# Money through PayPal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-through-paypal/107611>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 6, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-through-paypal/107611 "2002-05-06T20:07:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-through-paypal/107611/1 "2002-05-06T20:07:24Z")

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Okay—I’ve used paypal before to send money for auction payments (usu. Ebay). However, due to a recent mixup, the seller sent money back to me, so I got a lovely email stating that I had “x” amount in my PayPal account.

My question is—how the heck do I “use” the money? Apply it to my credit card balance? Deposit it in my checking account? Does PayPal automatically subtract the balance the next time I send money? I’m lost—HELP!

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**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-through-paypal/107611/2 "2002-05-06T20:16:17Z")

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Next time you send money it will deduct it from that balence, if there isn’t enough it will take the difference from your bank account. Or if you like, you can hit the withdrawal tab at the top and deposit it into your bank account. But my advice would be to wait a little while, the person may figure out their mistake soon and ask for thier money. I personally would accept the money, so they can’t stop the transaction. This would force them to have to e-mail me and ask for the money back, (in which case I would send it back).

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**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-through-paypal/107611/3 "2002-05-06T20:35:37Z")

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Fabulous! The person actually made the error in the original auction–the refund was a mutually-agreed-upon solution.

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**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\
**Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/money-through-paypal/107611/4 "2002-05-06T20:39:33Z")

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In that case, just have it deposited in your bank acount, unless you plan on buying something else on ebay in the near future.