Paypal payment pending

[sjw9001]

Hi,

I'm a new seller located in Canada who just sold some video games to a buyer in the U.S. The buyer sent the payment to my PayPal but the payment is still showing as "pending". The message in my PayPal account says This payment is still pending. In case you are shipping an item please wait until the payment is completed.

As PayPal has told me not to ship the product yet, I waited. The buyer messaged me today asking when I was planning on shipping the product. I told them that the payment hasn't cleared yet and that's why I haven't shipped the product yet.  He then told me that he had this problem before and that in order for the release of funds to happen I need to ship the product first.

I feel like I should wait until PayPal instructs me that it is OK to ship the product. Is there any truth to the buyer's claim that the money he sent will clear once I ship the product? That seems like a potential scam to me.

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks.

[momcqueen]

That makes sense EXCEPT that PayPal’s amount is $850 CAD. To be clear, eBay wants its ebay.ca sellers to get Signature Confirmation on orders (item plus postage) valued at $750 CAD or higher in order to be eligible for Seller Protection in a dispute? If that’s the case, I have to return to threads between now and three years ago to correct myself. Which is fine, I’ll do that, because it’s more important to have correct information available.

[femmefan1946]

I agree that sellers should be comfortable with using Signature Confirmation for their own protection, no matter what the value of the sale may be.

In addition to choosing NO SAFE DROP as an option on the label, I would suggest writing DO NOT SAFE DROP on the parcel in bold black sharpie letters. 

A tick off box may be overlooked by a busy postie.

[pocomocomputing]

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@happy_pigeonwrote:

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@pocomocomputingwrote: 

eBay Canada Seller Protection

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/seller-protection.html

Signature confirmation, if an item has a total cost of US$/C$750 or more

(We should ask @happy_pigeon  what does US$/C$750 mean since we can only sell in CAN $ on eBay.ca. With an exchange rate today of about 31%, $750 USD = $983 CAN which is a significant difference in value between currencies?)

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It's just an artifact of two closely related sites with different currencies--the same way, say, our FVFs and Store subscription fees are the same amount on .com and .ca numbers-wise, but are technically different after the exchange rates.

.ca and .com share a lot of code, so it's just easier to disregard exchange rates and declare a common amount when it is meant to trigger a particular reaction (or in this case, recommendation). So it would be $750 in this case regardless of whether it is CAD or USD. Does that make sense?

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@happy_pigeon

I find your explanation does not make sense. The USD $750 amount should not be there.

A Canadian seller who lists on eBay.ca Canada can only use CAN currency to list their items since a year or more ago. The item will sell in CAN currency. It may be sold to a US located buyer who pays in USD or a UK located buyer who pays in pounds but it is converted by PayPal to the equivalent CAN amount in the listing. So if the seller protection breakpoint is $750 CAN, then the $750 USD amount is meaningless.

A Canadian seller who lists on eBay.com can only use USD currency to list their items. The item will sell in USD to a buyer in the USA, Canada or UK or wherever. The payment processor will convert the buyer funds if needed to USD. The seller protection breakpoint is $750 USD on eBay.com.

To me, the eBay seller protection breakpoint number is site dependent on where the seller lists and in the currency of site listed on. Not where the seller is located in which country. So it is pointless to put $750 CAN/USD in the help on eBay.ca because it is confusing since USD is not the currency of the site. While it is true that $750 USD is the breakpoint on the USA site, there is no need to mention it so indirectly and confusing a way on the eBay.ca site since it does not apply to the eBay.ca site. Sellers might interpret it to mean that $750 USD= $931 CAN is the breakpoint for the eBay.ca site instead of the correct amount of $750 CAN.

If we look at eBay UK site the seller protection breakpoint is £750 = $1054 USD. Is the UK seller breakpoint the seller home site or the site where the listing listed on?

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/seller-protection-faq.html

For items valued over £750, we also require signature confirmation.

I find it confusing to have both amounts listed because it is confusing. Hence the question in this topic and summoning you to clarify it and hopefully remove it since it serves only to confuse.

[happy_pigeon]

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@pocomocomputing wrote:

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@happy_pigeonwrote:

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@pocomocomputingwrote: 

eBay Canada Seller Protection

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/seller-protection.html

Signature confirmation, if an item has a total cost of US$/C$750 or more

(We should ask @happy_pigeon  what does US$/C$750 mean since we can only sell in CAN $ on eBay.ca. With an exchange rate today of about 31%, $750 USD = $983 CAN which is a significant difference in value between currencies?)

