When we accept a refund claim, we try to process it as fast as possible. But because of certain circumstances, a refund may take longer than expected.
PayPal Refunds
PayPal has a feature called “automatic withdrawal” which is turned on for all Indian accounts and cannot be turned off. This means PayPal makes sure that any balance is withdrawn automatically on daily basis.
So when a refund comes, if PayPal balance is zero, we had two choices:
- Proceed refund from our linked credit-card account. This means paying currency foreign currency conversion charges twice. This almost cost us 8-10% extra (not accounting forex gain/loss). It also increases our accounting/bookkeeping work.
- Wait for another PayPal payment to arrive and issue refund from that. In that case, PayPal uses uses balance at that point for refunds.
We obviously, prefer second option to avoid paying for 8-10% extra. But this means slight delay in refund. It is based on amount:
- Upto USD 100: 1-2 days
- Upto USD 200: 3-5 days
- Upto USD 500: 10-15 days
Anything above may take 20-25 days.
For larger amount, time takes is more because PayPal keeps making us balance zero everyday. So we need to wait for a single large payment.
We rarely see single transaction of USD 500 for products. And for services/consultancy, most payments are received by direct wire transfer.
FAQ
What if PayPal balance doesn’t reach required amount in 30 days?
This is very much possible for larges refund. Specially above USD 1000.
After waiting for 15-days, we try to divert some funds to PayPal first. If that doesn’t work out, finally after 30-days, we issue refund using our linked card. That means we have to bear direct 10% loss, but rest assured, once a refund claim is accepted, we will give you refund without any deductions.