"Normally" the funds credit to your balance within a couple of hours. Make sure he uses the friends / family option AND imputs your email addy correctly (if he makes a mistake you may not get it back again if it goes to another account). Also make sure he funds it from his bank account, if you use a credit card there is a fee which one of you will have to pay. You can only withdraw funds from your paypal account balance to a bank account you have linked and verified to your paypal account setting up the direct debit mandate so if you don't have a bank account linked you won't be able to withdraw those funds. Finally withdrawals normally complete within 2-24 hours BUT sometimes you get a "random security hold" that means it is not released for 72 hours. My advice? Get him to do online banking direct to your bank account OR go to the same bank as you ie barclays if you are barclays and pay cash directly into your bank account with the sort code and account number and it will be credited instantly (as long as he pays in cash).
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