How can I cancel a pending transaction?

[SnooSnooKachu]

I tried purchasing something from a website and it created a pending transaction in PayPal, which is what I expected. The seller seems to have dropped the ball and lost the order, so I contacted them to cancel. They said they cancelled the order, but I still see a pending transaction on my PayPal account a day later.

I'd like to dispute or cancel that transaction, but PayPal doesn't allow doing that if it's still pending. Is there anything I can do? I can't seem to find any sort of real contact info for customer service at PayPal, and their chatbot is beyond useless.

[kernowlass]

@SnooSnooKachu 

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.

Sometimes the merchant can void the transaction on their side in which case you may get the funds released more quickly.