This just happened to me under slightly different circumstances. The bottom line is that Paypal needs to make it really clear that the payment is not going to be instant. They need to do this with a giant flashing warning. Having 100 transactions process one way and then the 101st go a different route for any reason makes no sense. As the user above described (and as in my case) it could be absolutely urgent that the funds move instantly. But if Paypal must use mysterious algorithms to change from an instant payment to an echeck that takes days to process then at least adequately warn the user and let them choose a different payment method or even service.
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