(WHERE is my Refund?!) Receiving Refund question via Credit/Debit Card

[slyfuldragon]

I was refunded a sum of money from a seller, and I ONLY entered my card number(through paypal), no bank number.

*USUALLY, Once refunded (anywhere else) you would see transactions on hold (Purchases/Refunds).

The questions is: I was refunded, how come checking my online statement, it doesnt show my refund on transactions "pending/on hold", or is it added already to my balance (naturally on a credit/debit card it has to be held for a couple of days) but again, nothing is showing and its been 5 hours since the refund.

Any Ideas?

[emma23]

Hi

on Feb 3, 2011, I was refunded, then I saw the amount on paypal balance, but without my withrawal demand, I saw it is disappeared from paypal account and also there is nothing shown in my bank account also.

it is a week, WHERE IS MY REFUND ?
WHERE IS MY MONEY?

thanks

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi emma23, welcome to the forums!

If you paid with a debit card, it may have gone back on the card or it may have stayed in the balance, depending on the network used. If you go to your History and switch the view to "All activity (with balance)", you can see if you spent the money after it came in, or if the funds are on their way back to the card. These are the two leading reasons people see a 0 balance after receiving a refund.

I hope this helps!

Olivia

[4andrea]

This same sort of thing has happened to me and days later I still have no real $$$ refund. It shows a refund, but it refunded to NOWHERE.  Here is what has happened. 

I made a purchase using PayPal to ClickBank. 

It put a hold on my account at my bank.

Then it actually charged the money and it came out of my bank account. 

Then I asked for a refund of the dissatisfactory product.

The seller complied and refunded me through Clickbank back to PayPal. 

PayPal shows that I have a refund, yet my balance is ZERO. 

???

This has never happened before. AND it did *not* go directly back to my bank account because my bank shows nothing except the transaction that came out.  

So I have no refund yet and it's been 4 days.  

Again, in the past when this has happened, it simply went into my Paypal account and then I would transfer the money to my bank account. I got refunded and there was no problem.  Has PayPal changed the way it processes refunds?  If so, this process **bleep** quite frankly.

Does anyone have a clue why it shows a refund, yet there is no money in my PayPal account or my bank account. It is the mystery money that I don't have.

**Also note, the 'refund' did *not* pay for another PayPal transaction after that since the money came out of my bank account for the other transaction as well.  Houston, there is a problem!

[PayPal_Olivia]

Welcome to the forums, 4andrea!

If the seller clicked the refund link on the transaction, it should have been released to you as soon as the bank funding cleared. If the refund occurred within a few days following the payment, you will see that the funds are available as soon as the funds finish clearing from your bank, which takes 3-4 business days for US accounts. It may show as withdrawn from your bank a few days before it actually clears through to PayPal.

How long ago was the original payment?

Olivia

[4andrea]

Olivia, 

This transaction took place on 2/05 and posted in my bank on 2/07, withdrawing the money.  I've never had the money go directly back to my bank, so this is odd.  Normally the money refunded to PayPal goes back into my PayPal account, then I transfer it back to my bank. 

In any case, I still have no money, no refund has posted anywhere with actual money. I'll wait another week, but I still have no idea why this money didn't just go into my PayPal account, as before, and save me a stupid headache. Thanks.

[4andrea]

Update, this finally showed up in my PayPal account.  I have now transferred it to my bank.  Why did it take PayPal 4 days to get this into my account?  

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi 4andrea,

I'd be happy to explain!

Any time money is transferred between your bank account and PayPal, in either direction, it is sent via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) process. This is a batch processing method used by many financial services, governed by NACHA - The Electronics Payments Association. This process helps keep the cost of transferring money lower, which enables us to keep our fees lower for our customers and even offer many of our features for free.

When you send an Instant Transfer, PayPal actually pays your seller up front for you, immediately. That's why paying through PayPal is such a fast way to pay!  We then wait the 3-4 business days for your funds to clear in the background. This typically goes so smoothly that most people don't even realize that there's more to it than just clicking and sending their payment. When it's usually noticed is in the case of a refund being given within a few days of the original payment.

If the seller refunds the payment before the funds have fully cleared from your bank, PayPal notes that in both accounts. PayPal hasn't actually yet received the money from your bank at that point, but the funds are already en route. That's why when a payment is refunded before the funds have finished making their way to PayPal from your bank, the refund is "held". As soon as the money comes from the bank, it's released for you to spend or withdraw, as you see fit.

