advice Help! Funds sent to a wrong PayPal address

stub said:

Yeah. But they don't get paid to anybody, because there is no valid paypal account at that email address. I've had this happen to me. From personal experience. They try to contact that email address, but of course they mostly never get any reply, because it's not even a valid email address, so cannot pay it to anybody. The funds are just sitting in limbo, waiting to be reclaimed. Which takes a max 1-2 minutes. If they haven't paid the funds to anybody.

In case you didn't notice. I was asking a question. Were the funds actually paid to somebody? Which OP implied there was. I was just looking for clarification on that point. Because if that was not the case, the whole thing can be handled by the buyer requesting a refund. A very simple process (if funds have not been dispersed).

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I understand.

frank-germany said:

next time use paypal.me

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Is there anything which should be done differently when making a payment to a paypal.me account? I can guarantee that 100% of the time I try to pay to a paypal.me account, it never works for me. I'm always having to request, the sellers "proper" paypal email account, to make the payment.

stub said:

Is there anything which should be done differently when making a payment to a paypal.me account? I can guarantee that 100% of the time I try to pay to a paypal.me account, it never works for me. I'm always having to request, the sellers "proper" paypal email account, to make the payment.

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paypal.me to my understanding is a url shortener for a pre-defined payment link

frank-germany said:

paypal.me to my understanding is a url shortener for a pre-defined payment link

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It pretty much fails all the time when I try to make a payment to a paypal.me account.

Seems the wrong recipient already withdrew the funds? If not, the sender should be able to cancel the transaction and resend to your correct email.

i've used paypal.me many times.
worked every single time for me.

it's not some random link or shortener for just any payment link you want.

its an actual feature of paypal. with only one possible destination. which is a payment page to paypal you money.

there is no such thing as a paypal.me account.
there is just your paypal account.. to which you can link for faster easier payments using the paypal.me paypal feature... then easily share your customized (partly) link with friends, etc.

its quick and easy way to pay someone. doesn't get much better than this folks!

stub said:

So there was a paypal account at the address the funds went to? Quite often, that would not be the case. And the funds would be just sitting in limbo, and your buyer can just request a refund, because they haven't been paid to anybody. Process time 1-2 minutes.

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the best prevention is to copy and paste, never type manually..... at least the misstake were not on your own side but from your seller side who give the wrong address at the very first place

IMEZI said:

the best prevention is to copy and paste, never type manually..... at least the misstake were not on your own side but from your seller side who give the wrong address at the very first place

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Most of my and whoever I've been transacting with, slip ups have been predominantly from copy and past. like copying a dot at the beginning/end of the provided Auth Code, etc. OK. Not necessarily PayPal related, but transaction related none-the-less

stub said:

It pretty much fails all the time when I try to make a payment to a paypal.me account.

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You were the only one who experienced a problem with my paypal.me link. Using them a lot, for many deals from multiple pp accounts. Maybe ask your pp about this? For sure it's a bug with your particular account.

golan said:

You were the only one who experienced a problem with my paypal.me link. Using them a lot, for many deals from multiple pp accounts. Maybe ask your pp about this? For sure it's a bug with your particular account.

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I have a feeling it was the way I was handling it. I was trying to paste the paypal.me address into my paypal account, rather then pasting it into my browser Still next time. I should know to do that correctly

Paypal and buyer should be able to settle this

Update: I tried checking with paypal if it's true the wrong email had an account opened with paypal and realised there is no account registered yet.

Straight a way i informed the buyer that he needs to check well as it must be reflecting in his account that the funds are not yet claimed since there is no account registered with paypal with that email.

He later informed me that he re-checked from the computer(requested by me) since he was using a phone and indeed the funds where no yet claimed. So he told me he has cancelled the transaction but will need to wait for around 7-8 business working days to get the refund.

Will update the thread for any progress!

Thanks all for the help

Isn't this what I said from the very beginning? I'm surprised this has taken so long to get to this point. The buyer could not have done a very good job at looking for this payment in their account. IMHO. But despite all that. I am glad it is almost resolved.

stub said:

Isn't this what I said from the very beginning? I'm surprised this has taken so long to get to this point. The buyer could not have done a very good job at looking for this payment in their account. IMHO. But despite all that. I am glad it is almost resolved.

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@stub ...Very true, you said it before and i told the buyer to check but he told me the funds where claimed as he can't even see any option of cancelling. It took me some few days to figure out if really there was a paypal account registered with that email, So when i noticed that there is no account registered i immediately contacted the buyer letting him know that no account registered with paypal with that email and he has to re-check as the funds seem not to be claimed yet. Then after some 1-2 days he replied letting me know he checked form the computer and the funds where not claimed.
He told me he cancelled the transaction but he will have to wait for 7-8 days to get a refund.

Just wondering why it would take 7-8 days for the refund as i thought i takes less than 5 minutes to get refunded since the funds are not claimed?

Yep. I rcvd the refund immediately I claimed it. Max 2 minutes. I cannot explain why your buyer is saying it takes 7-8 days. It's free money after all. But maybe (I'm just guessing) that paypal have a time limit for making these refund transactions. Although it doesn't sound logical to me.

stub said:

Yep. I rcvd the refund immediately I claimed it. Max 2 minutes. I cannot explain why your buyer is saying it takes 7-8 days. It's free money after all. But maybe (I'm just guessing) that paypal have a time limit for making these refund transactions. Although it doesn't sound logical to me.

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That's exactly what i knew as even one of my friends who had same issue was refunded in less than 2 minutes. Am not sure why 7 days here but let's see how it goes, though have not loved it.

hui2000 said:

That's exactly what i knew as even one of my friends who had same issue was refunded in less than 2 minutes. Am not sure why 7 days here but let's see how it goes, though have not loved it.

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I'd contact paypal and ask about it and then provide that info to buyer and demand that he settles with paypal to get it within normal paypal practice.

hui2000 said:

...He told me he cancelled the transaction but he will have to wait for 7-8 days to get a refund.

Just wondering why it would take 7-8 days for the refund as i thought i takes less than 5 minutes to get refunded since the funds are not claimed?

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The couple of times this has happened to me (I was the buyer), it has been instantenous.

Seems the buyer here is pulling your leg, delaying payment for some reason. But it was your fault, proving incorrect payment address, so I suggest patiently waiting out the week. Hopefully the buyer will make good on their obligation to you in a week's time.

Domains - Wanted said:

The couple of times this has happened to me (I was the buyer), it has been instantenous.

Seems the buyer here is pulling your leg, delaying payment for some reason. But it was your fault, proving incorrect payment address, so I suggest patiently waiting out the week. Hopefully the buyer will make good on their obligation to you in a week's time.

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Yes, it was my mistake for sending wrong paypal email and it's the reason i sent him my domain(4L.com) no matter me not getting the funds but just wondering this taking 7 days as for all the people it has happened too have had a refund in minutes.Am very patient but just not comfortable with the way it's going.

Update: I have received the funds from the buyer, issue is now sorted.

Thanks all members for the help and guidance.