Paypal Temporary Hold

[Supersillyneneg]

Hello, I recently bought something off of eBay last week, and unfortunately for me accidentally cancelled the payment and now the stress of that mistake is taking me over the edge. When I resent the payment, Paypal charged me for both times I sent the payment at the same time-putting my bank account into overdraft and forcing my bank to charge me a $33 dollar overdraft fee. I called Paypal multiple times,once on Tuesday, and again on Thursday (and I sent an email TWICE-no response either time) and during the Tuesday call the representative told me to cancel the second payment and wait for both holds to clear on Thursday. So then comes Thursday, and the hold is still on my account. I call again at 9:45 at night, and the next representative told me that the payment would be released before midnight. Well, guess what? I still have no payment!! My bank said that they would refund me the $33 dollars of my overdraft fee, but only if Paypal releases the hold on my account because it would be useless to do otherwise, as I would still be in the negative. But they also said that after the first week I would be responsible for the rest of the overdraft fee. So, what I would like to know is, how could Paypal allow such a minor mistake to become such a nightmare? If you would like to have a comparison of how easy this situation could be, I was also recently refunded on a usb stick that never came frm Amazon, and it took me one day-ONE DAY- to receive my refund. I think at this point I should have risked the $10 I might have lost from Amazon than the $100 I might get back whenever Paypal feels up to it, as well as the possibly >$66 dollars from them overdrafting my account. And if this sounds like a rant, rest assured-is it. I am vey angry and will never used Paypal again.

[GlennChitown]

I know how you feel, at least I'm not going into overdraft. They are holding my refund for over 5 business days now. I ordered something on Ebay, and saw at the bottom of the listing after buying it, that it was not what the seller claimed in the main listing. So I cancelled the the item and was refunded by the seller on Nov 12th still no money released to my account 5 full business days later. Its just totally messed up. I get the same canned answers everytime I call, basically they don't know and could care less. I won't be doing much business with Ebay for this years holidays, they **bleep**ed themselfs here, because I was planning on buying things and maybe selling a few too.  I won't be now at least not through Ebay or Paypal.

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi Supersillyneg and GlennChitown,

Welcome to the forums!

Instant Transfer is a service that PayPal offers to offset the 3-5 day wait for the clearance of funds when paying a seller. When a purchase is made using Instant Transfer, PayPal pays your seller up front while the funds clear from your bank in the background. If the seller refunds the payment before the funds have finished clearing, those funds are not yet available to be used until they finally arrive at PayPal from your bank, through the Automated Clearing House process. You can learn more about the process here, in this FAQ.

This means that subsequent payments, whether to the same seller or any other seller, would need to be funded with new funds, because the original funds are still in transit. 

I'm sorry that you've encountered inconvenience in this. Once a request for funds is sent to a bank, it can't be stopped. As soon as the funds settle in your account, they can be used immediately.

I hope this helps clarify.

Olivia

[SNAIL121]

I placed an order (NOT to ebay) with instant transfer.  The day after I placed the order, I called to cancel it (that was one week ago).  I still don't have the refund, and I don't even see I'm going to get one in PayPal.  So, what is the time frame? ty

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi SNAIL121, and welcome to the forums!

When you called to cancel your order, did you call PayPal or the merchant? PayPal cannot cancel your payment if it was sent to a valid address. Only the merchant can cancel/refund - and many will happily do that. If the merchant has not refunded the payment, please contact them directly to inquire. Sometimes they have everything cancelled in their own database, but have neglected to update PayPal. If you get a hold of someone there and let them know, they can log into PayPal and refund the payment. Then, as soon as the funds have completely cleared from your bank (if they haven't already), you will have access to the funds.

I hope this helps!

Olivia