A Temporary Hold from Paypal - Please Advise

[cosmokid]

So I think someone may have made a fraudulent transaction while buying my WSO when I was on vacation for two days.

When I got home I had made some sales, which all went through normally and without a glitch. But I looked in my PayPal account and one transaction had been put on "temporary hold" from Paypal's end.

I never received any emails from the buyer and was never asked to refund the purchase.

And apparently once the transaction is put on hold, it's locked so I can't issue a refund proactively.

I went through the clunky process of responding to PayPal's standard "dispute resolution" form that they give you to fill out and supposedly they will now continue with reviewing the case.

But I'm trying to understand what exactly happened.

Did someone try to purchase using a fraudulent credit card or something?

Or did someone purchase with the intention of getting a freebie, so they purchased and then issued an immediate complaint with Paypal that they wanted a refund? (Although they never bothered to request a refund from me!)

I'm just confused about why PayPal does a temporary hold on a transaction. Is it to protect ME as the seller from a fraudulent transaction, or am I the one being accused by the buyer of doing something wrong? (Without me knowing it!) The latter would kind of suck since I posted I was taking a short vacation and would deal with problems, etc. ASAP first thing after I returned on Monday. I actually got back Sunday and responded then. So I wasn't even gone for two business days. (Downloads were delivered by instant download through e-junkie, the service I use for downloads, so the person should have received their download.)

Paypal's dashboard is frustratingly opaque about this.

Any suggestions would be appreciated - thanks!

Jennifer

[Steven Wagenheim]

Jennifer, it's happened to me too. The claim from the person is that the
purchase was made fraudulently. Honestly, there is no way to tell if this is
true or they're just trying to get the product for free. I know PayPal accounts
can be hacked so maybe it's true.

I'd just issue the refund and be done with it.

Not worth the hassle of investigating it and fighting it.

[Eric Johnson]

Yea, what Steven said...

I just had one of these show up on my paypal. I figure it is the guy trying to get the product for free. If he is willing to do that kind of stuff to save 7 bucks then more power to him I guess. I'm just gonna drop it and move on.

Remind me of a line from a Roger Waters song. "Each man has his price bub, and yours was pretty low"

[cosmokid]

Thanks for the quick response, Steven - I figured an experienced marketer like you could help me figure out what happened!

My problem is that I was away from the computer for two days and in the interim the funds were placed on hold at PayPal's end - and maybe because I didn't respond immediately, or maybe because that's just how they do things, they have removed the option for me to refund the money. So even though I'd be happy to refund ASAP I can't do that and am forced to go through their silly dispute resolution process.

And yes, it's highly likely this was just a freebie seeking WSO "buyer."

Hard not to get cranky about it since I see it as a malicious attack on my business - the person never bothered to ask me for a refund, and Paypal denied me the ability to even try to refund the person's money - and the "buyer" KNEW I was on vacation and unable to respond (I don't have a laptop and was traveling somewhere without computer access and had specifically posted next to all my purchase links that I would only be able to respond to problems, etc. after I got back.)

Sigh. Next time I'll just know to either get my part-time person back to manage emails for me (he was on vacation, too!) or just temporarily pull all payment buttons if I go away somewhere.

This is why I LOVE affiliate marketing - none of these silly little hassles!

Jennifer

[Tsnyder]

Any chance you may have missed an email from Pay Pal concerning
a purchase made by e-check? Those are always held until the check
clears... usually about 4 days.

Tsnyder

[Carol J Smith]

In most cases a temporary hold is not suspicious at all. it's simply when someone purchases an item, and the payment comes from their bank account, instead of from a balance. Paypal puts a hold on it to make sure it clears. Usually it's nothing to worry about at all.

Carol

[Steve Taylor]

Originally Posted by Tsnyder

Any chance you may have missed an email from Pay Pal concerning
a purchase made by e-check? Those are always held until the check
clears... usually about 4 days.

Tsnyder

I've had paypal put holds on e-checks many times, but why did you have to file a resolution report?
Was this a voluntary act on your part or were you forced to do that?

I'd just wait the 4/5 days to see...also look for any e-check payments.

-Steve...dislikes e-checks

[sparrow]

I am surprised your account is on hold most times it is only that one transaction

this has happen to me several times

Call paypal up don't hesistate I do this anytime I have issues most times this is the easiest way to solve it

and contact the buyer to cancel his transaction

this was the only way I was able to resolve the issue

the buyer was using a different computer than what Paypal had recorded on there end

The buyer for me canceled and rebought and everything went fine the next time.

Ed

[cosmokid]

Clarification: My entire Paypal account isnt' on hold, just the funds from the one transaction.

And no, it's not an echeck transaction.

And when I logged into my account Paypal was requiring a response from me and directed me into their "dispute resolution" section where you have to respond to Paypal and offer some explanation of what was happening on your end - did you deliver the goods, or was this downloadable goods, did you already issue the person a refund, etc - responding to their multiple choice questions and then filling out some info/further details into a blank form to send to Paypal. Now that I did that they are supposedly trying to get in touch with the buyer (who I also emailed in an attempt to figure out what was going on, but haven't heard back.)

I didn't have the option of NOT responding to Paypal about this. They gave me until September 12 to respond but I wanted to respond ASAP so I did.

So that's where it stands now. The wording that they show you within your account is confusing because they simply say it was a "temporary hold" initiated at PayPal's end, but they don't give you any other information. Which leads me to believe there was some fraud going on - but I can't tell from my end whether PayPal flagged the BUYER as using a fraudulent card, etc. or whether I've been flagged as potentially being fraudulent. Not a very clear system.

