For goodness sakes - people sign up for stuff but don't understand - or read - the T&C (Terms & Conditions). One should understand what they are accepting when they accept stuff. Scolding complete. Now... Here's the deal: When you sign up for Paypal, you also indicate a "BACKUP FUNDING SOURCE" - a bank account or credit card, to cover any PayPal or PayPal debit card purchase, in case your PayPal account does not have the necessary funds in it to cover said purchase, It could be the ENTIRE amount of the purchase (if your PayPal balance is $0.00) or it could be the difference between the amount of the purchase, and what's in your PayPal account. The charge will show on your bank or Cr Card statement as "PayPal Inst Xfr" So an example. You buy something for $18.00. You have $4.25 in your PayPal account. You'll see this odd PayPla Inst Xfr charge from your bank that doesn't seem to make sense. ...WHAT DID I GET For $13.75??? Nothing. You did not get anything for $13.75 - you had game charges, or used your PayPal Debit Card, or made an eBay purchase, or had a magazine renew that last year you told them to bang your PayPal account for $18.00 that you totally forgot about - haha but THEY DIDN't !!! LOL So click the DETAILS of transactions on your PayPal account from a few days before the date the Instant Transfer showed up on your bank account, up to the date the money came out of your bank (or credit card) - - it's the BACKUP FUNDING SOURCE that you told PayPal to use. You see that charge for $18.00? It doesn't match the $13.75 that came out of your bank - your backup funding source - does it? No. In fact - on your PayPal statement/activity, you won't see ANY $13.75 transaction. BUT.... look at the details of ALL your PayPal transactions. There....see it? See that $18.00 transaction? Click it. See how it says under "FROM "how the payment breakdown was "PayPal balance - $4.25, and Third National Bank of Bumphuk $13.75 ? That's it - there's your $13.75 that the Third National Bank of Bumphuk paid to PayPal - that PayPal added to the balance that was in your PayPal account, to total the $18.00 purchase discussed above. I hope that clears up any phogg that these phunky transactions create. I learned, so am sharing. Oh, and BTW, I use the PayPal debit card quite often, PayPal balance or not. You get 1% cash back for using a DEBIT card. That's not too bad! And if you don't have enough money in your PayPal account, they take it from your backup funding source - and you STILL get the 1% cash back. So spending $1,000/month on your PayPal (business) debit card will get you $10.00 back a month, or $120 / year. Not bad, for paying your GEICO bill, tyour cable bill, etc. Instead of writing a check, or using the bank bill-payer, where I can, I use the Debit card. No credit card worries, that you may **bleep** up your credit rating if you're late, and you still get cash back. After a while, the authorizations get higher and higher, as Paypal trusts you - and knows your backup funding source (your bank) PROBABLY has the money in it - based on prior experience. It helps to throw $300, $500. even $1,000 into your PayPal account from time-to-time, especially if you KNOW you will spend it, because PayPal will authorize higher purchase amounts that way. For instance, I knew I was going to buy a snowblower. Sure, there are rules that protect credit card purchases, but I was buying it as a gift for my kid, who doesn't take care of stuff anyway, so I didn't care about the protections! And also I got him a SquareTrade warranty - so the doubling of the warranty with Amex or the Buyers Assurance and all that didn't matter to me. I put the money into PayPal via bank transfer FIRST, and then used the PayPal Debit card. It turns out the snowblower was $800 plus tax, so let's say $864. I put $700 into the PayPal account a few days before the purchase. So guess what showed up on my bank statement? A transfer to PayPal for $700, and - yep- you guessed it - another transaction that showed "PayPal Inst Xfr" in the amount of $164. Now had I not known how this worked - I'd have said - WHERE THE HECK DID A CHARGE FOR $164 COME FROM? WHAT'S THIS $164....??? So now you know ! Hope this typing was worth it to those who come scratching heads.
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