I'm out $500 for 7 days for no reasonable reason.

mendellowy
Contributor
Contributor

I purchased some goods on a website for $500 thru payPal via Instant Transfer from my Checking Account, my bank account got debited $500 INSTANTLY, within the same day the seller calls me he doesn't have the goods in stock, I canceled the order, instantly the seller initiated a refund on PayPal, guess what? turns out I'm not going to get my money back into my checking account till 7 Days, 3-5 days till its credited to my PayPal balance then another 3-4 days to MANUALLY transfer it to my Bank Account, FLASH NEWS PayPal: I don't have spare $500 to be out for 7 days, I read your whole explanation that PayPal doesn't really have the money etc., well I also don't have the money, why should it be me a struggling individual financially to be out $500 for 7 days instead of PayPal, why should the customer suffer. Its just not fair!!

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8 REPLIES 8

profdata
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

FLASH NEWS

 

That type of payment /transfer is called and ACH/EFT and does take between 2-5 business days to clear at BOTH ends.

 

Paypal doesnt see it as completed, just because it was removed from your bank account doesn't mean it has cleared.

 

 

Paypal doesn't want to refund you the $500.00 dollars till it clears.  

 

If Paypal refunds you and then the transfer fails,  you will have $500.00 extra from Paypal....and they don't want that to happen.

 

Here is a link showing how an ACH/EFT works

 

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ach+clearing+house+with+pictures&qpvt=ach+clearing+house+with+pi...#

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profdata
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Oh, I almost forgot your gripe is the the business that had the items out of stock.

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mendellowy
Contributor
Contributor

I don't get it, please help me understand, if a risk exists out there that PayPal may not ultimately get the money even after it has been debited from my checking account, how come they are approving the transaction instantly? And how so is there any risk, there is obviously sufficient funds, why in the world would it fail?

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profdata
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

@mendellowy wrote:

I don't get it, please help me understand, if a risk exists out there that PayPal may not ultimately get the money even after it has been debited from my checking account, how come they are approving the transaction instantly? And how so is there any risk, there is obviously sufficient funds, why in the world would it fail?


Because you have a credit card on file with them, so they treat bank tansfers as instant.

 

You know there is sufficient funds but the EFT/ACH doesn't, also banks can stop the ACH/EFT before it completes. 

 

The IRS can also stop it  to seize the funds.

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mendellowy
Contributor
Contributor

NOT a satisfactory explanation so far - to the slightest  - firstly if payPal relies on my Credit Card as a back up when the transaction is initiated, why in the world can't they rely on it on a refund transaction, secondly, with all earnest, what's the risk that the Bank will in these 3 days retract the funds they debited, of all things, because of a IRS lean etc. please!!!, It would be totaly reasonable that paypal should take that extreme far-fetched risk

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profdata
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

Again Paypal doesn't see the funds removed from your bank account.  They just see an in progress.

 

Second, paypal doesn't know if you bank account is still valid, or if your credit card is still valid.

 

They are willing to take some risk with the funds for the purchase.

 

They don't want to have the seller refund and only to have the original payment bounce, which does happen.

 

 

Just about two weeks ago  some posted about if they remove their bank account from their paypal account will that stop an inprogress paypal debit from the bank account..

 

The problem is that if paypal didn't do it this way then they would be out thousands of dollars daily, and of course that hurts the legit buyers. 

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profdata
Frequent Contributor
Frequent Contributor

In the future pay with a credit credit card or branded debit card (M/C, Visa) and refunds will be a lot faster.

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jwheeler58
New Community Member

I have been issued a refund to my credit card.  I was wonder how long I should expect it to take to be posted to the cards account.  Paypal reflects it as complete but it has not been credited to the card.  Was just wonder how long I should wait before I get nervous that something is wrong.  Thanks in advance for the help.

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