Do PayPal Refunds go Back to a Debit Card?

ByTristan Published on
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You can add your debit card to your PayPal account and use it as a funding source for transactions. A commonly asked question about debit cards by PayPal users is if refunds go back to debit cards. I’ll be talking about this and more in this article. 

Refunds will only be sent to your debit card if you used your debit card to make the original payment. PayPal by default sends refunds to the payment method used to make the original payment to a seller. 

You can pay for products online or send money to friends, family, or independent contractors through PayPal by using your debt card. PayPal gves you the option to request for a refund if you don’t receive your merchandise, receive a damaged merchandise, receive a different merchandise, or simply made a payment by mistake. I’ll be discussng how long it will take for refunds to be sent to your debit card and PayPal’s policy about refunds in general. 

Requesting for a refund on PayPal

You can request for a refund od a completed transaction/payment on PayPal by sending an email to the seller. The seller will have to navigate to the Transacton details page for your transaction. There, the seller will see the “Issue a refund” option and then click on it. You have up to 180 days to request for a refund after payment. The refund opton will be no longer available to you after 180 days. 

If your payment is still pending, you can simply cancel it and this will make sure that you are not charged thereby avoiding the need to go through the lengthy refund process. As long as a payment is pending and you can still see the “Cancel” button next to it, you can easily cancel the transaction. If the payment is not claimed within 30 days, it will be automatically refunded to you. Learn more about PayPal refunds here.

Do PayPal refunds go back to a debit card?

Refunds will go back to a debit card if the debit card is the payment methd used to make the orginal payment to the seller. However, it may take up to 30 days before your funds arrive and reflects on your card. If you made the original payment using a credit card, then the refund will be sent to the credit card. And if you sent your payment using a bank account and the payment is canceled, it will be refunded to your bank account. But if the payment isn’t cancelled, the refund will first be sent to your PayPal balance after which it will now be sent to your bank account. 

Why do PayPal refunds take so long?

PayPal refunds depend on the seller and the payment method used to make the original payment. The seller must first approve the refund after which the refund will now be processed. How quickly the seller approves the refund will determine how quickly you’ll receive your miney back. Also, the payment method used to make the original payment also come into play. Some payment methods make refunds faster than others. For example, it may take up to 30 days for the refund amount to appear on card statements if you are usng a debit or credit card. If you paid for your bank account, then i may take up to 5 days for the money to reflect in your bank account. The reason for ths is that the funds will first be sent to your PayPal balance then to your bank account. 

If you made the original payment from your PayPal Cash or PayPal Cash Plus balance, then  your refund will paid to your PayPal Cash or PayPal Cash Plus balance on the same day the refund was processed. Also, if you used PayPal Cash or PayPal Cash Plus balance + credit card to make the original payment, then PayPal will send your refund to your PayPal Cash or PayPal Cash Plus balance and credit card. While the refund to the balance will happen the same day it’s processed; it’ll take longer for the refund to be sent to your card – up to 30 days. 

Below are common refund statuses you may see:

Pending: This status means that the refund is still processing from the sender’s payment method. The time to refund the payment will typically take between 3-5 business days from the date the refund was issued after which the money will be sent to the original form of payment.

Refunded or Partially Refunded: Here, the refund is complete and the refund has been sent to the original form of payment.

Temporary hold: This status means that the transaction has already been refunded. However, the funds is not available yet as it still has to be cleared by your bank. It’ll take between 3-5 business days for the money to clear your bank after which the refund will be credited to your bank account.

Here’s how to find the seller’s contact information to request a refund:

  • Login to your PayPal account. 
  • Go to the summary page and then select the transaction you wish to cancel. 
  • You’ll be able to send an email to the seller through the contact information. 
  • Your refund will be processed if the seller agrees to refund the money, If not, you may be able to open a dispute in the Resolution Center especially if you didn’t receive your item, received an item different from the seller’s description, or your payment was not authorized.