Pending transactions after unsuccessful ordering

[emsager]

Tonight I attempted to pay for an order on another site using PayPal. It failed twice (which has happened a lot recently, but that's a whole separate issue), but appears as two pending transactions in my account. Naturally, I'm reluctant to make a third order and pay with a card until I know these won't go through.

I currently have a help request into the merchant to make sure they received no order to process, but since it's after business hours here in the US I haven't heard from them. The transactions have not appeared in my bank account as of right now. If they never received an order, what happens to the pending transactions on my PayPal? Do they disappear/cancel after a certain amount of time? Will I need to request to cancel it on PayPal's end if I get confirmation from the merchant that no orders were processed?

[kernowlass · Accepted solution]

@emsager 

When you pay a company then it is often pending or awaiting authorisation until that company processes your order and captures the pending payment.

If they don't process the order and capture that payment then the pending status times out at 30 days post-payment and returns back to your funding source.