Temporary Hold placed on my refund!!!!

[slhixsons]

So I'm guessing that the problem that I am having with getting my refund put back into my paypal account is happening to a lot of others!!!!! I purchased a pair of shoes from ebay on the 16th. On the 19th the seller contacted me and said that one of the shoes was damaged so she was going to refund the money. I told her to refund the money on the 19th, and she did. That's not the problem.....the problem is.....It is exactly 4 days till Christmas and I need to order another pair of shoes, but until paypal takes the temporary hold off of my refund I won't have the money to purchase another pair of shoes!!!!!!! If paypal can front the money to the seller in order to get them paid in a timely manner, then they should be able to front the money to me, so that I can order another pair of shoes!!!!! This is the first and last time I will ever attempt to purchase something as a Christmas gift over the internet using paypal!!!!!  This has been an awful experience!!!!!  

[earlycg62]

I agree with the fact that PayPal does not have to float with our money and it should be put back directly into our bank account.  It is another form of scamming us as a lot of interest from our monies is generating when they do this. We should not have to go through all of this hassle to get back money we willingly payed. Now it should not be an act of congress to have it refunded immediately. We do not wait for days on end to make a payment so why should we have to wait on a refund that should go directly back into the initial form of payment.

 Another thing they do is when your PayPal account card is about to expire they don't tell you that they no longer send a new one to a po box but must send it to a physical address. So if yours is on a po box address and you are about to be expired then i strongly suggest calling paypal and updating to a physical address. I went through a lot of frustrations concerning this so I think it's best to let you all know so you can avoid this from happening to you. 

Let's get together and be heard! It's our money their playing with!

earlycg

[Ruski]

I should have seen these threads before I decided to use Paypal to pay for an item that I was buying from Walmart online.

The item turned out to be out of stock and Walmart cancelled the order and refunded the money.

But Paypal placed a temporary hold on my money. It is over $300!!!!!!!!!

What is Paypal waiting for????????

I am pretty sure that Walmart's money is real.

[phavengeist]

I'm going through the same thing. To be honest, I'm more frustrated with Walmart than Paypal. If the item isn't in stock, they shouldn't charge anything until it is determined that you will be receiving it. I bought the item offline instead so I still ended up spending that money, so at the moment it's like I paid double. I have a feeling that I won't get my money back in my bank account until after I start off on a very long and necessary road trip, and I was counting on that money for gas for the trip. I considered using my credit card for the purchase instead, but went with PayPal so I wouldn't have to look up and type in my credit card number. If I'd used a credit or debit card on walmart.com they said it would take up to 10 days to post the refund...so PayPal actually was supposed to be faster because it supposedly posts immediately. Unfortunately, it will still take that long by the time the hold is removed on PayPal and then back into my bank account.

[atb]

Just some insight that the money has to clear if the transaction was underway when it was cancelled & then refunded. I have 2 transactions that have been refunded in the last few days. One of them is on hold, the other one was in my PayPal balance immediately. The one on hold was "refunded" to me 2 days after I made the purchase, but then placed on hold. The one that arrived immediately was paid for 2 weeks ago, having plenty of time to clear.

[vmc]

Is this company so broke they need to place holds on refunds? I was charged a core charge for an auto part and when it was returned my credit was put on temporary hold while they investigate. Sounds like they are broke. Time to look for another payment method.

[Ollie_G]

I now have close to $2000 tied up into holds on refunds that are due to me. Never again. Once everything settles I am done with this. The money was taken instantaneously yet I have to wait forever to get it back? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice....

[Stickman]

Same here.

The payment and the two partial refunds were processed on the same day. Paypal shows the refund as complete. Note that these did NOT come from a credit card, but directly from a bank account. Thus, there is NO "delay" rationale.

So I called PayPal, and had it explained to me. In actuality, the original payment isn't instant - PayPal actually "loans" the money itself to the payee, and then settles accounts with the payer. The banking system can take 3 to 5 business days to complete the transfer (which is therefore actually to PayPal - Paypal does the "loan" to expedite the payment on behalf of the user).

When the refund comes in quickly, it means the payment from Paypal to the payee is still en route, and thus the refund from the payee is also really en route. So all of this has to "settle" (think of it like a escrow with all funds needing to be in place before all transactions are completed). So it takes 3 to 5 business days for all this to occur, and I was told to expect my actual funds in that time frame. 

[Nerevar]

[img]http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/896/gkj.png[/img]

Just to clarify, I WILL get my money back, right? I understand it may time some time, which is fine, just as long as I get my money back at some point soon.

[Oma_S]

I think Paypal wants to act like a bank. They must make money on interest - holding funds would possibly give them interest.  I think they encourage leaving money in the Paypal account, rather than returning in to your bank. When I withdraw funds from Paypal and transfer it to my bank it takes a few days - and they may make some interest on that money, too. Who really knows? Not me.

I decided to stop using Paypal for any transaction that I think I may receive a refund on - such as returning or canceling a purchase. It's just as easy to use a credit card for that sort of business. With eBay, there's not much choice, so I am very careful about what I buy on eBay. Selling on eBay isn't worth the time and effort unless you are a real "power" seller anyway. 

[gregg7924]

I had a similar problem as a seller and they held my refund to the buyer from Sep. 26 till Oct. 11. They also tried to take an extra $520 out of my bank account to cover a $4,75 shortage. I love paypal but these procedures are absurd. I also enjoyed talking to customer service in Costa Rica, where supervisors and agents do not speak English very well. I have paid thousands of dollars in fees to Paypal over the years and I am real happy this money is being sent out of the country to foreign workers, while workers in the USA cannot find jobs. I would be interested in hearing any suggestions to fight this action by Paypal.

Gregg7924