How to mark a transaction as a digital product/service?

[OceanRelic]

So I set up my own business account a while ago to connect to my Ko-fi, in order to receive donations/tips as a content creator (not streaming, just making art). Some of the initial tips I got were put on hold by PayPal, which is reasonable since that was while the account was still very new. But I noticed the transactions have the option to add tracking. That should only be for physical products, not for services/intangible things as in this case. There is no option for me to mark the transactions as being for a service, and PayPal seems insistent there is some sort of shipping that has to happen here.

I already found this article in the PayPal Help, but it seems to be out of date. There is no "Get your money" option, and there is no way to select any sort of "Service or virtual product" option for the transaction. Selecting the "Add tracking" option does not give a further option to mark it as a service/digital good/etc.

Also, the order status cannot be updated to Completed, Pending, or Canceled like it says in the article. Instead I have Shipped, In Process, Hold, Returned, and Order Processed. Otherwise there is only the option to Refund or Archive, and I'm assuming neither of those will help with the problem.

Is there another method to mark a transaction as being for a service or digital good? I'm afraid PayPal may see this as suspicious activity and limit my account if I don't take care of this soon.

[sharpiemarker · Accepted solution]

@OceanRelic 

> Also, the order status cannot be updated to Completed, Pending, or Canceled like it says in the article. Instead I have Shipped, In Process, Hold, Returned, and Order Processed.

You select “Order Processed” on the “Order Status” menu.

If you find that you can’t update Order Status due to the requiring of tracking number because PayPal recently updated the Add tracking info page leaving out the “No tracking information required” check box, then you’ll have to wait the 21 days to receive funds.

Every month, if you receive enough payments to exceed your account’s immediate release amount, subsequent payments are subject to the 21 day hold. The immediate release amount is reset every month so some payments will be available immediately until you exceed the month’s immediate release amount. PayPal periodically adjusts the immediate release amount.

As you build up a good track record all over again for whatever reason the holds kick in again, even on tenured accounts, the holds will eventually subside.

[OceanRelic]

@sharpiemarker

Thank you! I've gone ahead and marked it as Order Processed. Also, before now there was no “No tracking information required” check box as you mentioned, but when I tried a little while ago, that check box appeared. So I made sure to select that too on all of my Ko-Fi transactions. I'm not sure if maybe someone saw my question here and managed to fix it, or if it just coincidentally got fixed today. Probably the latter, but either way I'm grateful I can set it now.

But again, thank you for the response! I'll try to keep in mind what you said about the way PayPal handles holds and release amounts too.

[temp20230525pp]

Yep...  got it now.  Then is the time to switch to a provider thst is not locking my earnings for 3 weeks at last. 

[AvailableName12]

Great. So the money I was sent for a product review is held for 21 days, and there's no way for me to contact Paypal that actually works. I bet the fees that were charged weren't held. Hope you enjoy the teeny tiny bit of interest you're making Paypal.

[PayPal_Meghan]

Hello @AvailableName12, 

Thanks for stopping by the PayPal Community Forum; welcome! 

I'm sorry to hear your recent payment was placed on hold. If you're a new seller, I recommend visiting this Help Center article to learn about new seller payment holds. If you've sold quite a bit in the past, it might just be a one-time payment hold due to irregular activity. In that case, you'll want to check out these: Why is my payment on hold or unavailable? and How can I release my payment(s) on hold? If you still need to contact Customer Support, we have a few different options listed here. 

I hope this helps you receive your payment earlier! 

- Meghan

[Texan1]

Everyone seems to be stuck on the hold feature, this is true in all new PayPal accounts and will end once you have "warmed up" the account.

The bigger concern to me is that each transaction should be seen as a service or virtual/digital, not physical. There are billions of transactions that have no physical product to send and yet PayPal treats all transactions as physical. That has to stop because customers will get this very confusing email telling them something has shipped when nothing has shipped. THERE HAS TO BE A WAY TO MARK TRANSACTIONS AS A SERVICE OR DIGITIAL!!!!!! I have been unable to find it and unable to get phone support to mark transactions as digital???