On mailing buyer via both his eBay email and his PayPal email (different addresses) he responded via eBay and opted for the Texas address. Sorted I thought!
Then a very urgent email from another person who claimed to be the owner of the PayPal account and that their account had been hacked.
Thankfully I had not posted the phone and on contact with PayPal the fraud was confirmed. The paypal account had been hacked and the US address associated with it changed.
I finally managed to reverse the payment this morning which was complicated by the fact I had already transferred it electronically to my regular bank account and that transaction also had to be reversed.
I have just had an email from the fraud victim who has been notified that he will be refunded in next couple of days so all is well though it did cause me a lot of grief and time on the phone.
I have to say that PayPal were as always excellent to deal with - I was the victim of a fraud myself on eBay a few years ago (this time purchasing an iphone) and they got my funds back and banned the seller.
The experience confirms my personal policy of always using PayPal when using Ebay - It doesn't guarantee you won't be the victim of fraud but ultimately it will be sorted.
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