Why is a payment pending for an incomplete order?

[Nathan02]

So I've just made an order through Paypal and the payment is pending, however the website is not marking the order as complete as a result. As in I have no confirmation that the order is completed, however the attempted payment (albeit pending) is still showing up in my Paypal account.

So what exactly is going on here? Will the order go through automatically when Paypal decides to accept it? Will I have to make the order again and hope the initial payment is rejected/refunded? I could understand if the order was completed, I received confirmation and then the Paypal payment is put on pending, but as it currently stands if I were to close the page in which I'm making the order, my progress would be lost.

[kernowlass]

@Nathan02 

When you pay a company then it is often pending or awaiting authorisation until that company processes your order and captures the pending payment.

If they don't process the order and capture that payment then the pending status times out at 30 days post-payment and returns back to your funding source.