I've just sold an AV receiver on eBay for 41UKP, so relatively small amount. PayPal payment advice came through in the name of "Ian Burton" but eBay auction end notice gives buyer's name in profile as "Shaun Richard", with "verified address".

Should I be concerned here? I've messaged him via eBay to call me to arrange collection. Haven't heard from him yet. Some quick advice would be helpful, thanks.

Wait until the money is actually credited to your account and then proceed.

I had a problem with my account where someone used or tried to use my account and PayPal blocked me until I sent them physical proof of a water bill or something similar with my name and address on it.

I then added some money to my account or made a very small transaction, a very small amount, and that transaction took more than several days to go through.

Wait until the money actually resides in your account and then proceed. That's about the only advice I can give.

Dave, the payment is showing on the PayPal interface. I take it you mean I should withdraw the money to my regular bank account and wait until it's there and cleared?

That's what I'd do.

You can also contact PayPal but it's been my experience that it's a real pain in the ass to talk to a real person or find a physical address. I had to send a copy of my water bill to an address in Ireland. I also called them on the phone but I paid something like 10 Euro cents per minute while I waited for someone to pick up. It's not easy contacting them.

I'd also transfer the $$ to your account and when it clears send the item.

I always use my wife's paypal, it has never come back on me that it's a different name.

A couple of things that you can do:

First, never let money sit in your paypal account. They can't take what they cannot get at.

I have a dedicated 'free checking' bank account for paypal that I created, it has no checks, it has direct deposit to and from paypal, and a one-way ability to transfer out of that account to my regular checking account. I transfer money from paypal to that bank account, and transfer it from that account to my regular checking account, never leaving more than $100 in the dedicated paypal bank account and keeping paypal empty. (The $100 sits in the dedicated paypal bank account for when one of us wants to buy a computer cable or other low cost item, and is just a matter of convenience. You only have to keep the minimum balance in the account required by your bank to keep it open.) This creates a level of protection between paypal and my personal finances.

There is nothing inherently fishy about someone else making a payment for a friend. I can think of several scenarios where the situation that you describe would be harmless.

It always pays to keep yourself safe. It is always important to watch out for such small details. But on the surface, this one looks okay to me.

I don't know how it works there, but here I was able to get directly to a paypal rep on the phone, who did indeed try to help me when I had a situation go wrong. Unfortunately, the seller had emptied his paypal account and there was 'nothing that paypal could do', so take their guaranty with a grain of salt.

Thanks Bill - I have gone and requested a transfer of the amount into my bank as everyone's suggested. I don't keep a balance in the PayPal account anyway, as I rarely use it for purchases.

The buyer's still not contacted me, so we'll see what his story is.

I just recently completed a sale on Ebay using Pay Pal...the buyer paid quickly but Pay Pal won't release the funds to me from my account for 21 days...they wait until the buyer actually receives the merchandise and confirms that everyting is OK. And it is common for a buyer to use a Pay Pay account with a different name to pay for the goods...could be his girlfriend, sister, mother/father,friend, whatever who owns the account. Not to worry.

He probably got his mate to pay for it, I reckon it'll be fine, I've bought things that way before.