Paypal perplexes me!

[tinkerer]

As much of our retro transactions are by Ebay and Payal I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the following: when I buy something by on Ebay using Paypal the money comes straight out of my bank account and into the account of the seller, even if I have a zero balance. However a couple of weeks ago I tried to refund someone via Paypal and it was blocked saying my balance was too low (it was zero as usual). I had to then transfer funds to my Paypal balance but 10 days later they have still not cleared. Does anyone know why the transfers are instant in one case and yet take so long in the other?

Cheers,

Adam

 

[B3]

Does it leave your account instantly? Are you just waiting for it to go through paypal's system? Can you imagine the interest they get on all those transactions that take 10 days?

Paypal :evil:

 

[tinkerer]

It was about 2 days before the money left my bank account so I guess PayPal have put it in some high interest intermediate account for while before they put it into my PayPal balance. Thinking about it, I suppose they immediately transfer funds when Ebay is involved because it would be bad for Ebay if it took that long and Ebay owns PayPal!

 

[tintin40]

My paypal payment don't go instant. normal 2 days. The banking system is just one BIG money making pit for the banks and their very very very rich friends. Not just paypal.
I'm no friend of them either. And do my best not to use them. But it is a good way to do busieness. As so quick. But it's not fool proof and it's open to dishonest people to make money.
It's the system at fault. you can't beat the system. You can score little victories like the over charging of bank penalites. But the system will stop that sooner or later.

 

[FSR-Si]

From what i remember with paypal is, If someone has bought something from you and paid with paypal and you decided to refund them, the refund system only works if the original amount of money is still in your paypal account. Its something to do with the charges side of it. See if the moey is still in your paypal account and you refund it then paypal dont have to do any work except reverse the transaction, but if you have spent/withdrew that money then paypal will have to go through your bank to do another transaction therefore paypal themselves will incur costs.

Hope that makes sense

 

[nugget69]

It can be a bit of a nightmare!
They have lots of security features to prevent money laundering as well.

One way around this is just to make a payment to the other person's e-ail address and put in the notes that it is a refund for x transaction.

 

[Davey]

I use paypal attached to a credit card, its instant and safe