Got sent the wrong item and no response from seller - payment is still pending?!

[Thetoothhurts]

I bought an item from an online shop and the wrong thing arrived - I emailed them with photos of the item I got and the item I ordered and almost a week later I have heard nothing back - I went to PayPal and it says the payment is still pending so I think that means the seller hasn’t claimed it (??) Can I just cancel the payment and wait for them to get in touch with me and then post it back to them? I’m a bit worried if that are so useless they haven’t claimed my payment if they do they may never get back to me about my return after they have taken the money... Any help in making a decision would be much appreciated!

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@Thetoothhurts 

Does it say that the payment is a temporary authorization until the merchant captures payment, when you click to view the transaction details? If so, and the merchant does not capture payment after 30 days, the temporary authorization will expire and drop off entirely from your account activity and the funds released at your funding source. If payment shows complete within 30 days, then you can file a PayPal dispute for Significantly Not As Described (SNAD) to facilitate a return.

The authorization is an agreement between you and the merchant and cannot be canceled by PayPal or from your account. You'd have to contact the merchant to have them cancel through their account. And even then the pending authorization will remain and expire within 30 days if payment is not captured by merchant.

[Thetoothhurts]

Thank you for your help! When I go to that transaction it says “hasn’t accepted yet” with a cancel button beside it... When I press cancel it does appear to take me to a page where I can cancel the payment which is strange if I shouldn’t be able to do that? I paid for the shirt on the 6th of August so I should just wait until the 5th of September and I will be refunded? Or is it 30 working days?