---

It's just an artifact of two closely related sites with different currencies--the same way, say, our FVFs and Store subscription fees are the same amount on .com and .ca numbers-wise, but are technically different after the exchange rates.

.ca and .com share a lot of code, so it's just easier to disregard exchange rates and declare a common amount when it is meant to trigger a particular reaction (or in this case, recommendation). So it would be $750 in this case regardless of whether it is CAD or USD. Does that make sense?

---

@happy_pigeon

I find your explanation does not make sense. The USD $750 amount should not be there.

A Canadian seller who lists on eBay.ca Canada can only use CAN currency to list their items since a year or more ago. The item will sell in CAN currency. It may be sold to a US located buyer who pays in USD or a UK located buyer who pays in pounds but it is converted by PayPal to the equivalent CAN amount in the listing. So if the seller protection breakpoint is $750 CAN, then the $750 USD amount is meaningless.

A Canadian seller who lists on eBay.com can only use USD currency to list their items. The item will sell in USD to a buyer in the USA, Canada or UK or wherever. The payment processor will convert the buyer funds if needed to USD. The seller protection breakpoint is $750 USD on eBay.com.

To me, the eBay seller protection breakpoint number is site dependent on where the seller lists and in the currency of site listed on. Not where the seller is located in which country. So it is pointless to put $750 CAN/USD in the help on eBay.ca because it is confusing since USD is not the currency of the site. While it is true that $750 USD is the breakpoint on the USA site, there is no need to mention it so indirectly and confusing a way on the eBay.ca site since it does not apply to the eBay.ca site. Sellers might interpret it to mean that $750 USD= $931 CAN is the breakpoint for the eBay.ca site instead of the correct amount of $750 CAN.

If we look at eBay UK site the seller protection breakpoint is £750 = $1054 USD. Is the UK seller breakpoint the seller home site or the site where the listing listed on?

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/seller-protection-faq.html

For items valued over £750, we also require signature confirmation.

I find it confusing to have both amounts listed because it is confusing. Hence the question in this topic and summoning you to clarify it and hopefully remove it since it serves only to confuse.

---

Sorry you didn't find it helpful. I had a closer look at the help page you linked--I didn't look at it very deeply earlier and instead answered based on the text in your post. Having looked, I actually don't see the statement you quoted anywhere on the page. Instead, it says:

Signature confirmation, if an item has a total cost of $750 or more

The lack of a specified currency on a Canadian help page indicates that the figure in question is in CAD. So the amount in question would be $750 CAD. USD doesn't even come into the equasion, since no one is selling in USD on eBay.ca.

So, my apologies for skimming; my earlier answer was based on the fact that we do often use the same figures, regardless of currency, for certain fees and benchmarks.

[pocomocomputing]

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@happy_pigeonwrote:

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@pocomocomputingwrote:

---

@happy_pigeonwrote:

---

@pocomocomputingwrote: 

eBay Canada Seller Protection

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/policies/seller-protection.html

Signature confirmation, if an item has a total cost of US$/C$750 or more

(We should ask @happy_pigeon  what does US$/C$750 mean since we can only sell in CAN $ on eBay.ca. With an exchange rate today of about 31%, $750 USD = $983 CAN which is a significant difference in value between currencies?)

---

It's just an artifact of two closely related sites with different currencies--the same way, say, our FVFs and Store subscription fees are the same amount on .com and .ca numbers-wise, but are technically different after the exchange rates.

.ca and .com share a lot of code, so it's just easier to disregard exchange rates and declare a common amount when it is meant to trigger a particular reaction (or in this case, recommendation). So it would be $750 in this case regardless of whether it is CAD or USD. Does that make sense?

---

@happy_pigeon

I find your explanation does not make sense. The USD $750 amount should not be there.

A Canadian seller who lists on eBay.ca Canada can only use CAN currency to list their items since a year or more ago. The item will sell in CAN currency. It may be sold to a US located buyer who pays in USD or a UK located buyer who pays in pounds but it is converted by PayPal to the equivalent CAN amount in the listing. So if the seller protection breakpoint is $750 CAN, then the $750 USD amount is meaningless.

A Canadian seller who lists on eBay.com can only use USD currency to list their items. The item will sell in USD to a buyer in the USA, Canada or UK or wherever. The payment processor will convert the buyer funds if needed to USD. The seller protection breakpoint is $750 USD on eBay.com.

