Paypal nightmare!!!
 

So I had so much trouble trying to send money to another form member. I had $85 in my paypal account. Sold window off the form for $90 for a total amount of $175. Sent a payment of the full amount of $225 but sent to wrong email and canceled right away. Than said spending limit reached.
I ended up sending a $140 as down payment. So have $75 left in the account. Than added $150 from my bank to pay the rest of it off plus a little extra for it taking so long. I find out they charged my bank $140 + 225= 365 twice for $730. Even tho i canceled $225 and already had $140 in my paypal and charged me twice. It will take 5 days for the funds to go into my paypal than up to a week for that to transfer into my bank account. Lets just say glad i pay my bills early.

I never liked how pay-pal works. I don't use them anymore.

They can be difficult to deal with at times and very convienent at other times. Key is you have to have money in your account and you have to be careful when clicking to pay... clicking twice is very bad!!

I dislike how they always try to take the money from my bank account even though I always want my payment to apply to my credit card. The screens are a little tricky trying to trick (force) you to pay with your bank account.

Why can't they let me select my credit card as the default and then leave me the heck alone?!! :dontknow2:

not trying to be rude here but will explain some, i used to work for PayPal. The reason you were charged twice is because of user error not because of PayPal. The fault would kind of technically fall to the bank more then PayPal and the way it works. here is the breakdown.

You sent payment to xyy@email.com for $225. you meant to send it to xyz@email.com so you canceled. Well, they way paypal works is kind of a trust system, they send the money for you and then collect it later. So by sending your payment initially to xyy@email.com you already started a transaction process. PayPal, the second you clicked send payment, sent their money to xyy@email.com, and sent a request to your bank for reimbursement request. The second that request is sent to the bank there is no turning back for PayPal as PayPal cannot control your banks processing speeds/times. So what happens is when you hit cancel the transaction. All PayPal did was stop the money sent to xyy@email.com, the wrong person, They cannot stop the payment being processed from your bank as they do not control your banks processing system. So what happens is that once the bank completes the processing request from PayPal, the money uploads into your PayPal balance for use, at which point you could send to the correct person, or withdrawl from your PayPal balance back to your bank account.

PayPal has spending limits associated with accounts per day, kind of like how banks have $400 ATM withdraw limits. The reason, is because of Fraud Risk, PayPal wants to protect themselves and the bank account holder/owner (you) just in case someone was opening an account with stolen bank information in your name. If you have a confirmed Credit Card and Confirmed Bank Account number on your PayPal account OR a Confirmed Address and Confirmed Bank account or/ Credit Card on your PayPal account then PayPal considers that as a Confirmed PayPal account, meaning you as a customer have confirmed your identity to PayPal that you are in fact the owner/account holder of those financials. At that point your Spending limit is lifted, sounds like a pain, but it is a protection step for you the account holder, and in all actuality only takes a few minutes to get setup.

Once you realized you sent to the wrong person, your instant reaction will always be to pay the right person. So you sent the correct amount to xyz@email.com but hit your limit for sending money, so you sent what you could as a down payment. This started a new transaction, so PayPal sent the money to them for you, then requested reimbursement again from your bank, starting another processing request for reimbursement.

Basically, PayPal is a funding service, not an instant wallet, they make it so that the everyday person can send money from either a bank, or credit card to an everyday person safely by acting as a medium between the two parties. It goes, Sender, PayPal, Recipient.

Its a nightmare when this happens yes, but you kind of need to raise your chin and realize that it was you that made the mistake and sent money to the wrong person, PayPal worked as designed. No money will be lost, just will take a few days until your bank gets around to processing all requests which can take up to 72 hours until you get all your money reallocated to where it belongs, depending on who your bank is, larger banks will process faster then smaller banks.

Just imagine if it was Western Union or Walmart Instant Pay, and you got home and realized you sent it to the wrong person, in extreme cases you are out the $$ if it has already been cashed, or can be a true nightmare turning it around as there is not a digital fingerprint to track.

I always hated this too, even when I was PayPal employee, I found it shady. The reason is that Credit Card processing fee's are higher then Bank Processing fee's. So PayPal defaults to bank accounts as a cost saving measure on their side. They keep it small and hard to tell/find/change to hopefully make it so people wont realize they need to switch it. This was probably the only thing I ever felt was wrong with that Company.

Thanks for the response... I figured as such. I am an IT manager and we use a 3rd Party Processor so I know how all the fees and techincal requirements are handled.

I manage my son's High School Marching Band Website (501(c)3 Not-For Profit organization) and PayPal has worked out very well for our parents when they need to pay their 'Fair Share' Account. It is just one more option (besides cash or working events) to fund their student. There are minor fees we incur but getting the money timely is very important to the band.

I'm an IT Manager too, work for First Data, strong chance we do your 3rd party payment processing haha. we do about 60% of the worlds processing between all banks, credit card companies and yes PayPal haha

Yeah i figured it was my fault for the $225 i admit that. Just frustrating. Ive never had a problem until now.

yea it always sucks. I spent 1 year on the receiving end of customers pissed off at me personally for their mistakes haha. became interesting over time. Great company and a fantastic service they provide. just have to be careful, even I triple check when I send money with PayPal and I worked there for 5 years.