Beware using Paypal when paying some merchants!!!!

[Brynne]

Shoppers who use Paypal to pay for purchases, this is a heads up.

I have had paypal since the late 90s. I've never had a problem with them until today.

I made a purchase for several items on Snapfish and used Paypal to pay like I normally do.

I went throught the Snapfish checkout process that sent me to Paypal, etc. Upon confirming the order I got an error message in red on Snapfish telling me there is a Paypal payment error and to please try again.

I thought that was odd. I did NOT try to pay again. I rechecked my order history with Snapfish. All my items were still in my cart, and there were no pending orders. There still aren't, and it's been a few hours. I assumed my order just didn't go through. I only tried to place my order one time.

To my surprise, about 30 minutes after this error message, I get TWO emails from Paypal telling me that I authorized TWO payments to Snapfish.

I logged onto to Paypal and clearly saw the pending transactions.

I went on Snapfish. Still there were no pending orders and my order was still in my cart.

I called Snapfish who assured me that there were no orders pending for me. Snapfish said it's a problem with paypal.

I called Paypal and after being on hold for a long time, I was told that there is nothing they can do. My checking account is going to be charged for 2 transactions. They recently made "upgrades" to their system, and that could have been a problem, but most likely it was the merchant.

My only option is to let both charges go through. Both amounts will be taken out of my paypal only checking account. The merchant has 10 days to accept this money, and if they don't collect, then the money will be transferred into my paypal account. It could be up to 30 days to get my money back. I asked her to just cancel the pending transactions since there is nothing coming, and I was told she can't. Once it's in the system I have to wait up to 30 days to have access to my money.

Thank goodness I didn't purchase some big ticket item like a computer or something. I use Paypal as payment all the time.

So, right now I'll be out about $60 total, and I still have no photos coming from Snapfish. I'm not sure whether to trust either Snapfish or Paypal.

Be very careful when shopping and checking out with merchants using paypal. If you get an error message during checkout after you sign in with paypal, you will still be charged.

Just was heads up.

 

[jsksjs]

The payments are just in "pending" stage. Right?? At this stage, nothing is pulled out from your bank account/credit card. Only if you have a balance in your paypal account it will be held. But, its only held for about 3-4 days. If the store doesnt ship your order within 4-5 days, it will disappear and your money will be returned back into your paypal account balance. Dont worry, im almost sure that you wont be charged. If you used Paypals virutal credit card, you can go into your account and Close the card to be safe. I notice that If i do this, within a few days, it will say EXPIRED..

 

[Brynne]

Thanks for replying.
Yes, both transactions are pending.
I only had a $3 balance in my paypal from a survey I did with Pinecone. The rest I was told would be taken out of my checking account I set up just for paypal.
I hope that these transactions don't go through. It's such a hassle.