@hbc5 You never need funds in your Paypal account balance as a buyer. When you purchase an item then Paypal credit the seller for you, this is so there is no delay in the despatch of your item. Paypal will then take the wait for the funds to automatically transfer to reimburse them from your linked funding source. HOWEVER if there are insufficient funds in both balance and funding source ie bank or card then you can apply for paypal credit BUT not approval is not guaranteed. https://www.paypal.com/us/smarthelp/article/what-is-paypal-credit-and-where-can-i-use-it-faq4150?app=searchAutoComplete
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