A pending issue

[Gale47]

Hi there.

There's something bugging me about pending payments on PayPal. While I do understand their worth in protecting the buyer, is this a necessity in non-Ebay transactions?
See, I'm a freelance writer and have just received my first payment on PayPal. I cannot withdraw any money, however, since it says that the money will be 'pending' for the next 30 days. How is this helping either me or my employer? This money was supposed to finance my further writing and, as it stands, I cannot continue working without the payment.

Now, I'm interested if there's any way to bypass these payments from being held for a month.

I'm sure you've answered this question hundreds of times by now, but please give me some heads-up as to how is this going to work.

Thank you in advance.

[snowshoe]

First and most important, ensure that your account is verified.  (Meaning that you have linked and confirmed a bank account.)   It's also to your benefit to link and confirm a credit card.  The card serves two purposes, the first is that it provides additional proof of ID and second, it acts as a backup funding source.  Next, if your PayPal Account is relatively new, basically you have no history and you are more subject to holds and reviews.  Additionally, the frequency of your transactions will trigger holds and reviews.  For example, you have not had an activity for 6 months and then suddenly your account is extremely active.

Bottom line, your account should be verified and used on a regular basis.  This reduces the chances of holds by quite a bit.  We been using PayPal for a very long time and we still experience holds once in a while.  It's  all part of using this service.  Once you're established, life is good.

Another item that can affect your account would be if you have history of disputes, claims or refunds.  Some folks have good histories while others not so good. 

[Gale47]

I do have a linked credit card and my account is verified. It's been used a lot for a couple of months now, but only for buying. This is the first time I've received a payment, though. Also, I have never used Ebay, if that makes any difference. One more thing I've noticed just a couple of moments ago is that there are a couple of pounds missing from my balance. My received payment was 75.75 GBP. PayPal then took a small percentage when I added the money to my account, reducing it to 72.40 GBP, which is normal. What bugs me is that I currently have 68.90 pounds. Obviously, I couldn't have spent the money since it's pending. This is a different issue altogether, though.

[snowshoe]

Suggest contacting customer support direct with your balance concerns.  As no one here can view account info, all we can speculate as to why.

[Gale47]

I've already contacted them, altough I somehow doubt I'll get any concrete information from them. Welp, thanks for help either way!