Electronic Funds Transfer - Pending question

[guinaevere]

There's a nice lady in Germany who is buying some Charmkins from me. She's paying via PayPal. In fact, she started the transaction last friday, but PayPal still states the transaction is Pending.

Specifics:
Payment Type:
Electronic Funds Transfer

A PayPal Payment by Bank Transfer is considered "pending" until the payment amount has been received by PayPal and credited to your PayPal account. It is the payment sender's responsibility to make sure the funds are available when the bank transfer is pulled from his bank account. If the payment is still pending after 7 days, PayPal automatically reminds the sender by email. Payments not completed after 30 days are automatically canceled.

If I send her toys out before the transaction completing, is that a big risk for me? When a girl paid via an e-check, PayPal warned to wait till the payment cleared before mailing the item out. But this doesn't warn the seller...

Any info would be appreciated.

[Mr Unoriginal]

I think this means that her paypal account is tied to a checking account and she sent money from her checking account, not funds currently in her paypal accounts. It needs to wait 3-5 business days for the money to clear from the checking account.

Don't know if I would send out until the money is cleared, but the process of waiting 3 days isn't unusual in itself.

[Roufuss]

It might be an Echeck, and those take 3 - 4 BUSINESS days to clear. Check your email records to see if she did in fact send a payment this way.

If she sent payment Friday, it will clear Wednesday or Thursday.

DO NOT SEND TO HER BEFORE THE PAYMENT CLEARS!!!

In the payment details, there should be a notice that tells you when the expected clearing date is.

You said it's not an E-Check, so contact Paypal... just do not send ANYTHING until the money is in your account.

[secretvampire]

If it is an international e-Check it can sometimes take up to TEN days to clear. Wait for it to clear before shipping.

[guinaevere]

Thanks for all the info, guys! I let her know that I'm just waiting for PayPal to clear the payment before I can send it.

This way she's aware that I won't send the toys before it's cleared (I don't think she'd try to cheat me by any means, but in the off-chance that she would, I've been clear about what I'm waiting for).

You're all gentlemen for your help and warnings. =)

[io]

You've gotten all the help you need - but just as further warning , I once had an eCheck pending payment NOT clear. They had to resend it. So definitely don't mail anything before it clears. I have one pending from Canada right now, actually - first time I've ever had an international one, and it is taking WAY longer than the domestic ones. It has been a week already.

I advertize shipping of items within 2 days of receipt of payment. A pending payment on PayPal is not a receipt of payment till it clears. The only issue I ever had with this was a buyer who thought the payment went right through when, in fact, it was pending - he didn't read his PayPal emails or something. He bugged me about not sending it after 3 or 4 days and I told him it was still pending, problem solved. But there could be the 1 in 100 buyer out there who doesn't believe you and cause problems I suppose.

[AcePuppy]

Never send anything until the money is officially in your account.