Is this normal with Paypal?

[Lifted]

I was trying to order VOIP service and setup a new checking account and a paypal account to make the payments. Transferred in some money, and now finally that the transfer went through I tried to make the purchase. The only option I was given was echecking, so I called paypal and spoke to a rep, who after asking around apparently, told me that I should transfer the money back to my bank account and then try again. He said I don't need money in my paypal account to use it since my bank account is linked and verified, but paypal will just make the payment and deduct it from my account. OK, did that, same thing, didn't work. He said they were having problems and to try again later.

Is that the way paypal works? You don't need any money in your account, they just take it from your checking account after you make a purchase?

Oh, and the first rep (who eventually transferred me to the above rep) was great:

Me: I can't purchase using a paypal transfer, I'm only seeing the option for echecking.
PP rep: Why don't you just try purchasing the item.
Me: What do you mean, I am trying to purchase it?
PP rep: Can't you pay with a credit card?
Me: I could, but I signed up with paypal so I wouldn't have to.
PP rep: Oh, okay. Hold on and I'll transfer you to a customer service.
Me:

 

[MrChad]

From the horror stories I've read, I don't link any of my checking accounts to my PayPal account. I have a single AMEX card linked and it works fine. My account is not verified, but that has never been an issue for me.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: Lifted
Is that the way paypal works? You don't need any money in your account, they just take it from your checking account after you make a purchase?

Yes that has been my experience with it. You link a bank account to your PP account and it uses it for backup funding (in fact I think its actually called that).

 

[James Bond]

Yep. Link your bank account to your PP account then order away. It handles the rest.

 

[swbsam]

Yep, I don't even deposit funds into my paypal account, I just link my atm/visa card to it (for rewards points).

 

[olds]

I never, ever, keep money in my PayPal account. I have two savings accounts at my bank. One called "Savings" and one called "PayPal".
If I want to make a PayPal purchase, I transfer the money from the account "Savings" to "PayPal" account. Then with still a zero balance in my online PayPal account I make an instant transfer.
This way PayPal can't take any money or put a hold on any of my funds.

 

[Jeff7]

You need to have a credit card linked to your Paypal account in order for the Instant Transfer feature to work. That puts a hold on the card to cover the Paypal payment, and then after a few days, the transfer from the bank account actually occurs.

If you have only the bank account linked to the Paypal account, then you need to transfer funds to the Paypal account, wait for them to become available, and then go shopping.

 

[Lifted]

Originally posted by: Jeff7
You need to have a credit card linked to your Paypal account in order for the Instant Transfer feature to work. That puts a hold on the card to cover the Paypal payment, and then after a few days, the transfer from the bank account actually occurs.

If you have only the bank account linked to the Paypal account, then you need to transfer funds to the Paypal account, wait for them to become available, and then go shopping.

Well that's great. So the paypal rep (let's call him PP-Homie) had me transfer the money OUT of my paypal account to my bank in order to "fix" this problem, and now I have to wait another 3 - 5 days to transfer money back in once the "problem" has been corrected.

Wow, what a bunch of incompetent #!@^*#'s.

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
I never, ever, keep money in my PayPal account. I have two savings accounts at my bank. One called "Savings" and one called "PayPal".
If I want to make a PayPal purchase, I transfer the money from the account "Savings" to "PayPal" account. Then with still a zero balance in my online PayPal account I make an instant transfer.
This way PayPal can't take any money or put a hold on any of my funds.

i like this. i'm going to do this today.

 

[Itchrelief]

Originally posted by: Lifted

Originally posted by: Jeff7
You need to have a credit card linked to your Paypal account in order for the Instant Transfer feature to work. That puts a hold on the card to cover the Paypal payment, and then after a few days, the transfer from the bank account actually occurs.

If you have only the bank account linked to the Paypal account, then you need to transfer funds to the Paypal account, wait for them to become available, and then go shopping.

Well that's great. So the paypal rep (let's call him PP-Homie) had me transfer the money OUT of my paypal account to my bank in order to "fix" this problem, and now I have to wait another 3 - 5 days to transfer money back in once the "problem" has been corrected.

Wow, what a bunch of incompetent #!@^*#'s.

Well, kind of. If your bank account is linked, you can still make a purchase with $0 in your paypal account. They will just instigate the transfer on their own when you attempt to pay for the item. The problem is that it still takes the ~1 business week for this to go through, meanwhile the recipient of the money is sitting there twisting in the wind.

End result is the same long delay, but they will most likely still let you attempt to make the payment.

 

[OCGuy]

Yes, you can "float" e-checks. You could buy something on Ebay today, send an e-check, and the soonest it would go pending in your checking account is next Tuesday due to the holiday.

 

[Lifted]

Thanks.

Most likely, that sounds promising.

 

[Lifted]

Originally posted by: OCguy
Yes, you can "float" e-checks. You could buy something on Ebay today, send an e-check, and the soonest it would go pending in your checking account is next Tuesday due to the holiday.

The paypal site says echecking takes 3-5 days to clear. I'm trying to do a on-the-spot paypal payment. Which one are you and itchrelief referring to? This is not via ebay BTW, it's through an online VOIP provider.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: Lifted

Originally posted by: OCguy
Yes, you can "float" e-checks. You could buy something on Ebay today, send an e-check, and the soonest it would go pending in your checking account is next Tuesday due to the holiday.