To me, the eBay seller protection breakpoint number is site dependent on where the seller lists and in the currency of site listed on. Not where the seller is located in which country. So it is pointless to put $750 CAN/USD in the help on eBay.ca because it is confusing since USD is not the currency of the site. While it is true that $750 USD is the breakpoint on the USA site, there is no need to mention it so indirectly and confusing a way on the eBay.ca site since it does not apply to the eBay.ca site. Sellers might interpret it to mean that $750 USD= $931 CAN is the breakpoint for the eBay.ca site instead of the correct amount of $750 CAN.

If we look at eBay UK site the seller protection breakpoint is £750 = $1054 USD. Is the UK seller breakpoint the seller home site or the site where the listing listed on?

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/seller-protection-faq.html

For items valued over £750, we also require signature confirmation.

I find it confusing to have both amounts listed because it is confusing. Hence the question in this topic and summoning you to clarify it and hopefully remove it since it serves only to confuse.

---

Sorry you didn't find it helpful. I had a closer look at the help page you linked--I didn't look at it very deeply earlier and instead answered based on the text in your post. Having looked, I actually don't see the statement you quoted anywhere on the page. Instead, it says:

Signature confirmation, if an item has a total cost of $750 or more

The lack of a specified currency on a Canadian help page indicates that the figure in question is in CAD. So the amount in question would be $750 CAD. USD doesn't even come into the equation, since no one is selling in USD on eBay.ca.

So, my apologies for skimming; my earlier answer was based on the fact that we do often use the same figures, regardless of currency, for certain fees and benchmarks.

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LOL, I just checked the link I posted above in my post with a copy paste of the line in question in the help page linked and the eBay.ca help page was changed since I posted the discrepancy a month ago.  I verified the current post above and I am convinced it still said US$/C$750 so I copied my old post from the other topic. Perhaps someone from eBay read that old topic and changed it. Or perhaps there was an eBay.ca Help Page update recently copying the USA site and not changing it.

The end result is that the page is clearer now without the double currency or any currency (my opinion). I apologize to you and all reading if the page was already changed after my first post a month ago. I am certain I check it again before posting here in the topic but we will never know.

Have a great day!

[happy_pigeon]

I'm actually the one who updates Help pages... so if anyone else has gone in there and changed anything... *shakes fist* Just joking of course, but I did get paranoid and look--the last time this page was updated was February 23rd of this year, by yours truly.

Maybe it was an old version served up by your cache from the last time you viewed it, pre-USD retirement... I doubt that is a page you visit all that often, so it could happen

Anyway, the important part is that it is making sense now 

[pocomocomputing]

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@happy_pigeonwrote:

I'm actually the one who updates Help pages... so if anyone else has gone in there and changed anything... *shakes fist* Just joking of course, but I did get paranoid and look--the last time this page was updated was February 23rd of this year, by yours truly.

Maybe it was an old version served up by your cache from the last time you viewed it, pre-USD retirement... I doubt that is a page you visit all that often, so it could happen

Anyway, the important part is that it is making sense now 

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My post on this discrepancy was on Feb 12 with the dual currency amount and your last change was Feb 25. S I must have missed the change when I checked the link before posting here. I have my browser set to clear cache after ending a browser session so not old eBay pages cached. I made a mistake not checking most likely. (Bowing head in shame. Back to lurking in the forums, lol, as punishment.)

PS My apologies for getting so off topic from the OP original Payment Pending issue. Topics seem to wander so easily from the original post. I do find the wandering interesting as it expands my knowledge from the personal experiences and insights of fellow community members.

[happy_pigeon]

Oh, I think off-topic discussions can be very helpful. As long as people are still getting something from the conversation, I'm totally in support 

[pjcdn2005]

If it was an echeque it should say that in your 'you've been paid' email from Paypal.

Regardless if it is pending because of an echeque or because of another reason, if PP tells you not to ship,. do not ship it yet because technically, the buyer has not yet paid.   The buyer may  be trying to get you to ship even though they know the payment won't go through OR they think that PP is holding your money because you are a new seller.  When they do hold your money as a new seller, PP will still say that it is ok to ship.  In other words, it isn't certain that the buyer is being dishonest but you still need to wait for the ok to ship.

[amcdc79]

Thank you for your help, I am surprised you didn't put the thread back on topic, and add your take on the sellers dilemma, regarding whether to ship or not.

Since ebay and PayPal have split, I can understand why you might be a little hesitant, to wade into the question.

What I do find odd, is that the OP has not said what ebay has told them. Probably the usual sold but do not ship, and if the $ sign on the sold listing is not showing payment has been made, I wouldn't ship until it does.