It might just be OK but a small to medium sized alarm bell are ringing.

Sold a set of wheels/tyres to bloke in NI who had previously contacted me with freight enquiry. All OK. I get two payments from paypal from 2 different paypal accounts in NI for the agreed amount, then I get a request for refund of one of the payments and an email from buyer with a very basic explanation of how he had messed up - thought his paypal transaction had not worked so a friend paid instead (personally I would have checked my paypal account for a withdrawal)

My worry - I refund one payment as requested, send items, then maybe get paypal dispute saying unauthorised use of account - £255 refunded to account holder - me £255 down and no wheels/tyres??...

Am I being paranoid?

Just to add to my unease - this triggered a paypal/EU money laundering issue and I am having to give confirmations of my account details to Paypal. First thing was I received an email to cofirm my telephone number. 1 minute later 'phone rings, automated message asks for 4 digit code - I input code - job done. No!
10 mins letter I get a Paypal email saying the telephone confirmation failed as my telephone number was busy!!

I'm telling my buyer to detail exactly what he did and why. Surely it's reasonable to hold onto the items till this is sorted?

Just to ease confusion, have you sent the wheels or not?

No, this all happened last night. I was quite supprised what price they reached too.

I would contact PayPal myself. Possibly you could refund both then ask for repayment.

Agree with ^^^ refund both, ask him to pay once from the correct account to remove any and all confusion. I'd withdraw the money and make sure it clears before sending them too.

Could be a genuine mistake.

However, it could also be a scam, especially as the wheels fetched an unusually high price.

Be very wary, and keep a log of everything, and all the emails etc.

Best thing is to refund both, walk away and re-advertise later on.

Paypal does not cover you if you recieve 2 separate payments for one item. That includes P+P. It has to be one payment for everything. You may have a chancer on your hands.

Have you accepted both payments on paypal? Can't you reject a Paypal payment? Reject both then ask for a single payment.....

Having worked in IT which I now teach, I would be concerned about this part:

"First thing was I received an email to cofirm my telephone number. 1 minute later 'phone rings, automated message asks for 4 digit code - I input code - job done. No!"

This sounds part of a phishing scam to get your details.

I would check to ensure that the e-mail sent by Ebay was genuine. I would also be checking my bank account right now etc to make sure no other money is going out.

I am not paranoid but this does sound like a scam. There again during teaching about Ebay, I found that they were contacting some of my students in direct contradiction to what they recommend. That all seemed like a scam too.

In internet use with money, if it seems a bit dodgy, it probably is, so better to be safe than sorry.

Actually I think the paypal telephone bit was legit as when I went on Paypal that is where it told me to book the call. I'm going to refunt all apments and reissue a new invoice for a single full amount and see what happens.
Thanks all.