Can't deny a payment

October 12, 2006 4:10 PM

Why is Paypal giving me the option to "Accept" a payment, but the "Deny" is grayed out?

Basically a $200 incoming payment is showing as "unclaimed" in my Status panel, and there is an Accept button and a grayed "Deny" button. If I go to Transaction Details there's no options to Accept or Deny. The payment has not added any value to my balance.

I want to deny because the seller has an unconfirmed address that I don't wish to ship to (it's a high-value item), so I don't understand what I'm supposed to do. There's nothing in Paypal Help about this.

posted by zek to computers & internet (10 comments total)

Was it an echeck?
posted by wackybrit at 4:27 PM on October 12, 2006

Are you sure you're really connected to Paypal? Did you click a URL in an email that was sent to you in order to open your browser?
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 4:36 PM on October 12, 2006

1. I have no idea if it was an echeck.
2. No, I'm connected fine... I always type the URL by hand, and I see all of my past transaction history.
posted by zek at 4:41 PM on October 12, 2006

Just a guess, but you might have to do this through the eBay user interface.

Alternatively, just accept it and then refund.
posted by cillit bang at 5:59 PM on October 12, 2006

If it were my account,I would contact PayPal directly. If you do that, please let us know what you find out. You can contact PayPal here (or click into PayPal's Help Center and click the "Still having trouble? Contact Us" link at the bottom of the left column):

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_contact_us
posted by taosbat at 6:01 PM on October 12, 2006

I think that accepting it and then trying to refund it would be a mistake for a number of reasons. This could be a variant on the 419 scam, where their money isn't good, but your refund money actually would be and would come out of your pocket.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 6:07 PM on October 12, 2006

Yeah, I've got a help ticket lodged... I'll post if I get any response.
posted by zek at 6:14 PM on October 12, 2006

24 hours and they have not written back. Crap, I can't believe nobody can help.
posted by zek at 7:03 PM on October 13, 2006

As a PayPal user, I'm kind of bummed that you haven't heard back yet. Thanks for the update. I hope you hear from them soon.
posted by taosbat at 10:25 PM on October 13, 2006

UPDATE: They finally wrote back after 48 hours and said they couldn't help, and to call the 1-888-221-1161 number. I did that today (Tuesday). The guy checked on it and said that there was a technical error with their system, and that the only way to fix it would be for me to accept the payment and then do a refund. So that's what I've done.

I hope Steven Den Beste's warnings don't prove true. At least the customer is in the U.S.
posted by zek at 11:38 AM on October 17, 2006