just received this reply from him:
Hi,
Thanks for getting back to me. There has obviously been some kind of misunderstanding. I paid for it immediately, my paypal account is showing the payment as "unclaimed". This is the paypal email address associated with your ebay account: XXXXXXX to which the money has been paid to. . You can confirm this with Paypal as well.
I have already spoken with Ebay and they have advised me that they have put the payment on hold on their side:
"07:07:05 UTC XXXXXXX
Just one other thing; I've logged into my Paypal account just now and its showing the payment as "unclaimed"
07:07:38 UTC XXXXXX
Does tis mean his paypal email address is not associated with his ebay account?
07:09:01 UTC XXXXXX
Yes, I can confirm that the payment is kept on hold by eBay. This is done so that we can prevent our buyers from any kind of fraud and so that seller provides you with amazing service.
07:09:24 UTC XXXXXX
Oh right, ok I see"
This is most likely due to your feedback being below 10 at the moment. So yes, please get in touch with ebay, they will be able to confirm everything. 100% of my purchases on ebay have been successful, with no negative feedback and I've never had any strikes against my account. Once again, ebay will be able to confirm this when you speak to them. I haven't sent you any fake payments or fake emails.
Please let me know once its been sorted out.
Thanks.
Mod edit;
Names redacted and replaced with XXXXX