Hello, BBro. Thanks for taking the time to post your question here on the PayPal Community Forum. I can see where that's a definite concern. Here's some information I hope is helpful.
In some cases, the message displayed on a website may be incorrect and the transaction did go through. Please contact the merchant to clarify if they actually did receive an order and it's being processed.
If the transaction really did not complete, the funds will return to your PayPal account. It's not possible to give you a firm time frame on when this will happen since every transaction is different and merchant's websites are set up differently, but you should be able to look at the transaction in your Activity and see what's going on.
If the purchase was submitted as an Authorization and the merchant doesn't cancel it, it could take 30 days for the Authorization to expire on its own and the funds to be returned. If the merchant takes steps to cancel an Authorization, that usually speeds up the process.
If the merchant cannot or will not take steps to cancel an Authorization, please call PayPal's Customer Service to investigate other options that may be available. If the transaction doesn't reflect an Authorization and the funds don't return to your account in a few days, please call Customer Service so we can investigate further.
Thanks for your patience during this time, and thanks for being a part of the PayPal Community!
Sincerely,
Michael
PayPal_Michael