EDITED: I finally found an email from PayPal - they did send it to me that day but somehow it got buried with all my other incoming email. The header on the email was "Investigation into recent transaction" and here's what the email said:

Dear Jennifer Shepherd,

One of the benefits of using PayPal is that we make every effort to alert
you to potentially problematic transactions. Our goal is to help you make
sound business decisions.

From time to time, we request additional information about PayPal payments.
This is a security measure meant to protect you from problem transactions.

We would like to learn more about this transaction. Please log in to your
PayPal account and provide some information.

We strongly advise that you not ship the item until our investigation is
complete. If you have already shipped the item, please log in and let us
know where you shipped it.

We have placed a temporary hold on the funds until the investigation is
complete.
---

So it does sound like a potential fraudulent purchase with a stolen credit card or something? I think?

Jennifer

[sylviad]

I had one once, too, and the explanation given me was similar to what Carol said. They have to wait until certain types of payments clear before completing the transaction at your end. Some payments are not as immediate, like credit card and direct bank withdrawals which make it easy to see if the sale is going to go through. I don't think it has anything to do with fraudulent activity, necessarily.

It's actually a good thing, because it does protect us from frauds.

Of course you are not allowed to refund at this point because if the payment does not go through in the first place, you (or PayPal) would be out that money.

Just hold tight and it will, in all likelihood, clear itself when everything passes.

Sylvia

[Kim Standerline]

Originally Posted by sylviad

I had one once, too, and the explanation given me was similar to what Carol said. They have to wait until certain types of payments clear before completing the transaction at your end. Some payments are not as immediate, like credit card and direct bank withdrawals which make it easy to see if the sale is going to go through. I don't think it has anything to do with fraudulent activity, necessarily.

It's actually a good thing, because it does protect us from frauds.

Of course you are not allowed to refund at this point because if the payment does not go through in the first place, you (or PayPal) would be out that money.

Just hold tight and it will, in all likelihood, clear itself when everything passes.

Sylvia

Either that or paypal are doing a random security check on purchases etc.

Kim

[John Anderson]

Hi Jennifer:

I've had the same thing happen to me a couple of times. It usually came down to someone trying to get the product for free and filing a fake fraudulent claim with paypal.

You're right about payapl being really vague on the nature of these claims, a more thorough explanation from payapl would be really helpful.

John

[Erik B]

Hi Jen,

In the last week, I have had 2 transaction put on hold. When I asked paypal why they didn't offer a suitable explantion. It would be nice if they offered some kind of reason. I am fortunate though. It's only for like a hundred bucks so no big woop. I will get it at the end of the 21 days or the purchasers can have the money back. I'm on a roll so I am not sweating paypals stuff. I do hope they release yours soon.

Erik

[Ken Leatherman]

Hi Jeniffer,

I know it gets you the first time around and can be nerve racking. I just went through it this last month. So I have walked a mile in your moccasins.

Take a deep breath and relax. Thought I would send you something to ponder on and take your mind off your troubles.

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane ?

Ken

[ctutt]

Oh Sh*t! Jennifer,

I've been pretty unhappy with Pay Pal as a buying customer. They're a big pain in the A*s sometimes. Now I'm damnd glad I didn't sign up for a merchant account too.
Charles

[sparrow]

The whole process at paypal sometimes is a pain in the A _ _

Just last week I had a charge back with no request for a refund

turned out it was identity theft.

So I was in the process of trying to refund the persons money, funny thing being a charge back you can't give them a refund.

I was on the phone with paypal trying to find out why I can't refund the money and see if I was going to be assesed the charge back fee since I requested to immediately refunded the money when I found out about the charge back.

I was told by person I was on the phone if it gets processed as a charge back I will be assesed the fee. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, both parties are victims and I the seller gets the screwing for being nice.

We ended up with if this becomes the case and I do get billed for this they would refund me the charge back fee. Nice of them.

I just couldn't believe you agree to refund no questions asked and still you lose.

Its not just paypal its the charge back system the greedy banks need to make more money.

So Jennifer I too have walked in your shoes, seems if your in this business long enough it will happen, believe me it will happen.

Ed

[dustinlemos]

that's because in a chargeback the credit card company takes money back from PayPal, the same money that you now have in your account. PayPal doesn't want you to use the money to issue a refund that the person may already be getting.

[Kenneth Maddux]

So are you saying that paypal, might have some problems? Is there any other options out there if so ? Hope Paypal will find a to keep it from being abused. Ken Maddux

[cosmokid]

Kenneth,

Many people have reported horror stories with Paypal - see elsewhere on this forum. However, at this point I've never had a problem with them and I've been using them on and off for about four years. (Not as an ebay seller, just selling my own services and ebooks.)

I think it's probably good that they're vigiliant about crosschecking suspicious purchases. I just don't like how they left me as a seller very much in the dark as to what was happening, whether in their eyes I had done anything "wrong," etc.

Gets a bit scary - especially if God forbid Paypal is your only payment processor.

I don't use them very much these days, I've just been using them for this latest WSO without any problems until now.

So I've resolved to think positively and continue soldiering on!

Hopefully this minor hold situation will just be a blip on the radar. As others here have said - the cost of doing business!

I've been spoiled for the most part because usually I use Clickbank for my ebook sales and also I focus mostly on affiliate marketing where I never have the hassles that vendors do. So I really appreciate all the people sharing their experiences in this thread - gives me much more information to go on.

Best
Jennifer

[Tsnyder]

Pay Pal really can't say much more than they have due
to U.S. privacy laws. Even if they suspect fraud on the
part of the buyer they can't tell you.

If they subsequently prove it's fraud that's another story.

Tsnyder