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PayPal Payment Pending Issues Info And Feedback Requested

by Steven Wagenheim
2 replies
It has been a very long time since I've been here as I don't do the MMO thing anymore, but I felt this issue was important enough that it needs to be discussed so that information can be shared and possible solutions can be found, though I can't see any given what I already know.

Reader's Digest Version

I now sell music related items. The other day I had 30 sales from a customer in Russia. Each one was put on payment pending. In the meantime, all my other sales, even multiple ones, went right through. These payment holds can last up to 72 hours, though in my case they were resolved usually within 8 to 12 hours.

When calling PayPal to get a reason why, their answer was "Govt regulations require us to go through a certain process whenever a purchase is made."

And that's all they would tell me. Not why these payments were put on hold or anything.

I suspect it's because of the Russian hacking in the last US election but they would not confirm nor deny that.

So, is anyone else having this problem?

Does anyone have any insight that they can share into what's actually causing this?

The problem is a logistical one for me in that DLGuard is not releasing the payment pending hold once the payment clears and I have to go into the software and manually release it and send the download email. In short, this makes for angry customers.

Any information that anybody can share on this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
#feedback #info #issues #payment #paypal #pending #requested
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    Sounds like Paypal is waiting until payment has fully cleared before processing the transaction. Not just Russia - it happens with purchased from other countries, too. The payment hold information is between PP and the buyer so not surprised PP doesn't tell you why.

    Paypal isn't playing politics - but some countries are known for hacking and for risky financial deals - a delayed transaction protects the integrity of the transaction - which also protects the seller.

    I would expect customers in that geographical area are accustomed to holds when buying internationally through Paypal. It may be as simple as delays for those customers who do not have money IN their Paypal accts but are transferring it or using a credit card for that particular sale.

    Have you checked with DLGuard to see if they have a workaround that would release the transaction after a paypal delay?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      Sounds like Paypal is waiting until payment has fully cleared before processing the transaction. Not just Russia - it happens with purchased from other countries, too. The payment hold information is between PP and the buyer so not surprised PP doesn't tell you why.

      Paypal isn't playing politics - but some countries are known for hacking and for risky financial deals - a delayed transaction protects the integrity of the transaction - which also protects the seller.

      I would expect customers in that geographical area are accustomed to holds when buying internationally through Paypal. It may be as simple as delays for those customers who do not have money IN their Paypal accts but are transferring it or using a credit card for that particular sale.

      Have you checked with DLGuard to see if they have a workaround that would release the transaction after a paypal delay?
      Normally, I'd tend to agree with you except for 2 things.

      1) I don't have this problem with any of my other customers and have had hundreds of them, even going back to my IM days.

      2) This particular customer, who bought the 30 items 2 days ago, after these were all cleared and found to be from a "legitimate" buyer, today, this same person, having purchased 7 more items, was put on hold yet again while another customer who made multiple purchases was allowed to go right through. 3 years ago, a customer who made 11 purchases in the span of minutes, was allowed to go right through. Point is, there is no need to investigate this particular customer after his initial transactions were approved.

      Again, PayPal would not give me any reasons or explanations other than "Per US govt regulations, all transactions must go through a certain process."

      So anything you or I come up with is speculation. I'm hoping that there is actually somebody here who knows exactly what's going on and isn't afraid to come out and just share the information. If you heard the conversation between myself and the PayPal agent, you would have heard how evasive he was.

      As for DLGuard, it's supposed to work. When the payment is released, DLGuard is supposed to get the IPN. So either PayPal is not sending the IPN or DLGuard is not receiving it or, it is receiving it and not processing it properly. If you go to the DLGuard forum, you will see that others are having the same issue. In fact Harvey Segal, our resident PayPal expert, started a thread on this issue so no point in my starting another one. Hopefully, whatever the problem is, it'll be resolved.

      In the meantime, however, this is a bit of a nuisance for me.
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