I'm being asked for shipment details but there's nothing to ship

[fmahfuz]

A client paid me for coaching services, and I believe he chose Purchase as the option. 

Now the money is on hold and it looks like they are waiting for the "shipment to arrive", but there's nothing to ship. 

Was there a mistake when the money was sent, should they have chosen the Personal option? Or is there anything I need to do differently now? 

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@fmahfuz 

They chose the correct option as you were a seller accepting payment for a 'service'.

Its against Paypal rules to accept a family / friends payment for selling goods and you risk your Paypal account being limited if you do so.

A buyer would not be able to open a Paypal dispute for non-receipt of item OR item not as described as they would have no Paypal buyer protection.

However they can still open a dispute for an unauthorised transaction OR do a chargeback (via their card issuer) and you may well lose as you would have no Paypal seller protection.

With payments received for tangible goods Paypal would request valid tracking information confirming the item has been delivered to the buyer. As they can validate the tracking information online, once it is delivered they can release the funds. IF you have received the funds for a service / virtual or digital sale OR no tracking number is applicable Paypal would be unable to release the funds any sooner than 21 days.

If you mark the transaction as processed then the buyer may have the option on their account to mark the transaction as delivery/satisfied. If the buyer confirms this by clicking on the "Confirm Receipt" button, the funds may be released to you sooner. This is not always available or guaranteed. 
If not then sadly its 21 days.