General Question

[DaveMclemore73]

I received a refund / process request from an ebay seller. It was listed as 'pending until November 22', which came to around 6 business days.

I waited and now it is shown as 'completed', however, the funds have not gone to my account.

From what I've read on comments here it looks like the final transfer can take another 5 business days to a month? Am I incorrrect in this assumption or is the posted information in comments correct?(I'm hoping it's a bit dated)

The Paypal faq says that the transfer time once your status is marked 'complete' depends on your bank/cardholder, however, standard transfer time when I collect a payment sent to me from a client and transfer to this my card is usually minutes. 

My bank doesn't seem to be aware of a pending refund on their end and Paypal shows it as'completed from theirs. Since I have spoken to both Paypal and my bank I'm a little confused now at how to proceed.

Is it normal for a paypal refund to take 6 or so business days on their end and then an additional 5-30 days for the refund process to actually go back to the card it took them seconds to collect from?

(or put simply, does getting a refund from a Paypal purchase normally take 6 to 30+ business days??!

If I would have gone through the card company directly a dispute would have taken minutes. That is why I am writing this. I am hoping it is some sort of mistake and very much out of the ordinary experience for Paypal customers.

I've seen recommendations to contact the seller and ask them to cancel the transaction and to set it as a different kind(standard refund) but I'm honestly a bit leery of having them cancel a transaction that has already taken a modern, long-standing business 6 days to fail to mature to completion.

I realize it may show as completed in my paypal activity, however, a refund is not a refund until you get your money back, at least Ifeel that is a reasonable assumption.

So what is best to do now? Wait and see if I get my 200 gbp back in 30 or so days? Call my bank again?

Thanks for reading.

Dave

[kernowlass]

@DaveMclemore73

A seller can only issue a refund via funds in their paypal balance or an echeque.
So if its an echeque it has to clear through from the sellers bank account > paypal > and then it is credited to you and the hold lifted.

This is because paypal don't "refund in advance" like they do when you pay for an item and they credit the seller in advance for you and take the wait for the funds to process through to them >> If you look on your credit card statement when you pay for things its normally pending for a few days before it clears, some of mine have been over a week to clear but paypal have already credited the seller in advance.

Once your refund is marked as completed it takes 7-30 days to process back to your card BUT although paypal says allow 30 days I have never waited longer than 7.

Thats if you did fund it via a card?

[DaveMclemore73]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Yes, I did a card payment. I'm not sure why it takes Paypal so many business days to confirm the Seller is sending me a refund that was actually authorized by the seller and to verify that the funds are available, and then my card company to accept money and send it back within 7-30 more days.

Thats 11-30+ business days for a transaction that took seconds to complete when I paid for the item.

It is a little confusing. Why not  just pay by Visa or Mastercard and get an instant refund when both parties agree on cancelling the transaction?

That is why I was thinking it must be a mistake.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Dave

[DaveMclemore73]

so basically if a customer uses a credit card they have linked through their Paypal instead of just directly through the card, the average refund time if there is a mistake on their order is 13 or 14 days?

[kernowlass]

@DaveMclemore73

Well i thought i had explained all that, oh well.

The whole point is that a lot of sellers cannot accept direct card payments so you would not be able to pay that way which is why paypal helps a lot of small time sellers accept card funded payments.

But you can't REFUND from a card, you have to refund from a linked bank account or funds in your paypal balance so as i am sure i said earlier if the seller does not have funds in their paypal balance then you have to wait for the funds to transfer from the sellers bank account to paypal > who then pass it on to your card > then your card normally takes up to 7 days to process the payment to your account.

[DaveMclemore73]

I'm just saying that it is hard to understand why an electronic payment that takes seconds to leave my account can take a month to go back to it. Even if a second account is involved, which should could add a day for them to confirm the refund status. Maybe 3 if we were being generous and they had to make a phone call.

After all, a debit is a debit to a computer.

a. it checks for funds

b. funds found or not found

c. transaction approved or it isn't

Otherwise people would draw from their debit accounts like crazy, or on the flipside, have to wait a week for grocery payments to approve.

Amazing thing, technology. 🙂 

Usually third party vendors accept a charge for a transaction to facilitate it, I was just a little surprised to see that when it comes to the reverse it can mean a week or 4 of your personal time and money. We live and learn.

 I think you were telling me how it is, rather than what customers would like it to be. Thanks for trying,anyways.

Dave

[kernowlass]

@DaveMclemore73

Well of course i am telling you how it is. What other way can I tell you????

If you want paypal to change the system for you so that it is better for you as a customer then contact them direct.

I can only give you the FACTS and how it works. I don't make their policy !!!

And its not paypal thats slow, paypal has to WAIT for the refund to transfer from the sellers bank account to paypal > then paypal send it to your credit card and its PENDING on your card until it clears.

[DaveMclemore73]

eh, if I'm told something will take 6 days and it doesn't, it's irritating.

Simple as that.

When you see something as 'pending until x date' then I'd think that would be exactly what you'd expect to happen, that things are being done behind the scenes to get the transaction refunded or corrected, etc, and that you wouldn't need to search forums and faqs to find that it perhaps should have read 'pending in 6-30 days' .

Anyways, it's nothing to argue over, you've said it generally takes a week at most after it's been marked complete and you certainly have made enough posts to know. I appreciate your expertise and assistance.

Dave

[AuntyDepressant]

Seriously, rude much? Must be from the U.K., huh. Paypal is a JOKE, and that makes you, who spends a lot of their time replying RUDELY to desperate, frustrated people, a joke as well.

Learn some manners, "Lass".