Hi, The reason this happens is because PayPal sets aside funds for your purchases (merchandise, USPS & UPS shipping services etc.) for 5 days. If the merchant or UPS does not claim the money that PayPal set aside for them within 5 days, thPayPal returns the money back to your account. UPS pretty much NEVER claims their money within those 4 to 5 days, and PayPal said that was typical of UPS. So the money that PayPal set aside to "hold" for them (UPS in this case) is returned back to your account as "available" funds for your use. If you spend those funds and the money in your PayPal balance drops below what you owe UPS, in this example, then when UPS comes to "claim" their money for the services you purchased--there will not be enough funds in your PayPal account to pay them. That's when trouble occurs. Very few vendors, merchants wait more than 4 or 5 days to claim their money from your PayPal account for goods or services you bought from them with money from your PayPal account. This is the way it should be. Then the money that PayPal set aside for them is there waiting for them when they claim it. They get paid, and nothing has much of a chance of getting messed-up in your PayPal account. It's when the vendor or merchant wait longer than 4 to 5 days to claim their money, and the money set aside for them has been returned back to your PayPal account because they didn't collect it in a timely manner, and you spend out of that "returned back" money, your account drops to an amount lower than what is needed to pay that vendor or merchant, and then you have "insufficient funds" and can't satisfy your debt to the vendor or merchant you bought a good or service from. In my PayPal account, if something is pending payment, and I do not see a "completed" word next to the transaction, I then automatically take action and don't spend more out of my PayPal account than what might be needed to pay that vendor/merchant whose transaction is "pending" still. Believe it or not, all banks in the USA do the very same thing in checking/debit card accounts too. The money for your purchases is held for anywhere from 3 to 5 days (depending on which bank) for the vendor/merchant to claim it, and if they don't claim it, the money that was set aside for them by your bank wil get returned to your account as available funds. I hope this makes sense and helps you, this usually goes un-noticed until your account happens to be low on funds, then this money held "pending" and unclaimed money "returned to your account" becomes very noticable. And if you are like me, I called PayPal and asked for an explaination of what was gong on with my money. They very nicely explaied it to me and it greatly helped me understand what happens when vendors/merchants don't claim their money in a timely manner.
