PayPal - Pay in 3 - seller beware

[mje]

or maybe I wasn't vigilent enough.

Order placed on Monday with a delivery date requested for Wednesday - although Monday was bank holiday the customer rang shop and as I live above it, picked up and was asked if "order had been received"

Anyway, shipped it yesterday, was delivered and signed for this morning, then couple of hours later we got email from PP saying they had "refused payment"

I called them and to be fair they were very helpfull, he said that the customer had applied for "pay in 3 " finance and ultimatley they declined the application, 48 hours after the order was placed.

He said it can take upto 72 hours to approve these applications - I wasn't aware of this and thought from the message website displays below a decision either way for consumer was instant.

1. Choose PayPal at checkout to pay later with Pay in 3.
2. Complete your purchase with the first payment today.
3. Remaining payments are taken automatically.

He said that with in our PP account the transaction would of been marked "pending" and I have to admit I didn't look / check this, so lesson learned, I'm either going to remove the finance facility, or not allow immediate shipping - the issue there is we ship perishable goods and allow customer to choose a delivery date with "date picker"

[EdHarrison]

Interesting, like other payment options is that on pre authorise or take payment immediately?
If no matter what its pending for 72 hours in this day and age of customers expecting fast delivery it simply isn't worth the risk.

[jeffnurse]

Sorry to hear of your problem but thanks for sharing so we can all learn and be aware.

[mje]

Interesting, like other payment options is that on pre authorise or take payment immediately?
If no matter what its pending for 72 hours in this day and age of customers expecting fast delivery it simply isn't worth the risk.

In "configure method" the setting is set to "charge transactions immediatley" - but as above PP told me they can take up to 72 hours to approve a Pay In 3 application.

[mje]

Sorry to hear of your problem but thanks for sharing so we can all learn and be aware.

Thank you, now I know where to look I've been through all the PayPal paid for orders since beginning of July, bearing in mind what we sell is not high ticket value, I was surprised how many customers use the Pay In 3 option.

I was going to increase the lower figure to apply, but having seen it used as much as it is, even for small orders, I'll leave it as it is, but will check the true status of a payment with PP before shipping, as opposed to assuming all was well as I did in this case.

Customer has bought before, I've sent him an email asking for settelment, and PP said they would also. He's not responded, and I'll leave it now as my fault and not up for any confrontation.