What Does it Mean When a Payment is Pending

When a payment is marked as "pending," it indicates that the payment process through any online payment gateway is still incomplete. In most cases, this simply means that you must wait for it to occur. However, in some cases, you may need to take action.

The basics of payment processing

Before they are presented for payment, most payments go through some kind of authorisation process. When banks receive an authorisation request, the transaction is frequently displayed on the person's account. They will usually mark it as pending payment (or payment pending). This means that they are reserving the account holder's funds in the expectation that they will need to make a payment later.

The bank will release the funds once the payment request is presented. However, this is not always the end of the storey. Occasionally, the person making the payment requests that their money be returned to them. If they do, the exact procedure for returning the money is determined by how the money was collected.

The role of payment processors

Large businesses frequently have their own payment-processing facilities. They simply need to connect to banks in order to transfer funds. Smaller merchants and private sellers, on the other hand, generally require (or prefer) to use payment processors. This simplifies their lives while also providing the necessary level of security for financial transactions.

In that case, rather than paying the merchant directly, the payer pays the payment processor. Similarly, if a payer wants their money back, they get it from the payment processor rather than the merchant.

Payment processors will sometimes hold funds for a short period of time before passing them on to merchants in order to reduce their exposure to risk. This is true whether the merchant is a corporation or a private individual.

In general, if you have an eBay payment pending or a PayPal payment pending, it simply means that eBay or Paypal is waiting to ensure that everything is in order before releasing the funds.

The importance of security

Another reason you might see a PayPal pending payment is (or a pending payment from another source). This is due to the possibility that PayPal (or another payment processor) will need to conduct additional security checks on you or the transaction.

Payment processors must ensure that their services are only used in legitimate ways by verified people (and businesses) for everyone's safety. Even if you've already gone through the account verification process with them, you may need to go through it again and/or provide them with additional information from time to time.

Managing pending payments

Both merchants and customers can realistically expect to see "pending payment" on their accounts from time to time. As a customer, all you have to do is check to see if you recognise the payment. If this is the case, simply leave it running and your bank will credit the merchant in due course. If you don't, get in touch with the merchant and/or your bank to resolve the issue.

As a merchant, you will, for the most part, just let pending payments run their course. You may find it useful to become acquainted with your payment processor's guidelines on how long it takes to process transactions for cash flow purposes. If you accept international payments, keep in mind that they may differ from country to country.

You can expect your best payment gateway to contact you if you need to take action. Typically, this will be done via email. This means that you must always keep your contact information up to date.

It's also a good idea to add the domain of your payment processor to your list of safe senders. This reduces the possibility of an important email being routed to spam.