what you ordered

Without knowing the actual details of the transaction, it's possible a more apt analogy would be buying a Picasso and receiving a Matisse - not what you ordered but you're not going to destroy a Matisse. Violins often have fake labels but that doesn't make the violin fake (whatever that means). If the violin sold for $2500, then it was probably made by a relatively unknown maker whether the label was faked or not. As such, the violin should be judged by the quality/playability of the instrument. Obviously we only have one side of the story, but either way it seems that Paypal didn't do its due diligence in determining the authenticity of the violin. Edit: The label is visible in the photo and says it was made by Bourguignon Maurice. A quick search online reveals that his violins go for anywhere from $2500 - $1000 and he is certainly not unheard of. That said, there are plenty of violins by unknown makers that sell for the same amount so without any other details we really don't know whether the buyer was ripped off or not.