Can I refund funds that are being held, or will it take them from my bank?

[20091102]

I cannot believe that PayPal won't let me have my money until 21 days and only if the buyer is 'satisfied'

This has already caused me financial problems because when the funds were in the PayPal acct, I thought I sent them to my bank, so I could withdraw money to pay for shipping the item.

It turned out that instead of the funds that I had received for the eBay sale, it took funds from my debit card and sent them to my bank account - which is the same acct. So they charged me to send money to myself.

Very deceptive how it says transaction: COMPLETE.   Then if you look closer at the top it says "Pending Balance"

This nearly caused my account to be overdrawn.

Thanks to PayPal I cannot afford to send the items to the buyer and also am not willing to risk the fact that PayPal's

policy is now that the funds may never be released.

If I refund this transaction, will it be taken from the pending balance (as it should) or will they screw me again and take it from my card overdrafting my account?

[sunnymc]

Somebody REALLY needs to develop another online payment company. I HATE Paypal for this exact reason. I cannon complete my sales transactions because my funds are being held. In these economically difficult times, Paypal should understand that people need their money to send the items. Paypal sucks.

[RoloTomossie]

I am so angry with PayPal right now. I just completed a $390 transaction, and of course I NEED that money to send the item. It will take me 5 boxes to send this item out. If I had the **bleepin** money, I wouldn't be selling my things on eBay right? I was already worried about waiting 4 business days for it to get to my account.. now I have to wait 21!!?? bs.

I am going to refund the buyer, and have the buyer write me a check. Then I will send the packages. I am just worried that this will delay everything even more, because how long does the buyer have to wait for their refund??

And like someone else mentioned, and like I just screamed at the rep at the phone: Why would I send my stuff out to someone without being paid for it first? She said 'Well, the money is there, it's just pending.' And I stated, "Yes, it's there,and it's MY money so I should be able to access it.'

I WILL NEVER USE PAYPAL AGAIN!!! Will have to start accepting checks. I have a 100% Feedback rating.

[badhatharry]

I understand that there is a class action lawsuit being filed against PayPal and Ebay for this exact reason.  I will get back to this board with a link to their website as soon as I find it.

[Tlonto]

Was there a Lawsuit filed about this?

[wytgolfguy]

I am dealing with this too and my funds are "pending" for an auction I had on ebay for a ps3 bundle. Does ebay and paypal actually think this is serving the community of buyers and sellers any good? Its absolute madness to think I will ship out a ps3 bundle valued over $400 without recieving payment first and what if the buyer says he never recieved the ps3 and says there were rocks in the box then I am really **bleep**ed. I know exactly what they are up to its just another way for their companies to extract more money by way of interest earned on this pending money from us on top of their already high ebay and paypal fees! Its time to start selling my items on another forum! Ebay and paypal are no longer what they used to be...

[RoloTomossie]

Explain the situation to the seller. Direct them to this forum if you have to. Have the seller leave positive feedback for you on your eBay account. I told my seller what was happening and she gladly did this. My funds were released almost immediately after she did that. It is ridiculous to not be paid for a high end item before sending it out into who knows where. It is more absurd to have to pay for the shipping before you get a penny in your pocket. My item took 5 boxes to ship.. there was no way in **bleep** I was going to pay for all of that upfront in addition to letting go of my high value item. PayPal and eBay got an earful from me. This doesn't protect buyers... it just **bleep** everybody off and makes the process more difficult.

[RoloTomossie]

oops... I meant explain it to the BUYER. Sorry about that.

[Grainne]

Hi, this seems to be a common question and I have just dealt with it myself

You can refund money that is being held and the funds won't be taken from your bank

[Terrysloft]

READ MY STORY ON A REFUND TRANSACTION:

Has anyone come across this same problem, please reply. Had a $668.00 balance in my paypal account, Refunded $875.00 to a customer. Instead uf using The $668.00 account balance & my back up funding checking account for the $207.00 shortage, paypal hit my checking account for the full $875.00 while leaving the $668.00 balance in my paypal account. This large withdrawal from my checking account by paypal  caused 6 personal checks I made to bounce & I incurred $180.00 in bank ISF fees. Had Paypal only withdrawn the $208.00 shortage from my checking account, there would be no problem of bank fees incurred by me. Paypal customer service gave me a run a round explanation that a refund transaction has to be paid in full by only one source. The refund cannot be split using my available paypal funds plus my back up funding for shortages. This sounds strange as if I purchase something or pay a vender bill, My paypal balance is always used first, then my back up funding account for any shortages. I thought back up funding was just that. To cover any shortages in my paypal account. Paypal customer service rep told me this procedure was in my terms agreement. So far I cannot find anything in my term agreement showing refunds cannot be split between my balance and back up funding. And by the way, I noted there was a $200 daily withdrawal limit on my back up funding, in which paypal seemed to go around by drawing out $875.00 in one day. looks like Only we have to abide by the rules while paypal can go around them. Could someone point me to or email me the terms of agreement showing refunds can only be paid by one source of funding. I looked And can't seem to find this condition.

[Defused]

Same is happening to me here,  The reason is because i did not requested to pay instantly, but this is very annoying, and worst of all paypal doesn't seem to care.

My question is? Is paypal using the money on hold for other purposes? Well at least give us a solution paypal.

I found out that the product I was selling was fake, and I want to refund the money, but now paypal won't let me refund the money or take it out of hold.