Are my buyers scamming me through Paypal?

Hi, I'm new to Paypal sales and looking for some advice on an odd situation...

I've been running an online shop for a few months, selling clothing and accessories. I usually get one sale every few weeks.

A few days ago, I received my first overseas order - someone from Canada buying a pair of sunglasses. They paid via Paypal. I packed and shipped the goods immediately.

Then last night, I suddenly get 3 orders, all from (ostensibly) different people with different IP addresses, again all of them paying via Paypal. 2 of them are local. The 3rd order is from Canada again, AND they are buying the exact same pair of sunglasses that I had just shipped to the other Canadian customer.

I don't understand this sudden sales spike. I haven't bought any ads, flyers, etc - nothing that would account for it. I also don't get why 2 people from the same foreign country would decide to buy the same thing within days of each other.

Another weird thing is that both Canadian customers gave shipping addresses that are different from their billing addresses. One of the billing addresses is fake - it doesn't exist according to Google Maps.

Could someone with more experience of online sales and Paypal shed some light on this? Does it look like I'm being scammed - or am I just paranoid?

I'm reluctant to post up these people's private information on a public website, as they may be genuine customers. They haven't done or said anything that would raise red flags. I'm just thinking that 4 sales in a row seems maybe a little too good to be true.

Thanks in advance for any advice I can get

Before you sent the first pair of glasses, did you login to your paypal account and confirmed monies have been deposited?

Scammers tend to send fake paypal e-mails. On the outside the e-mail appears legitimate, with logos and other things. However, if you click "reply to", or check from which address e-mail was sent from, it's always a free e-mail address.

Also was there any correspondence prior to you shipping the glasses? Scammers use scripts on which we can figure them out.

Tough one. Despite the strange circumstances, nothing immediately screams "scam".

One common scam trick is to buy goods, pay by cheque or CC and ask that shipping fees are deducted and forwarded by the seller to the "shipper" (a money mule or stooge). By the time the cheque or card returns as fake or stolen, the seller has sent the fees. I guess a compromised paypal account could work the same scam.

However, unless you have forgotten to mention it, there's been no such activity in your case.

I agree with the other respondent, I'd proceed with extreme caution and attempt to strike up some dialogue with the buyers (ask what kind of shipping they prefer, are they interested in any other items, basically any excuse for some correspondence) and post any replies here. Scammers often give themselves away by their lexicon or scripts.

Reply-To and From can be forged. Look at the Received headers. You'll see one where your mail server received the message. The IP address that it received the message from should, when looked up in whois, belong to PayPal. (There may be forged Received headers, but they will appear below this one and may not agree with adjacent Received headers.)

Also check your PayPal account. If money does not appear in your account within five days, the email was fake. (Maybe six, if both a weekend and a holiday occur.)

Thanks for the responses. I checked my Paypal account - all 4 payments have come through, no problem.

But I've heard that on Paypal the payer can reverse the transaction. Would that be a possibility in my case - and is there anything I can do about it if it happens?

There's been no correspondence either way, as the sales were automated through the website... but yes I could try contacting them and see what I get.

When somebody files to reverse a transaction, the seller does have the ability to challenge it with Paypal.

I haven't done much with eBay lately, but I know that in the past, many sellers did in fact specifically state that they would only ship to confirmed Paypal addresses, to greatly reduce the risk of fraudulent buyers. I would suggest you look into that as an option if you want some added protection.