This is not true unless things have changed in the last few years. eBay will try to get the money back by flagging the fraudster's account. But if that account has been emptied there's nothing they can do and eBay does not refund your money from their pocket.
For the credit card comment. I don't think this is true either since I worked in retail before (family owned). Credit card companies are really quick to credit the account in case of fraud (I deal with this with my own CC every year). Thinking through this it makes sense since it doesn't come from the CC's pockets, they freeze assets in the merchant's account and forcefully refund the money from merchant's account if it was determined to be a fraudulent charge (in some cases merchant still pays the transaction fee for the CC charge).
I've never been refunded from eBay/Paypal no matter how obvious the fraud -- I've always had to do credit card chargebacks.
Never, ever fund a Paypal payment with anything but a credit card unless it's for something you can't possibly need refunded ever.
Recently I had a $20 IP camera(that price was too cheap but I was not doing my research) not arrive from China from a seemingly reputable seller with 500+ selling feedback over 2 years.
I filed a complaint with eBay and seller claimed a fake tracking number.
More interestingly, the seller had gone rogue, turning feedback private and acquiring about 100 negatives in a month.
So either the seller was hacked or had just pulled a long con.
My payment had come from Paypal balance and I got a very quick refund once I informed eBay that I wanted a refund.