I hope this helps shed some light on the process. Let me know if you have any more questions about it!

Olivia

[TomC]

How is it they take the money OUT of my account almost instantly, but it takes them days to put it back in because, supposedly,  it has to "clear the system"?

Also, at any given time - how many millions - or BILLIONS - does paypal have "on hold"?

I think that would be something that my state's attoney general would be interested in. My poor state is broke, and would probably like to poke around with how paypal does business!

[PayPal_Olivia]

Welcome to the forums, TomC!

In the aftermath, it's understandable that one would look back and think that it showed withdrawn from their bank immediately. In reality, there is a delay. Your bank may have time to receive and process the request on the same day, or it may take longer. I've seen in my own online statement at my bank where a transaction appears the next day bearing the previous day's date. I imagine that the date that they receive the request is the date that they used, and they updated the information later when they responded to the request. When the bank responds to the request, it still takes time to go through the clearing facilities before it reaches PayPal.

The link in my previous post explains more thoroughly how the ACH process works.

Olivia

[TomC]

When I buy something on ebay and pay for it with paypal - it shows up on my bank account INSTANTLY.

So, let's consider a recent transaction I had.

I made a payment with paypal directly to a vendor because we agreed I wouldn't pay it all at once, I'd make two payments. I USED to be able to do that on ebay, but now I can't figure out how to change the "amount due," and so I went to the paypal site directly.

I entered in the guy's email address, fine, wen to tell it how much to pay, and hit send. I tell the guy the money is on it's way!

He contacts me a bit later and says: "Where's my money"? I send him the paypay acknowledgemment and then look at it and. wait a minute, it's not his email address, how did THAT happen?

I go back to the paypal sit and type in his email address.. then when I move the mouse away, I notice that it makes a dropdown menu of ALL the paypal payees I've used the last few weeks. It occurs to me that when I move my mouse down to get to the payment screen, the program must have "scrolled" that list, and sent the payment to someone else!

Lousy software. I've bet that happens a few hundred times a day.  

So I call paypal and they say: "Tough noogies!"

I call the person I sent the payment to, they are VERY helpful and send me a refund immediately!

And I pay the guy I wanted to.

So, where is paypal in all this?

Well, think about it. They put a hold on my refund - money that they took from the errant payee. They probably have a hold on the money I sent her, as well. And they probably have a hold on the money they sent the merchant, too.

So, for a $300 purchase, that's 3 holds of three hundred - or $900 total! Where's the money? My bank account has been debited twice, plus the  erranrt payee has been debited once. There's the $900. Paypal is sitting on it!

That was ONE transaction - almost a thousand bucks that paypal is clutching onto, refusing to let go until paypal feels like it!

Multiply that by HOW MANY?

My state's AG could be licking his chops over this!

Also- paypal tell me that "MY INFORMATION IS SAFE"

Then why did they turn over their payment records to the IRS?

I know a little old fellow sells stuff on ebay, maybe makes $20,000 a year doing it. That and some social security, and he and his wife barely get by.

The IRS audits him because paypal told them he grossed about $40,000 in ebay sales (HIPPA, anyone?) He goes to the auditor and shows ALL his receipts, and all his income. He was living on cash advances from his credit cards, and cashed in some life insurances policies. All reported to the IRS, but the IRS wants him to account for ALL deposits.

I sat down with him, we contacted 6 banks he had credits cards with, and get statements from them - he had to pay sometimes $25 PER STATEMENT from those people. All but one credit card company can come up with statements - he drew about $3000 in cash advances from them. He's turned over all he can from the IRS, but they stuill want to assess him taxes on $3000 of self-employment income!

I've known this guy FORVER, and he reports EVERY DIME.

Anyway, the IRS says no proof with the credit card statement - then we're including it in income.

They assess him 15% of 3000, $450, plus SE tax, another $450, another grand in interest and penalties, and then the extra income makes some of his social security income taxable, he ends up owning $3000 in taxes - on money he never made!

He said he was sick of the whole thing (I wanted to fight it) he paid the taxes...

...and then LOST HIS HOUSE because he couldn't make the morgage payments.

Thanks for "protecting my information" paypal!

(I'll provide more information about this case if you want.)