Made an offer on a Fenix 5 plus titanium on eBay last night which was accepted and I paid straight away.
Got a message this morning stating the order had been cancelled. Contacted the seller who says he never received Payment and thinks both accounts have been hacked and is contacting police.
My Paypal is saying Payment is ‘pending’ and seller hasn’t accepted it.
Is he just trying to pull a fast one?

Probably innocent would be my guess – for a pending payment like that the seller has to go to Paypal, find the payment and click accept. He probably just doesn’t realise that, didn’t see the email and is jumping to conclusions.

I’d cancel the payment just in case if it’s not already (to stop him accepting the payment now and causing a hassle sorting it out as the sale has already been cancelled), then explain to him and see if he’s willing to try again.

Pulling a fast one by not taking your money sounds like an odd approach. I’d probably send a message to eBay or PayPal and get their advice

OK now I’m really worried as payment has been accepted but ebay order still cancelled.
Got a message saying he will post watch today but has all my protection gone

I’d be worried, stinks to hi heaven !! Get in touch with ebay and paypal.

I’ve had similar- sold something recently. I receive an offer and then the buyer decided to buy-it-now a few minutes later. I wait for payment, nothing. He asks a week later if I received payment and to check paypal. Funds not received and ebay stating item not paid for yet. I’ve just cancelled it to relist. Not sure if he was just messing me around.
Could be genuine issue in ebay then!?

Yep, phone eBay – they are helpful. If the purchase was cancelled then you need your money back.

Got a message saying he will post watch today but has all my protection gone

The money went through normal PayPal channels (from your point of view), so you’re still covered. OTOH, it could be on its way anyway

yeah, think I’m going to sit it out and see if watch arrives. Still showing as cancellation pending based on my confirmation that refund has been issued and all messages have been through eBay stating he has money and will send watch so if it doesn’t appear will open a dispute then

As long as you’re not sending money to friends, Paypal will protect you as the buyer. If it’s all done via eBay then you’re alright. From experience refunds usually take 5-7 working days to arrive in your account (though they take the money straight out of the sellers account). You should have received a confirmation that the refund was pending…

This;

Contacted the seller who says he never received Payment and thinks both accounts have been hacked and is contacting police.

Do you know if he’s got a long trading/selling history? Pending payments mean that the money has been sent to an email address that’s new or not been confirmed yet. Typically this happens if someone changes their email details or is just setting themselves up on Paypal for the first time. They’ll have to login with that address and complete the verification process (with linked bank accounts etc in the background).

It’s possible that his PP account has been hacked in some way to route funds via a new email address. I’ve also seen it where someone has made a mistake when entering the details – ie. mis-spelt the address – and it’s essentially just ‘pending’ as it isn’t being picked up. If it’s not accepted, then PP return the monies to you anyway.

But you should be covered by PP protection regardless. If the watch doesn’t turn up, the only way he’d be able to keep the funds would be if he could produce valid postage tracking information that confirmed delivery (preferrably with a signature).

Quick update: watch arrived and all fine. Was getting notifications that item had been paid and dispatched and cancellation still pending me stating I have been refunded or not paid. No option to decline cancellation though but guess it doesn’t matter now.

So the seller thought the tranaction was dubious, cancelled it and then sent the watch anyway?
Either I’m too tired or something isn’t making sense.

Best guess: Seller got notification payment had been made but wasn’t showing in account (my Paypal was showing seller hadn’t accepted funds); panicked and cancelled sale thinking account had been hacked.
I did a search and posted him a link to how to accept funds and 10 mins later or so he messaged me saying all was good and would post watch.
Bit weird but worked out OK.

Anyone else getting lots of super-random interest from accounts hailing (apparently) from Mexico? I’ve had two really weird bids on a used frame in the last 24 hours from zero feedback accounts and then another quite demandy request for more info on an old iPod I’m selling from yet another account based in Mexico. The ones on the frame make it look like the auction has shill bidding on it; I’d be a bit less weirded out if I hadn’t had a sweary 13 year old get outbid on it a few weeks ago by yet another zero feedback bidder who never paid. I’ve not sold on eBay for a while, and was always lucky to sell to some really pleasant people, so coming back to this level of oddity is a bit unsettling…

The level of oddity has definitely increased, been selling some of my dad’s stuff recently and will be glad when I’m done.