Someone sent me a payment & now there's a temp. hold? Urgent help needed.

[Grim]

Someone bought a piece of my artwork from me about two months ago for $10, now they have a temporary hold on that payment leaving my account with a balance of -$9.45. What does this mean? Will I have to repay this balance? I use a student account.

Extra information: The users friend contacted me stating that they (the user who paid me) had been banned from the website where I sold them my artwork, because they apparently had bought artwork from other people too and now those same people have a temp. hold on their payments from the same user. The users friend asked me about giving the artwork back in hopes of them (the user who paid me) not having to pay me back. I'm just a bit worried since my PP has never been in the negatives before. MY BALANCE BEFORE THEY HAD A TEMP. HOLD WAS .55 CENTS, so I guess this is why I have a negative balance? Because I had already used the $10 they sent me?

~Sorry if this is in the wrong section!~

[Grim]

In addition to this.. my mother added $10 to my student account balance today, taking away the negative balance and leaving me with my .55 cents that I had before this mess happened. A REVERSAL OF $10 WAS SENT TO THEM??? Does this mean they get my mothers hard earned money leaving us with nothing but my 55 cents? I honestly don't think this is fair.

It'd be awesome if someone would get back to me.. LOL.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi Grim, and welcome to the forums!

It sounds from your description like the funds that came to you from your buyer were being examined for potential fraud. That's a frustrating situation for a seller, and we do our best to protect sellers from loss in situations where it's possible to do so.

Did you ship physical artwork to the buyer? If the payment was for goods and there was shipment with online tracking showing delivery, you may be protected from loss. If the delivery is not tracked, or was digital, or the payment was not listed correctly as a goods payment, protection would not be available.

The reason why the balance went negative is that you withdrew or spent the funds before the hold occurred. In a situation where a transaction is reviewed and the funds are placed on hold, the amount is deducted from the existing balance. If the balance is insufficient, the account is brought negative until the funds are returned to the account. When your mother added the funds back, it brought your balance current again.

I hope this helps clarify!

Olivia