Like everyone who sells on ebay I have a paypal account (imperitive if you want to pay the dreaded fees). I enjoy the knowledge that when I want to buy something I haven't got to mess around writing a cheque or going to the post office to pay extra to get a postal order. The main problem I have with paypal is that as soon as the fraudsters see you have a paypal account the fraudulent ebay and paypal emails come flooding in. We have had over two hundred fraudulent emails from people stating that they have sent me a payment and that I need to claim it (false: as I have a verified merchant account I don't have to claim any payments) click the link they say and then you can claim your payment - these links take you to the "paypal login screen" and then ask you to do just that (log in) - right there they have got you - or your paypal login details anyway and suddenly you have no money in it!!

The same goes for people who send you emails "from eBay"  - they look genuine enough but on closer inspection they are purple (genuine eBay emails are not purple) and they have a misspelling in the margins (usually on the report fraud link which also takes you to the eBay login screen - and again they have you - or your ebay login details anyway).

The only advice I can offer you is that if you receive an email from paypal no matter how genuine it looks - rport it as fraud anyway and if it is genuine paypal will contact you telling you it is genuine. Never login on a screen which you have reached thru an email into your regular email address. Always go to your ebay account thru normal methods (thru your internet explorer) and then click on your messages as all messages which have been sent thru ebay will be in there.

As always be safe :0)