Money on hold

[DianeV1]

I've recently had a commission and I was due to to get paid yesterday, which I did, however the money has been pending for over 7 hours and idk what to do. I looked up stuff on the web but I either don't have the same interface as them or I can't find myself in the situations mentioned there, therefore I'm lost and worried. The way it happened is the following: me, european with an account set to €, I'm supposed to receive the money from an USA account, with the account money set to $, so I assumed this is why it was taking longer. I don't know if I'm supposed to accept it, since there's no clear button, or if I'm supposed to just keep waiting.

[kernowlass]

@DianeV1 

Would be much easier for them to just send you the payment in euros.

Or you can just invoice them in euros, they click on it and it gets sent and the checkout page tells them how much in USD will be deducted from their linked funding source.

Why accept USD and then you are landed with paying the conversion fees?

Anyway if they have paid in USD then did you add that currency as a receiving currency in your paypal wallet?

[DianeV1]

I was and am not aware of how PayPal altogether works so to answer, no I didn't add any currency, nor do I know how to do it.

[kernowlass]

@DianeV1 

If you want more advice feel free to ask and I will try to give up my time to help you.

[DianeV1]

Yes, I would really appreciate some help, thank you. When and how can I get in touch with you?

[kernowlass]

@DianeV1 

If you click on your paypal wallet in the blue band top of your paypal account summary page.

you will see add currency middle of page.

Select the currency you want to add ie USD and it should then show as a receiving currency on your balance. 

[DianeV1]

I did exactly what you told me to do, and by doing so I noticed that USD were already added as receiving currency.

One more peculiar thing, though, is that the person who sent me the money had been notified by PayPal that I am to have the money sometime today, while I was informed, also by PayPal, that I will get it in three weeks time. So, since I don't think I can do anything else but wait at this point, do you happen to know if this happened because of the currency difference, or maybe because of something else?

[kernowlass]

@DianeV1 

Are the funds actually showing in your paypal balance or not showing at all?

If they are showing then does it say echeque with a clearance date OR does it say on hold as a new seller for 21 days?

If its on hold then if the buyer confirms receipt of item then yes you would get the funds more quickly, if they did not then it would be 21 days OR 3 weeks as c.s. said as per link.

 https://www.paypal.com/ro/smarthelp/article/my-payment-is-on-hold.-why-is-this-happening-faq3297

[DianeV1]

The money does appear in my PayPal balance, however it does indeed say On Hold.
I previously browsed and found that same page, read through and ended up adding Tracking Info to the money that has the On Hold status, eventually getting informed that I am now to have access to the money within 7 days of verification.

Now, I have two other questions regarding the PayPal services. First, you mentioned this ''buyer'' that is supposed to confirm a receipt, and I have seen this mentioned on other forums as well, and on the PayPal page/app itself; who is this buyer exactly, or, how does this work, what role does this individual play?

My second question is in regard to invoices. I tried to look it up but I could not find a definition per say. I have never heard of this term before and you mentioned it as well in the first reply.  Could you perhaps explain it to me?

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi @DianeV1,

Thank you for your posts, and welcome to the PayPal Community Forum! I'll be happy to answer your questions.

The buyer is the person who sent you the payment. The payment is for Goods and Services, in this case I believe you said it was a commission. The buyer is the person who purchased the commission from you. In the tracking area, you have the option to indicate that the service was completed/delivered. Once you do that, the buyer should have the option to confirm receipt of the service, and that will cause the funds to release.

An invoice is a way to itemize/describe the things you are selling and send the list to the person who will be sending you the payment for Goods and/or Services. That person, who is the buyer, will be able to pay directly from the invoice. It creates a record of what's being purchased/sold, as well as making it easy for the buyer to make the payment.

I hope this information is helpful!

Olivia