mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
PayPal is NOT holding your money "hostage". This is a normal policy that PP has had since forever. If a claim or request is opened by a buyer, their original payment in PP is placed on hold to protect the buyer until the matter is resolved. And yes, you can't "use" it as that would defeat the purpose of putting it on hold until the matter is resolved.
Once you file the exchange into the Request in Ebay, the hold should be released within about 24 hours. If it don't release the funds fast enough for you, just call PP and ask them politely to remove the hold since you have satified the buyer's needs.
You may want to get a bit more familiar with the PP rules so this or something else does not catch you off guard again. It is important as a seller to know and understand the rules of both Ebay and PP. That isn't an easy task as there are many rules, especially on Ebay. But it is in your best interest to know them.
BTW, you may consider always keeping a little money in your PP account so that you don't get stuck again. I always keep at a minimum at least enough money to cover the average $$ of a transactions plus a little extra. It has served me well over the years.
Good Luck!
@wickedjuniper wrote:Thanks for your reply.
Ebay is not giving me an option to close this as a exchange it simply wants me to return the money and I have already sent the buyer the correct item. They recieved it today and has been helpful in trying to close this out as not a refund but an exchange.
Still no answer to this.
It confused me as to why I wasn't allowed to use my account at all because the person had opened up a claim for a return.
I don't sell on ebay often and never encountered this before. So, Thank you for clairifying the reasoning behind it.
Your buyer should be able to close this if it is in the Request stage. If you or the buyer escalated this to a Claim, then you may have to call Ebay. But if it is still a Request, have the buyer close it.