The paypal site says echecking takes 3-5 days to clear. I'm trying to do a on-the-spot paypal payment. Which one are you and itchrelief referring to? This is not via ebay BTW, it's through an online VOIP provider.

It should instantly pay the vendor. But it will not instantly take the money out of your checking account if you use it as your funding source. Only debit cards have the ability to instantly go pending.

At least this is how it always works for me.

 

[Lifted]

Originally posted by: OCguy

Originally posted by: Lifted

Originally posted by: OCguy
Yes, you can "float" e-checks. You could buy something on Ebay today, send an e-check, and the soonest it would go pending in your checking account is next Tuesday due to the holiday.

The paypal site says echecking takes 3-5 days to clear. I'm trying to do a on-the-spot paypal payment. Which one are you and itchrelief referring to? This is not via ebay BTW, it's through an online VOIP provider.

It should instantly pay the vendor. But it will not instantly take the money out of your checking account if you use it as your funding source. Only debit cards have the ability to instantly go pending.

At least this is how it always works for me.

The echecking option?

I only have two options when making the purchase.

1) echecking - which says:

eChecks take 3-5 business days to process (estimated: 5/28/2009-6/1/2009). We advise merchants not to ship until they receive payment.

2) Switch from eCheck to an instant bank payment by linking a debit or credit card.


Should I have another option since I have a verified bank account linked to paypal?

[Edit] I don't want to use echecking since the VOIP provider specifically states they wait for the check to go through.

 

[Lifted]

Well, just spent another 45 mins on the phone with paypal to find out why my account isn't working, only to be put on hold for 15 mins while be transferred to a supervisor, then had the call disconnected. Sweet. $25 for two LONG distance calls and I've so far been given junk advice on the first call (verified by the rep on the second call) and then basically hung up on.

$25 in calls to paypal to (unsuccessfully) make an $18 purchase. Me 0 - Paypal 1

Paypal, you win. I give up.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Itchrelief

Originally posted by: Lifted

Originally posted by: Jeff7
You need to have a credit card linked to your Paypal account in order for the Instant Transfer feature to work. That puts a hold on the card to cover the Paypal payment, and then after a few days, the transfer from the bank account actually occurs.

If you have only the bank account linked to the Paypal account, then you need to transfer funds to the Paypal account, wait for them to become available, and then go shopping.

Well that's great. So the paypal rep (let's call him PP-Homie) had me transfer the money OUT of my paypal account to my bank in order to "fix" this problem, and now I have to wait another 3 - 5 days to transfer money back in once the "problem" has been corrected.

Wow, what a bunch of incompetent #!@^*#'s.

Well, kind of. If your bank account is linked, you can still make a purchase with $0 in your paypal account. They will just instigate the transfer on their own when you attempt to pay for the item. The problem is that it still takes the ~1 business week for this to go through, meanwhile the recipient of the money is sitting there twisting in the wind.

End result is the same long delay, but they will most likely still let you attempt to make the payment.

Yeah. Link something and you can make a purchase with $0 in your PayPal account. It doesn't matter bank account or CC.

If you link both, set your primary funding to be your CC. Why? 1) Cashback. 2) Disputes are easier.

 

[LTC8K6]

I keep no money in my PayPal account and I don't have anything linked to it. When I pay by PayPal, I always get the choice to use a credit card and I just fill in my CC info and make the purchase.

 

[Lifted]

Originally posted by: DLeRium

Originally posted by: Itchrelief

Originally posted by: Lifted

Originally posted by: Jeff7
You need to have a credit card linked to your Paypal account in order for the Instant Transfer feature to work. That puts a hold on the card to cover the Paypal payment, and then after a few days, the transfer from the bank account actually occurs.

If you have only the bank account linked to the Paypal account, then you need to transfer funds to the Paypal account, wait for them to become available, and then go shopping.

Well that's great. So the paypal rep (let's call him PP-Homie) had me transfer the money OUT of my paypal account to my bank in order to "fix" this problem, and now I have to wait another 3 - 5 days to transfer money back in once the "problem" has been corrected.

Wow, what a bunch of incompetent #!@^*#'s.

Well, kind of. If your bank account is linked, you can still make a purchase with $0 in your paypal account. They will just instigate the transfer on their own when you attempt to pay for the item. The problem is that it still takes the ~1 business week for this to go through, meanwhile the recipient of the money is sitting there twisting in the wind.

End result is the same long delay, but they will most likely still let you attempt to make the payment.

Yeah. Link something and you can make a purchase with $0 in your PayPal account. It doesn't matter bank account or CC.

If you link both, set your primary funding to be your CC. Why? 1) Cashback. 2) Disputes are easier.

So I've been told, but my only option with and without money in my paypal account was to pay via echecking, which takes 3 - 5 business days. Problem with my account? I don't care anymore.

If paypal calls me back like I asked them to in an email then we'll see, but I'm not holding my breath waiting to hear from them.

 

[eplebnista]

I added a new credit card and tried to delete my old expired credit card but PayPal won't let me. Been trying for a couple of weeks now and still receive the error message "cannot remove funding source while an authorization is pending". How long does an authorization take? I have already used the new card to fund a purchase on eBay with no problem.