Why did PayPal effective double-charge my bank account?

[IDidEverything]

A subscription to a music app was setup to automatically go through PayPal, (which is set up to charge my debit card). However, I did not have enough in my bank account to cover the subscription fee. This caused the payment to bounce and I got a return fee. A week later, the subscription charged again, and this time it went through, as I had enough to cover it. However, my PayPal balance was left as a negative balance, even though my bank account had money withdrew to cover the subscription.

Now, the fee has been taken from my bank account, AND I had to pay off the negative balance in my PayPal account. Is it possible that the withdrawal from my bank account has not yet made it to PayPal? Or did I actually just pay double for no reason?

[kernowlass]

@IDidEverything 

No you didn't pay double, normally bank transfer payments are credited upfront to the seller and paypal takes the wait for the actual transfer to hit paypal.

This is because they use the slowest (cheapest) transfer option which goes via ACH in batches.

However if you are adding funds to your paypal account yourself OR paypal have taken the funds to pay off a neg balance (and not a seller to be credited upfront) then its you that takes the wait, can take up to a week to transfer through to paypal and clear your neg balance.

[IDidEverything]

Okay, since I already payed off the negative balance, does that mean that once the money reaches PayPal, I will likely have a positive balance for that amount?

[kernowlass]

@IDidEverything 

Yes.