Recipient can't access funds I sent, and now I can't either? What happens to my money?

[verronicka]

So, I sent a lot of money to someone who is an idiot; they don't have a bank account into which the funds could be transferred. But he is unable to access the money in order to send it back to me. Why isn't this money available to him as a "PayPal balance?" Did I just donate all this money to PayPal? Why can't he reverse the transaction? Why can't I automatically request that it be returned after a specific amount of time has passed?

[sharpiemarker]

@verronicka 

Hehehe, oh dear.

The first thing I can think of is you sent the payment as goods and services and PayPal put a hold on it for 21 days. The recipient can click "add tracking info" button on the transaction details and select an order status (order processed) and then ask you to "confirm receipt" to release funds. 

The second scenario is the payment is under review by PayPal for 72 hours, once review is complete it is released and then recipient can refund. If recipient is in the US, they may have to fork out for the PayPal fee if one is applied because PayPal is no longer refunding PayPal fees.

The third scenario is your friend has to accept the money and verify their account and convert their PayPal balance to a PayPal cash balance account in order to park cash in the balance. If the payment status on your end is Pending and unclaimed, you might be able to cancel if there is a cancel button. Not possible if the payment is marked "complete".

Otherwise, I can't think of what else could be blocking access to the payment.

Please contact customer service for further assistance so they can review yawls account(s):

Log on, click HELP on top menu, scroll down to click CONTACT US, and then scroll down to click CALL US.

Call early, during business hours, west coast time to try to get a US rep. 

Or contact via social media:

Facebook (US): https://www.facebook.com/paypal

Twitter (US): @AskPayPal