Payment recieved, then gone

[greg31]

I sold an item for $50 on ebay. The buyer sent the payment via paypal and I saw that my balance was $50+ fees. I go to check again a day later prior to printing label and the balance is $0. I found this odd so checked history, there is no history of the payment ever arriving even though I saw it. So to sum it up, the $50 is not there anymore and does not indicate it was ever there.

I want to send this package for the guys but the money simply disapeared. Can anyone help me understand what the problem is, I tried contacting paypal but no luck.

[sandypurins]

Did you receive a "payment received" notification email message from PayPal?

Do you have more than one PayPal account?

[surplusdealdude]

The payment was fraudulent, probably made with a stolen credit card.

DO NOT SHIP THE ITEM.

[greg31]

are you sure? What about the paypal new rule where they hold money for 20 days? Or does my instance seem unlike that?

[surplusdealdude]

It's 21 days and they would hold all the money, not part of it.

I'm not 100% on this - there could be valid reasons why the payment was refused or it may even be an echeck, which takes a few days to clear.  It's not necessarily fraud.

Give it a few days and see what Paypal says.