My bank account was charged for shipping instead of it being taken from my pending balance. Help!

[Chelseamayhemm]

Okay so I may not be understanding correctly as i am new to this whole thing. I sold an item on ebay and when I printed to shipping label my bank account was charged and therefore overdrawn. I have read on a few forums that the balance is supposed to be relased a few minutes after the shipping label had been paid for but for me that was not the case. When i called customer support they were rude and told me that if i had wanted the funds relased i had to hit pay later. No where did i read this. Then when i tried to re-explain the situation the guy said "Well this is a problem with ebay, ill transfer you" i tried to tell him no it was a problem with Paypal but in the middle of my sentence he just hung up on me! RUDE! So am i going crazy? did i misread or not understand something? Has anyone else had this problem? PLEASE HELP!!

[snowshoe]

Unfortunately as this is a member to member help group, we cannot resolve issues such as this.

However we can try to explain a few things -

As a new seller, PayPal will place a hold your funds until after you ship the item.  Once you provide them with the shipping/tracking information, they will release your money.  The problem is, many new sellers don't have the money they need in their PayPal Account Balance ahead of time to pay for the shipping costs because they are expecting the money from the sale to be there right after the sale.

Should you have insufficient funds in your Account Balance, PayPal will then proceed to take the shipping costs from your linked bank account.  This is normal.   Down the road, as you build your sales history, you will start to receive your money almost right away. 

We can't speak for the unpleasant customer service you received - it's clear that's not professional.  You can always share your thoughts with PayPal direct via some alternative methods - there's Twitter @AskPayPal or via Private Message on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PayPal

Below are some tips on how PayPal will use your funding sources:

PayPal will first look at your PayPal Account balance, if you have insufficient funds, PayPal will then take the funds from your Bank Account. PayPal will do an instant transfer from your bank account assuming you have a current linked and confirmed credit card.  If the card is not current or no card, then the transfer from your bank account to pay for the purchase can take a few days, possibly up to 4.

If you have a credit card and no bank account, then the credit card will be used. This all happens assuming you don't elect to choose a funding source. Note, If you have both a bank account and credit card, you can choose to pay with your credit card on the PayPal Checkout screens by using the pay with another source option. There you can select your card from the dropdown.

It is possible to pay using the funds in your Account balance and the remainder with a credit card however, you must first elect to pay with your credit card. Your available balance will be used up and the remainder is charged to your card. As this now looks like you've sent a single payment, you remain eligible for Buyer Protection. You would not be eligible for Buyer Protection, if you paid for the item with two separate transactions.

What you cannot do is split a single payment between 2 bank accounts, 2 credit/debit card accounts or a bank account and a credit/debit card account. In addition, you cannot split a single payment between 2 PayPal accounts.

[MrMelQuin]

Before I purchased the shipping, I read the FAQ on the following page:

https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/security/paypal-funds-availability

The FAQ includes the following question and answer:

Q: Can I pay for shipping with money in my pending balance?

A: When you print labels and pay for shipping through PayPal or eBay, the cost of shipping is released from your pending balance shortly after purchase. Printing labels on PayPal and eBay is free. You pay only the cost of shipping the item.

This helped me decide to print the shipping labels before going to the bank.

Instead of being charged to the pending balance, it went to the bank account which lacked funds because I followed the FAQ.

My first call resulted in a similar "it's eBay" comment, but the FAQ clearly specifies PayPal and eBay.

I talked to a supervisor, and she did release the funds to avoid another overdraft. 

The original overdrafts, a total of $4.50, have caused a $72.00 NSF fee from my bank.

The FAQ fails to mention clicking any check boxes or any specific action that needs to be taken to pay for shipping with the pending balance.

For that reason, I strongly feel PayPal is responsible for the mistake. 

If the FAQ was not there, I would have made a $5 deposit in my bank account.

So far, I've not encountered a helpful solution. 

Perhaps knowing you're not alone with this problem can help your stress levels. 

[TaraFace1953]

There are 8 shipping charges that came out of my banking account and they should not have been.  The payment source was changed a coupal months ago.  ALSO I found that over 1400.00 was charge to my credit card for shipping.  Who would I go to so I can see why I was charged that amount?