Sounds to me like they went through checkout, chose Paypal, maybe even entered their Paypal Password... but didn't do that final step of clicking "confirm payment"

Sounds to me like they went through checkout, chose Paypal, maybe even entered their Paypal Password... but didn't do that final step of clicking "confirm payment"

Maybe, though I've done that myself a few times (on purpose) and can't see how that would then show what it's showing on my side of things as when I haven't confirmed payment then go back later to pay again, I can still choose between the various payment methods offered (unlike if you confirm bank deposit, which then shows as the method selected to the seller on transaction details). Plus I wouldn't think any messages entered and saved would show up as a note unless it was actually submitted.

But who knows, it seems this has happened to other sellers and from the buyer's side everything looks like the transaction went through without a hitch.

No reply yet, so will probably have to contact them directly if I haven't heard anything or nothing changes tomorrow.

Sounds to me like they went through checkout, chose Paypal, maybe even entered their Paypal Password... but didn't do that final step of clicking "confirm payment"

As it turns out, I think you were right.

That's so bizarre (not that you were right, lol, that's not a surprise :^O), but that eBay recorded the message to seller on my side, yet couldn't actually display it until payment was properly completed. A good thing, though - the buyer said they thought they had paid, but actually hadn't, if their message hadn't been noted I wouldn't have picked up on it at all and just thought it was waiting payment, while they thought they had paid.

As it turns out, I think you were right.   That's so bizarre (not that you were right, lol, that's not a surprise :^O),

I have a lot of distraction here in the early evenings, and it's very common for me to do that exact same thing... get 3/4 way through paying and then forget to click "confirm".