How to Get PayPal Money Off Hold Without Tracking Number

Last Updated on September 23, 2023

This publication explains how to get PayPal money off hold without tracking number—however, there are not too many ways to get around this, especially if the transaction took place already.

The common scenario is that you have received funds in your PayPal account but it says funds won’t be released until you add a tracking number. If you don’t have a tracking ID, it means you did the delivery yourself without using any of PayPal’s supported carriers in your country. Meanwhile, if you need to confirm a supported PayPal carrier in your country, read this.

PayPal sale without a tracking ID is risky

The rule of thumb is “never use PayPal if your delivery does not include a tracking number”, especially if you’re a new seller. Understand that PayPal is trying to protect the other party by holding the funds against a potential dispute. Another reason is that you don’t have any seller protection on PayPal.

Nevertheless, if you decide you need PayPal seller protection, you need these to be eligible.

Also, a buyer can receive the item and then file a dispute for non-receipt of the item. And since you have no tracking number to prove the item delivery, you lose the dispute and the money.

It’s for this reason that eBay provides an option for “Cash on Collection” where a seller can include that they will only accept PayPal payment on delivery. And if the buyer pays with PayPal, you can make a refund and re-state “Cash on Collection”. In this manner, you have the cash in hand, no wait, fees, or any risk of a PayPal dispute.

How to get PayPal money off hold without tracking number

As mentioned earlier, there are not many ways to get around this when you’ve already completed the delivery. Nevertheless, you might be able to get PayPal money off hold without tracking number in the following ways:

1. Wait for 21 days

Obviously, you are subject to PayPal’s seller hold, especially if your account is new—PayPal needs to trust you enough, even though this is a big deal for you.

As such, PayPal will only release funds when the tracking shows delivery of the item. But since this is not the case, consider waiting for 21 days—as long as there’s no dispute from the buyer, you’ll get your funds.

If the buyer reports a problem, either maliciously or honestly, then you may permanently lose the funds to them.

2. Build your PayPal seller trust

Consider rolling with the punches! After the 21-day wait, you want to develop a good selling history with PayPal. This means you’d then be able to just mark the payments “Shipped” without the need to provide a tracking number.

If you endeavor to use tracking next time out, you would be able to mark “Order Processed” by simply clicking “Add Tracking” via the transaction details and request the senders to confirm receipt on their end to get PayPal money off hold.

3. Ask the buyer to confirm receipt

The button for “Confirm Receipt” only appears when the order status is updated to:

• “Order Processed”
• “Service Rendered”, or
• Marked as shipped

If you’re concerned about confirming receipt for PayPal to remove the hold on funds, you’d have to add a tracking ID via “Add Tracking” and select an applicable order status, then contact the buyer to confirm receipt on their end for PayPal to remove the hold.

If you think a buyer will get funny, malicious ideas of scamming you (since you don’t have a tracking number) don’t ask them to release the funds or click “Add Tracking”. The best solution is to wait for 21 days for PayPal to remove the hold, as long as the sender doesn’t file a dispute.

4. Confirm if you have a tracking number

Think again, did you use a shipping service? If yes, here’s how to add tracking information for PayPal to release your money:

• Click Activity (at the top of the page).
• Find and click the specific transaction to update and remove PayPal hold on your money.
• Select Product and enter the tracking ID if you sold products. However, if you sold an intangible item or provided a service, select Service or virtual product.
• Confirm the order status.
• Click Submit.

When you submit the update, the buyer or sender of the funds will receive an email notification that you entered the shipment tracking information for the transaction. The email notification will also contain the order status, tracking number, and shipping company.