Pending payment

[amyp3]

I’m extremely frustrated. I sold a laptop for $2000 to somebody. I requested money and it was sent. I sent proof I had posted the item and PayPal approved the transaction stating the money would be received in 3-5 business days. It has been 8 business days since this was approved and there is no record on my account as to where the money is. I have tried contacting PayPal but no response. I’d like to know if I’m getting my money anytime soon as I really need it!

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@amyp3 

I'm afraid that you have been tricked into shipping without getting paid because PayPal doesn't hide payments from you requiring you to ship first. If someone REALLY paid, funds should appear in your PayPal account fairly instantly. Even if PayPal puts a hold on your payment, you should still see a record of payment received. Also, PayPal Money requests and Invoices that are marked "Pending" are unpaid. 

You should always check to see if the funds are in your account first before shipping. Scammers can spoof PayPal payment emails. "PayPal approved the transaction" is text that scammers use to trick inexperienced sellers and is not how PayPal works. 

Providing tracking is optional (through the PayPal transaction details) but is required if buyer filed a case of Item Not Received against you, to be covered under PayPal Seller Protection. If your postal service has a package recall service, I recommend you try to recall the parcel before it gets delivered. Otherwise, there is not much PayPal can do since no payment took place. Buyer may not even have PayPal account.

[Renlou]

This sounds like what has happened to me! The item has now been received and payment is still saying pending in PayPal. I have been getting emails from ‘PayPal’ saying I was getting the money in a few days and to provide the tracking details which I had done and now saying that they had taken $500 more from the buyer in error and I need to refund the buyer before they can release the funds. As soon as I got that alarm bells and I have tried to call PayPal like 3 times and no one to be able to speak with so I have emailed them twice now as I do think it’s a scam.

[kernowlass]

@Renlou 

Yep scam, but i doubt there are any funds showing pending IN your paypal account balance are there?

Sadly nothing paypal can do about it as you were never paid in the first instance.