anyone heard of paypal holding funds until you release them?

[lesliedr]

Was looking to buy a vehicle online but its several states away at a shipping company. The seller is stating that she will forward my info to paypall and they will send us both invoices. PayPal will instruct me on how to make a refundable payment. Paypal hold the funds until the car is delivered to me, inspected and until I confirm that I have received the car in it's described condition. I will have 5 days to decide if I want to keep it, and if PayPal should release the money to the seller or not. If for any reason I won't like the car, PayPal will refund me and the seller will instruct the shipping company to store the car until she finds a new buyer. It's not necessary to ship the car back. Does this make sense to anyone and does Paypal in fact "hold" money? Ive looked here on the site but cant seem to find anything relating to this. Any help would be appreciated!

[msdaisy97]

I am in the same situation. I was also looking for an answer to the IDENTICAL scenario. Did the woman say she just moved to what ever city you are from and that is why you do not have to send the car bacK?

I would like a paypal representative to answer your question.

Thanks for your post.

-MsDaisy97

[fishingrand]

exactly the same situation. says she'l pay the shipping, etc... sounds fishy. is it a 2004 Nissan Armada? in MO.?

[fishingrand]

did you get a stright answer from paypal?

[PayPal_Adrian]

Hello everyone!

What you're describing is essentially an escrow service, which PayPal does not do. 

There are some scenarios where we withhold funds from sellers until an item is delivered, but this wouldn't fit our standard operating procedure, so to speak.  We also wouldn't check with you. 

Additionally, motor vehicles and deposits are not covered under our protection policies for buyers or sellers. 

If you do proceed with the transaction, do so with your eyes wide open and keep an eye out for anything unusual.  If possible, consider making the purchase through PayPal still (to protect your financial information) but with a funding source that would provide you an additional layer of consumer protection. 

Please, be careful out there! 

Adrian