Using PayPal for General Purchases

[jt-libra]

This is not a selling question, but a PayPal one, which I sent to them and, in turn, received a link to their Help section which I had already checked and failed to find my answer. So I’m confident that one, or more, of the smart posters on this Board can answer it for me! Recently, I've been paying for more purchases through PayPal -- in cases where retailers don't accept Visa Debit. I'm being very careful not to over-use my credit cards during this holiday season. Sometimes I`ve had enough money in my PayPal account to cover the purchase and sometimes not. It's my understanding that when there are insufficient PayPal funds, the balance will be taken from my bank account as an instant transfer or then from my credit card if necessary. I'm seeing something though that I don't understand. When I've made purchases from these merchants in the past using a credit card, they were either shipped later the same day or the next day. But, when using PayPal, I notice that the transactions are marked Pending for a few days in my account before I receive a shipping notice. Is there really not an instant transfer using PayPal – are they waiting for funds to actually transfer from my bank account? After one purchase remained Pending for four days, it was shipped and the transaction showed as Completed in my PayPal account but the money still has not been taken out of my bank account. It's quite possible that these merchants are just busier this time of year and are taking longer to ship, so perhaps this isn't even an issue. But it’s happened with every purchase from every retailer. So I’m no longer clear about this process. Can someone please enlighten me. Thanks a lot.

[2014sportsterguy]

Interesting questions looking forward for the replays, l would assume if we have to wait for money to go to our bank it would seem logical that sellers will need a few days also to get bank payments to clear?

[recped]

Is the credit card you have associated with your PayPal account still valid? (expiry date?). If you have a valid card on file then you should be getting Instant Payments, echecks come from PayPal accounts with no credit card attached and an insufficient cash balance to cover the payment.

[jt-libra]

I have a valid credit card.  I don't think you can sell without one.

The funny thing is the one that does finally show as Completed has not yet been deducted from my bank account.

(I don't know how my original post ended up in one long paragraph; hopefully, it's easy enough to read.)

[2014sportsterguy]

I have over 1k sales, not CC needed when I registered, bank only.....not sure now.

[jt-libra]

Unless the policy has changed, my understanding is that you need a valid credit card.  I recall someone asking if a prepaid credit card would suffice and they were told no.

Another issue to clarify.

[mr.elmwood]

---

@jt-libra wrote:
This is not a selling question, but a PayPal one, which I sent to them and, in turn, received a link to their Help section which I had already checked and failed to find my answer. So I’m confident that one, or more, of the smart posters on this Board can answer it for me! Recently, I've been paying for more purchases through PayPal -- in cases where retailers don't accept Visa Debit. I'm being very careful not to over-use my credit cards during this holiday season. Sometimes I`ve had enough money in my PayPal account to cover the purchase and sometimes not. It's my understanding that when there are insufficient PayPal funds, the balance will be taken from my bank account as an instant transfer or then from my credit card if necessary. I'm seeing something though that I don't understand. When I've made purchases from these merchants in the past using a credit card, they were either shipped later the same day or the next day. But, when using PayPal, I notice that the transactions are marked Pending for a few days in my account before I receive a shipping notice. Is there really not an instant transfer using PayPal – are they waiting for funds to actually transfer from my bank account? After one purchase remained Pending for four days, it was shipped and the transaction showed as Completed in my PayPal account but the money still has not been taken out of my bank account. It's quite possible that these merchants are just busier this time of year and are taking longer to ship, so perhaps this isn't even an issue. But it’s happened with every purchase from every retailer. So I’m no longer clear about this process. Can someone please enlighten me. Thanks a lot.

---

No, not instant. I have a Paypal Mastercard and some transactions show pending, any time of the year. Some for, like you say, a few days. The merchant, in my case is getting instant approval, yet, it shows pending in my Paypal.

I "think" it has something to do with the way money is transferred from Canad to the US. PP is not a bank with it's own CC, so, I am "thinking" the transfer is done differently.

All of this has nothing to do with the merchant. This has everything to do with us being in Canada and dealing with PP in Nebraska.

[jt-libra]

No, not instant. I have a Paypal Mastercard and some transactions show pending, any time of the year. Some for, like you say, a few days. The merchant, in my case is getting instant approval, yet, it shows pending in my Paypal.

Mr. E:  It does make sense that the merchant is getting approval, since I do get an order confirmation from the merchant and a receipt from PayPal almost immediately.  I'm just wondering what else is at play that would cause merchants who normally ship the next day not to issue a shipping confirmation e-mail for a few days.  They wouldn't know anything about the Canada/U.S. money transfer issue.

I'm not going to lose sleep over this --- I know I will get my parcels eventually.  I just wanted to understand what could cause the shipping delay.

[mr.elmwood]

Makes no sense. I can go into a store and buy something, take it home. Go into PP a couple days later and see "pending". Why aren't you getting the same thing? No idea.

Like I say, I "think" it has something to do with PP not being a bank.

[femmefan1946]

I'm just wondering what else is at play that would cause merchants who normally ship the next day not to issue a shipping confirmation e-mail for a few days. 

Paypal is a US company, so in addition to the 'not a bank' thing, there may also be something about cross-border transactions.

Another thought, credit card companies are a little cautious about charges to their cards when the cardholder is not right there. This may be amplified when PP is involved.

And finally, when you pay online with a credit card, the merchant is doing a normal everyday task. One he does several times a day. And he has immediate access to that money.

When you pay by PP, he has to remove the money from his PP account and move it to his bank account before he actually gets paid and can use the payment.

[jt-libra]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

When you pay by PP, he has to remove the money from his PP account and move it to his bank account before he actually gets paid and can use the payment.

---

It never occurred to me that the merchant would have a PP account. I just assumed that a payment made through PayPal would go into the same merchant account as credit card payments.

This certainly has been enlightening.  I always have enough in my PP account for small eBay purchases (say under $50) or for refunds but I don't keep a large amount in there.  But the four purchases I made recently were all handled in a different way.  One was for $175.00 -- I had half of that in my PP account so I assumed they would take that and the other half from my bank account.  But they took the whole amount from my bank account about 5 days later.  The next purchase was around $50 (the same merchant) so they put the funds on hold and they're still on hold 7 days later. I called about it this morning and was told that probably the merchant wasn't ready to ship (although they had shipped the previous order in 4 days).  The next purchase was financed half through PP and the other half through my bank account and the other totally from my PP account.

This is the first time I decided to be responsible and put my credit cards away until the holiday season was passed because I'm a little too quick with them LOL   But, certainly, transactions are much smoother when using a credit card.  I've found this entire PayPal experience to be a little confusing.

[recped]

---

@femmefan1946 wrote:

And finally, when you pay online with a credit card, the merchant is doing a normal everyday task. One he does several times a day. And he has immediate access to that money.

When you pay by PP, he has to remove the money from his PP account and move it to his bank account before he actually gets paid and can use the payment.

---

If you have a merchant account to accept credit card payments you DO NOT have immediate access to the funds, it will be 24 - 36 hours at a minimum before the funds are available to the merchant.

Access to PayPal funds isn't much slower, perhaps 48 hours instead of the 24 - 36.

In any event that is quite irrelevant, off eBay merchants are no different than eBay sellers, you ship when your payment processor confirms the transaction not at some point down the road when the funds actually make it to your bank account.