Sold an item on ebay and got payment,,but

[JL45]

I recently sold an item on ebay and the buyer wanted to add an ebay gift card so he sent included the money for the gift card in his payment(so he paid $for my item +$gift card) through paypal. I got an email from paypal that he sent the $ but it says 

"While you establish a successful eBay sales history, you may not have access to your money until we confirm the scratched picture from you . You may get it sooner, but it may take longer if your buyer reports a problem with the sale. NOTE: This PayPal payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will remain PENDING until the scratched picture of the eBay Gift Cards is sent to our customer service for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller."

what do I do now I'm so confused. And the money does not appear on my paypal account either.

[_nikki]

Hi @JL45!

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. 

Though delaying funds availability is a common industry practice that PayPal also follows, any payments sent to your account should always reflect in your Activity — regardless whether the payment will be held or not.

Please take the time to read this Help Center article to help you determine if that is really an email from PayPal or not. In the event that it is a fake email, please forward it to us at spoof@paypal.com.

Hope this helps. 

Nikki

[kernowlass]

@_nikki 

Did you read the post, its an obvious scam sadly.

@JL45 

Its a scam, paypal or ebay never ask you to ...

This PayPal payment has been deducted from the buyer's account and has been "APPROVED" but will remain PENDING until the scratched picture of the eBay Gift Cards is sent to our customer service for shipment verification so as to secure both the buyer and the seller."