I have read about Nigerian Ebay scammers in reviews and guides but never thought it would affect me. Then I listed 2 Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The winning bidder had a feedback score of 0 and his ID was private, worse still he won both phones. I received a fake Paypal payment email into my inbox. These payments are fairly easy to spot:

1: The subject title of the email will tell you that YOU have won the item which you were selling.

2: The 'buyer' will include a message saying something like 'this is for my mothers birthday in Nigeria who needs it desperately' (you get the picture). This particular guy sent me this email for both items, and I'm pretty sure his mother didn't need two phones!!

3: You will receive a fake Paypal payment (as well as the individuals email) from www paypal /uk/us.com. This is NOT an official Paypal payment. Check your Paypal account to verify this. (NOTE: there is a dot between www and paypal in this address but Ebay won't let me put it on - only links to Ebay pages!!)

4: The 'buyer' will tell you that the payment will be credited to your account when he has received confirmation of posting. DON'T POST!!! You will lose the item and receive no money.

5: The 'buyer' will tell you that he has included a huge postage/packing fee (mine was £40 for EACH phone), and will be adamant that you post first class.

6: The 'buyer' will tell you he cannot ship to Nigeria as he has just moved into his registered Ebay address and can't  receive mail there. Therefore he's asking you to ship it there for him.

7: Forward the fake Paypal emails to spoof @ paypal . com (NOTE: type this address without the spaces as a normal email address, yet again Ebay will not let me type it as it should be. Helpful ain't they??!!)

Here is the email in its entirety:

Dear seller,
       Calvary greetings, I am the winner of your auction, this item is meant to be a gift to my Mother for her 70th Birthday in western part of africa (Nigeria). Please she is urgently in need of this item, as I had promised to send her a gift for her birthday, i would appreciate if you can help me do the shipping directly and fast. i would have done that myself but i cant recieve mail presently here because i just moved in, payment will be made via paypal and 40Pounds will be added for shipping and handling. Please i want the item sent by first class delivery so as to be sure it gets to its destination. Send the item via(Royalmail First Class Delivery)thank u and GOD bless u. Pls i will need u to include this short note.
                             "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND GOD BLESS U"
ship to address:
Akerele Babatunde
P.O Box 92,
Igbara Odo Ekiti,
Ekiti State
Nigeria
23401
 
Pls get back to me asap! if this is alright wit u so i can make the payment on time.its really urgent i get this to him fast so pls help me
thank you.
 
Regard
Abayomi

Hopefully fewer people will get roped in by this scam as it seems to be a more and more common occurance on Ebay. Also, Ebay should review their Dispute Console policy as I figured out this scam straight away, but couldnt report it for at least a week after the item ended. This means I'm losing money waiting to send a second chance offer to a genuine Ebay member!! This scam is annoying to the extreme, so please, if you find this guide useful vote YES to highlight this to more Ebayers and minimize the amount of victims of this scam.

Edited:

After posting this guide (and contacting the 'buyer' telling him i knew he was a scammer), I received an email from the paypal /uk/us email address telling me that this person had paid and that I should post the item within the next 24 hours or else!! Yet again I forwarded this to the real Paypal and they confirmed that it was a spoof email. DO NOT BELEIVE THESE EMAILS, they are trying to scare you into sending the item. Always forward them to the relevant Ebay / Paypal spoof report address to make 100% sure they are fake. Do not be bullied into sending items you're not going to get paid for.