What is a reasonable length of time to have to wait for a temporary hold on a refund to be lifted?

[sharon4048]

Hi,

I am looking for some advice please - I know there are similar posts to this on the forum already, but nothing which answers this specific issue.

On the 29 April 2012, I was refunded by a seller for an item I'd purchased.  On 5 May, Paypal placed a temporary hold on the refund - why, I don't know, as it was money I'd paid out, and simply needed to go back into my account.

It is now 20 May 2012, and the refund is still on hold.

I appreciate that I can raise the issue direct with Paypal, but am a little hesitant to do so as the last time I queried something with them, they put a block on my account and no payments could go in or out until the situation was resolved, which took quite a while. 

Does anyone have any ideas why this could be taking so long?  I'd be grateful for any feedback please.

Thanks,

Sharon

[PayPal_david]

Hi there Sharon4048,

If you have received a refund on a transaction and the funds have been placed on hold, it would mean that the funds are still being processed from your bank account.

A bank funded payment takes between 5 and 7 working days to complete processing between your bank and the PayPal system. If a refund is issued by your seller before the funds complete processing, we place the funds on hold until we complete processing the funds from your bank.

If your funds are not released within the 5 to 7 working day timeframe, please let us know and we can investigate it further on your behalf.

I hope this helps,

David.