Payment holds, declines and reserves.
We review every transaction that goes through our system using industry-leading technology, including geolocation, velocity checks, behavioural modelling and predictive analytics to help detect and prevent fraud that could impact your business. Sometimes payments are put on hold or declined while we get to know your business better or look into the risk of fraudulent activity to help protect you against customer disputes and chargebacks.
Why are we holding your payments?
Here are some common reasons why payments are held.
You’re a new seller.
We’re getting to know your business and need to ensure funds are available in case a customer needs to be refunded.
Your customers indicate issues.
You receive a high percentage of reversals, disputes or chargebacks compared to your overall PayPal sales.
A transaction issue arises.
If there’s a customer dispute or chargeback, the funds may be unavailable until the issue has been resolved.
Payment holds.
New sellers and sellers with a history of problematic transactions may not be able to immediately withdraw payments they receive. Payments will be shown as pending and, if everything goes well, the money will be released after 21 days. Once you’ve established a good selling history with us, you’ll be able to withdraw your money as soon as you receive it.
If one of your payments is being held, check the payment email and transaction details page to see if you should ship the item or not.
Graduate out of payment holds
To access your money as soon as you receive it, you’ll generally need to become an established seller with us, and:
- Complete a minimum of 25 transactions
- Complete transactions amounting to $250
- Meet eBay’s minimum standards if you’re selling on eBay
- Have at least 90 days passed since your first PayPal sale
Avoid future delayed payments
To help avoid holds on future payments, focus on providing great customer service and managing customer concerns. It also helps if you keep details on your PayPal account, like your business and contact information, up to date.
Learn how to manage customer concerns
Reserves.
To help maintain a safer place for buyers and sellers to transact, we may place a reserve on your account if you’re in a higher risk industry, like travel or ticketing, if your business has a risky credit profile or we identify unusual behaviour on your account. This helps ensure you can meet any liabilities incurred from a claim, chargeback or bank reversal.
We’ll place either a fixed or rolling reserve on your account and review it periodically to ensure the type and amount remains suitable for your business.
Payment declines.
A payment is usually declined because the customer’s card provider declined it, perhaps because there weren’t enough funds in the account or because the transaction seemed suspicious or fraudulent. We also screen all transactions and analyse customer behaviour patterns so, if a customer’s behaviour is not in line with their usual spending patterns, a payment could be declined.
If you know the transaction in question is legitimate, Contact us and we can help.