Paypal error, "This email address is already linked to a PayPal account" Can't receive payment!

[azzy5463]

Hi,

I recently received an email stating I had been sent a payment (one I was expecting).
Unfortunatly the company that sent the payment sent it to the wrong email address, not the one that is linked with paypal. So in the email it was explained that to claim the money I would have to either link the email address to an existing paypal account or create a new account.
I decided to link the email address to my paypal account and everything seemed to go fine, until... 
Logging onto the account to claim the money I was confronted by this error message :

"This email address is already linked to a PayPal account. Please log in to your PayPal account with your primary email address to confirm that you received the money."

So i made the email address I had linked to the account, the one the payment was sent to, my primary email and tried again but still the same message appeared.

Really unsure of what to do to claim my money now!

Thanks for any help.

[snowshoe]

Was the other email address the money went to always yours?   Just curious, if no, it's quite possible the address was at one point in time associated with a PayPal account.  PayPal's system retains email addresses even if an account is not active any more as accounts are never deleted, only closed.

There's a couple of options for you.  If by chance, you don't or cannot claim the money, after 30 days PayPal will return the money to the sender.

It's also possible for the sender to cancel the transaction if the status shows "unclaimed" and the "cancel" link is present and active.  Then they could resend to correct address.   If the cancel link is not visible or active and the funds remain unclaimed for 30 days, then PayPal will return the money to the sender.

And last, you can try contacting customer support for assistance as they may be able to do something on their end.

[azzy5463]

Thanks for the reply.

The email address has always been mine but it's very old, so it's possible that I've used it for a previous paypal account years ago.

I've contacted the company that tried to send the payment, just hoping that they will be able to cancel the payment then send it to the correct address... I will just have to wait for them to reply.

Thanks for your help

[iDexMedia]

I have this same issue right now. Do you remember how you resolved it?

[PayPal_Rachael]

Hi iDexMedia,

Welcome to the community forum.

An email address can only be used on one PayPal account at a time so if you used the address before it would cause an issue when you are trying to add it again. If you had an email address added to your PayPal account previously also, you would not be able to send a payment to that address. 

My best advice would be to give our customer service team a call. They will be able to run a search for you with the email address and let you know what's happening. You'll find our number by clicking contact at the bottom of your PayPal page. 

I hope this helps. 

Rachael 

[Emilioazeedo]

This email address is already linked to a PayPal account. Please log in to your account with your primary email address to confirm that you received the money.

That's the most annoying Paypal glitch.

can't get the money at all.

**bleep**

[PayPal_Anna]

Hi Emilioazeedo,

Welcome to the Community Forum!

Very sorry to hear you are experiencing difficulties using your PayPal account, however this is not a 'glitch'.

I'd advise you contacting us directly so we can take a closer look.

You have few options when trying to contact customer services. You can call or send an email through the Contact Us page on PayPal. You can also contact us directly on Twitter @AskPayPal or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PayPalUK and we can assist you with any queries that you have.

Thank you

Anna

[Amjadaslan]

hello im still having the same problem is there any solution for this

the same message is it a scam or something?
"This email address is already linked to a PayPal account. Please log in to your PayPal account with this email address to receive the payment."

[qchucka]

Hello azzy5463,

I had this problem before and I managed to resolve it.   Yet again I am having the same problem today which I am hoping to resolve again. 

I have a store at bricklink.com. Most of my transactions are paid by paypal.

So it seemed odd to me when the problem transaction arrived, before I knew it was a problem I noticed the link in the email from paypal that said "Claim Your Money Now".    Every transaction before the money went straight into my account, so at first I thought it was a scam so I did not click on the link but instead opened a new window and logged into paypal.com to confirm the money arrived. It of course did not, so I went back to the email and looked it over. It did not appear to be a scam so I decided to click the link.  

That same line came up "This email address is already linked to a PayPal account". That made little sense as that exact email was already linked. I looked up the problem in forums and found no solution.   What to do next?  Well I wasn't really sure but then I noticed the way the email address was written associated with my account that the money was sent to. 

My paypal account is qchucka*******com and the money was sent to  QCHUCKA*******COM. To me that should make no difference but I decided to email the client that I think the issue arose from being case sensative.  So I told them to cancel the first payment and resend the money making all the letters lowercase as is written in my account.   That ended up fixing the problem and I recieved my money for the transaction.

I find it annoying that this is even an issue and that I am having to deal with it a second time. Why would the email address be case sensitive? I have no idea but the problem was fixed in a round about way.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Quinton Anderson

[CamSavalan]

Its a Paypal system error. Try removing and re-adding that email to your paypal account