Is a pending refund guaranteed?

[WD_Stevens]

Hi all,

I bought an item recently, paid for it on Friday and the seller was going to post it on Monday (tomorrow). I looked at my account today for an unrelated reason and saw that I had a pending refund for the item. I sent a message to ask if everything was okay but the seller has since deleted the message history. The transaction doesn't seem to be on my bank history either the payment or the refund (if the payment hasn't yet cleared, is the refund just a cancellation?) and another good option for the item I was after has appeared but I'm wary about purchasing that option in case the refund isn't yet a sure thing, I don't want to end up twice the amount out of pocket but I also don't want to leave it too long and have someone else swoop in on a good deal.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

[kernowlass]

@WD_Stevens 

Pending refunds can only happen for two reasons.
1. The seller has issued a refund from their bank account which takes time to process.

2. You funded the payment to the seller using bank transfer. What PayPal do here is credit the recipient on your behalf (so there is no delay in despatching your item). Then if you receive a refund in the meantime they are unable to issue this until the original bank transfer completes.

https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/article/i-want-a-refund.-how-do-refunds-work-faq3248
https://www.paypal.com/gb/selfhelp/article/i-paid-by-instant-bank-transfer,-so-why-is-my-refund-on-h...

[WD_Stevens]

Ah, okay. That makes sense as I did pay with a bank transfer. Presumably then, it'll only be a day or two before that's all resolved then. Thank you!

[WD_Stevens]

A point of clarification perhaps, actually: Say this person was trying to scam me (remains to be seen, I think it's far more likely they either had a better offer that didn't require them to have to send the thing out), could they have withdrawn the money to their bank account or away somewhere and then refunded me the money (so that it comes up as showing they did the right thing) but because of a lack of funds, the refund is cancelled.

I don't know if that's possible but I'm a little worried it is and, given that the money hasn't actually left my bank account yet, should I take some other measure to ensure it stays there?

[kernowlass]

@WD_Stevens 

Pending refunds can fail if the seller has 'funded' that refund from their bank account and when paypal go to take the funds there are not enough in their bank account.

Until its 'cleared' you have not had a refund....yet.