PayPal Express Checkout - Some payments noew pending - On Hold

[John Large]

Hi.

Using Zen Cart 1.5.6c on a site that has been running for over 15 years & using PayPal. Over the last week or so, some PayPal express checkout payments are showing as pending in our ZC admin, whilst saying On Hold over at paypal. Most go through fine, but this is the second in 48 hours which has done this. It's only a small percentage of payments, but this has never been the case before.

The only way to release the funds offered by them, is to provide tracking info once the order is shipped, or print postage directly with them. This doesn't work with our business workflow at all, as the majority of our orders go on a Royal Mail large letter stamp.

Has anyone else seen this over the last few days & any ideas what is causing this? Have they introduced a new setting or requirement that would be causing this at the customers request?

Any help much appreicated, a few redacted screenshots to help. Paypal don't offer any details & an on hold payment has the same info available as a completed one, so no clues there.

[mc12345678]

I have gotten similar PayPal system responses more than recently. When I have investigated with PayPal for a few of them, it has been some "policy" in place through their processing. In one case, the origin of the payment was "in question" and the funds were not to be released for a (long) period of time. That one was counter productive when the item being sold was an electronic download.

I've had others where they evaluated some aspect of account usage and/or buyer's history where they did not want to release the funds until a (shorter) period of time had passed or "proof of shipment" had been provided. I was advised that the buyer could go to the transaction and confirm some aspect of the transaction so that PayPal would then release the funds at that time instead of the wait period. None prevented eventual processing, but as you said, doesn't align with work flow.

[John Large]

Thanks for the reply. I've been on with the somewhat useless customer support & they have escalated it to be investigated within 3-5 days. All transactions are now on hold as they come in. 20 at last count. They gave no explanation, but said by escalating it, they may be able to exempt my account from future checks. With the increased EU processing fees, I was already considering removing paypal as a payment option & just keeping Square with their much lower fees, but it will be a gamble because I know many people like the ease & protection of paying with PayPal.

It would help if they actually communicated this to business, it's a fundamental part of a transaction that you actually get paid, and as we dispatch physical products in the post, it's asking us to post in good faith that the holds will eventually lift & we want be scammed.

Nightmare company.

[VDecalS]

We've had this going on for about a year now. PayPal releases the money 24 hours after delivery (based on tracking via USPS) or after 30 days. Quite a pain to follow and for bookkeeping. Sometimes they need a reminder chat after delivery. It's probably a way for PayPal to earn interest on our money.

[John Large]

We've had this going on for about a year now. PayPal releases the money 24 hours after delivery (based on tracking via USPS) or after 30 days. Quite a pain to follow and for bookkeeping. Sometimes they need a reminder chat after delivery. It's probably a way for PayPal to earn interest on our money.

There is no way we will be able to manage that if they keep it going indefinitely. If that is the case, I'll disable paypal altogether. Our items are too small & postage too cheap to offer tracked delivery for all orders, not to mention the extra work involved over sticking on a small packet stamp to each envelope here in the UK.

How many payments are you processing via paypal each day?

[VDecalS]

How many payments are you processing via paypal each day?

Sadly, just a handful of payments via PayPal weekly.

[rlexyd]

Same with us, ALL our paypal payments go on hold at our recent site and we've been with them like forever and have a GREAT history.
It always says funds will be released 3 days after delivery (never does even when tracking details are added) or 21 days after transaction (sometimes does).
I have to call Every time to get them to release the funds which is time consuming and frustrating.
Plus it's a headache if we use Stamps which has no tracking as we can't prove anything.
I have spoken with paypal several times and every time it's a different excuse... (Our automated systems flags certain transactions.. We've had a bug which might be causing this.. The website accepting orders is recent.. You could receive more payments and the automated system will recognize/learn.. blah blah and my favourite.. We like to do this because we CAN, also it's nice to earn interest on YOUR money while holding it as well [joking, they never said that last part :]).

[Nick1973]

Same with us, ALL our paypal payments go on hold at our recent site and we've been with them like forever and have a GREAT history.
It always says funds will be released 3 days after delivery (never does even when tracking details are added) or 21 days after transaction (sometimes does).
I have to call Every time to get them to release the funds which is time consuming and frustrating.
Plus it's a headache if we use Stamps which has no tracking as we can't prove anything.
I have spoken with paypal several times and every time it's a different excuse... (Our automated systems flags certain transactions.. We've had a bug which might be causing this.. The website accepting orders is recent.. You could receive more payments and the automated system will recognize/learn.. blah blah and my favourite.. We like to do this because we CAN, also it's nice to earn interest on YOUR money while holding it as well [joking, they never said that last part :]).

I have this happening. Paypal said that I've been paid, but our automated system has put the money on hold and I just need to add a tracking number. Then the funds are released 24 hrs afterwards. It's a pain to do this in all honesty, but not much I can do as they said it's our buyer protection. Thankfully most people pay through Square.