Funds sent held from recipient - refund/release possible?

[lastravaganza]

Hi everyone,

I'm based in Ireland and sent a payment (from EUR to CAD) to a friend in Canada. I stupidly did it via the 'seller' option instead of friends and family.

Now the funds are withheld from my friend and they are unable to access them. It has been cancelled on their end but no return of funds has come back to my account. The message on their end says:

''Why we hold funds for new sellers

Congrats on your recent sale. When you're a new seller, we hold your received sales for up to 21 days so we can verify your identity and monitor your transactions. This is one way we help to keep PayPal safe for sellers and buyers''

Is there absolutely ANY way that he could send the money back, or get access to the money at all? Both of us are really stuck as to what to do here. 

Any advice or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[kernowlass]

@lastravaganza 

They can refund the funds once they have cleared and not pending.

So to get the funds released quicker get the recipient to mark the transaction as processed then you may have the option on your account to mark the transaction as delivery/satisfied. If you confirm this by clicking on the "Confirm Receipt" button, funds may be released sooner ie 7 days after you verify receipt. This is not always available or guaranteed. 
If not then sadly its 21 days.

[lastravaganza]

Hey @kernowlass ,

I've found that my friend has already tried cancelling the transaction and no change has appeared for either of us, so I can only assume this may happen in about 3 weeks time or so...

Thanks for the words of advice, that's very useful to know 🙂