Forum

Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

I have had these types of payments before, where instead of the payment being instant, I get an email from paypal that says "Payment from XXXXXXXXX has been placed in your pending balance". The reason they state is always "we believe this transaction may involve higher than usual risk".

Now, this was an off-ebay sale...same type of item I've been selling. Account is established, created in January. I've had higher dollar amount payments than this, which doesn't make sense why this one is deemed "higher than usual risk". Like I said, I've had this happen before...mostly with payments received from ebay. Does anyone know what causes this to happen? It seems to be random, but I'm sure it's not.

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

Have all your other sales been through eBay? If so this will be why. PayPal like you to be consistent, if you stray away from your usual patterns they don't like it and up their security by adding 21 day hold, limiting the account, changing instant withdraws to 72 hours etc...

It can happen to anyone at any time it's nothing to worry about if your account is in good standing and you have all documents in case of any limitations (not that this is going to happen, it's just a worst case scenario).

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

If this was your first off-eBay sale then that's why this happened. Your post wasn't clear as to whether or not you've processed this kind of transaction before.

If you do this regularly then there could be something suspicious about the buyer's account. Paypal can also hold payments like this if they suspect a buyer's account has been compromised and purchases are being made fraudulently. It gives them time to see if the transaction was legitimate or not. Most of the time when I get this type of hold it's due to a suspicious buyer.

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

Remember, it's their bot and not a human being that catches these kind of things and it's never perfect, you could be innocent and just got caught up or the bot finally decided to pick you for extra screening.

Yes, it's random, but still be a little more aware as you mentioned so yourself already.

I don't see any solution right now as you just have to wait it out and let it clear and not receive anymore of such payments.

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

Sorry if I was not clear in my original post. This was an off-ebay sale where I sent an invoice to the buyer. It is not the first time that I have done off-ebay sales and this was not that large of a payment. I just got a payment a few days ago for $980 (off-ebay sale) and went through just fine. Another for $200 and some smaller ones under 50...all fine. This one was a little over 400 and ended up with the "higher risk than usual" email and hold. Now, usually when these emails come, there is a small list in the email that says it could be caused by a change in selling practices, if you have been inactive for a while, etc. This email did not say anything like that. It literally just said there may be higher risk than usual and that was all.

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

It was without a doubt triggered by something suspicious on the buyer's end then.

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

My "suspicious payments" usually clear/fail in 24hours.

Re: Payment In Pending Balance - "Higher Than Usual Risk"
 

Had a higher than usual payment one myself earlier even though the amount was for less than i received 3 days ago which went through fine, once i put the tracking number in the date the funds will clear showed as 3 days so doesn't bother me.