How to cancel a pre-approved payment with PayPal
I’m a big fan of using PayPal to pay for things I buy online. Not only is it really quick and simple to use, but using your PayPal account to pay for goods and services also offers you a level of protection too. As well as being great for one off purchases, PayPal can also be great to use when you need to make a recurring payment, maybe for a monthly subscription service that you use, or just giving you the ability to make a preapproved payment for purchases. But what happens when you want to cancel a pre-approved payment with PayPal?
[lwptoc]The benefits of using PayPal
When I’m buying anything online, be it a service or a physical product, I always opt to pay using PayPal where I can. The option isn’t always available as a payment method, but it’s my first choice if it is. There are a couple of different reasons for this.
Firstly, when you make a payment using your PayPal account, the merchant or service provider doesn’t get any access to your bank card, credit card or bank account details. Whilst payments are often encrypted to hide this information anyway, I am always a little wary of entering these details online, particularly when I’m making a purchase through a new site. When you choose to use PayPal, the only thing the merchant will see is your email address, which makes it a great way to keep your debit cards and credit cards safe from fraud.
Secondly, if you are unfortunate enough to have an issue with your purchase, then PayPal’s resolution centre makes it really simple to claim your money back. It’s a really easy process and you just need to fill in a few details about why you’re making the claim and whether you’ve contacted the merchant about it. I recently made a claim after a website we purchased from failed to deliver an item and then the website promptly disappeared. PayPal responded to say that they would investigate and to allow five days for a resolution. The money was back in my PayPal balance by the end of the same day.
What is a pre-approved PayPal payment?
Usually, when you make a payment via PayPal, it’s a one-off payment for a product or a service. But there are times when you might want to make regular payments through the PayPal website. This might be for a monthly subscription that you signed up for. A PayPal billing agreement is set up so that you can make payments through a recurring PayPal transaction without having to give your approval each month.
How to cancel a pre-approved payment with PayPal
If you decide to cancel the automatic payments set up in your PayPal account, then there are a number of different simple steps to follow depending on what stage your payment is at.
How to cancel a pre-approved payment with PayPal before the transaction goes through
If you’ve got a pre-approved payment set up in your PayPal account, but you’ve decided that you want to cancel before your next scheduled payment, then these are the steps to follow for the cancellation process:
- Log in to your PayPal account
- Click on your account settings – this is the gear icon or cog at the top right-hand side of the page
- Then go to Payments and select ‘Manage Automatic Payments’
- You will then see a list of all of your pre-approved payments
- Select the payment you want to cancel
- Next to ‘Status’ click ‘Cancel’
You should then see a pop-up asking you to confirm that you want to cancel the payment plan. Once you’ve clicked ok on that, your payment will be cancelled and future payments won’t be taken from your account.
Can you cancel a pre-approved payment if the payment has already gone through?
In an ideal world, you will have cancelled any pre-approved payments before the automatic renewal payment gets taken out of your account, that’s definitely the best way to ensure you don’t get charged. However, if you’ve been a little late to act and you missed the deadline to cancel, then you may still be able to reclaim the payment.
The first thing to try is to follow the steps above to see if you can cancel the payment. Bear in mind though that this will only work if the pre-approved payment is still pending or processing. I have found that with a pending payment for international merchants, I have managed to cancel a pre-approved payment even though the day had arrived and I think this must be because of the time difference.
If you’re unable to cancel the payment, then your next option is to contact the seller. No seller wants an unhappy customer, and if you explain your reasons for wanting to cancel the recurring payment, then you may find that the merchant agrees to refund your order amount. You can find your recent transactions under ‘Recent Activity’ on your PayPal dashboard. Click on the relevant transaction and you should be able to contact the seller via their email.
If the merchant refuses to issue a refund or simply fails to respond, then you can use PayPal to raise a dispute using PayPal’s resolution center. PayPal will then take a look at your case and weigh up both sides of the transaction to see whether they feel it’s fair to refund the amount of money to you, or whether the payment should stand.
Receiving a refund for a pre-approved payment
If you are successful when you attempt to cancel a pre-approved payment with PayPal, then you will usually receive your payment fairly swiftly, I think PayPal usually state within 5 business days, but I have received them on the same day.
Refunds will be issued to the same payment means you used initially for your pre-approved payment. So, if you had a balance in your PayPal account at the time of the payment, then this would have been used to make the payment and this is where your refund will be sent. If the payment was taken from your debit card, then the refund will be sent to your debit card too. It’s worth bearing that in mind when you’re waiting for your refund, as some payment methods take longer than others to receive the refund.
How do currency conversions impact refunds?
If you’ve made a purchase using a foreign currency, then your refund will be issued using the exchange rate on the specific date you request the refund. As exchange rates vary constantly, then this could either mean that you receive slightly more than you initially paid, or it could mean that you’re left slightly out of pocket.
Last resort for receiving a refund
If you’ve tried all of the methods above and you still haven’t been successful, then your final option is to contact PayPal directly via their support page. It’s important to note though that if PayPal found in favour of the merchant during their resolution process, they are unlikely to overturn their decision at a later date. So your best bet might be to chalk it up to experience and make sure you cancel the pre-approved payment well in advance of the next payment date.
