If the payment you received is in a “PENDING” state after the transaction, then the sale will not be processed immediately. It will wait for the fund to clear and be released to you (the seller) before processing the payment and giving out the membership registration links.
If PayPal is not clearing the payment in your account right after a purchase then there is an issue with your PayPal account setup and you need to address this by contacting PayPal. You can ask them “why isn’t the fund getting cleared immediately after a payment” and they should be able to help.
Common Reasons for a Payment to be in a PENDING state
Here is a list of reasons why a payment can be in a “pending” or “not cleared” status… have a look through them and see if any of these apply to you:
Address: The payment is pending because your customer did not include a confirmed shipping address and your Payment Receiving Preferences is set to allow you to manually accept or deny each of these payments. To change your preference, go to the Preferences section of your PayPal Profile.
Authorization: You set the payment action to Authorization and have not yet captured funds.
eCheck: The payment is pending because it was made by an eCheck that has not yet cleared.
Intl: The payment is pending because you hold a non-U.S. account and do not have a withdrawal mechanism. You must manually accept or deny this payment from your Account Overview.
Multi-currency: You do not have a balance in the currency sent, and you do not have your Payment Receiving Preferences set to automatically convert and accept this payment. You must manually accept or deny this payment.
Order: You set the payment action to Order and have not yet captured funds.
Payment Review: The payment is pending while it is being reviewed by PayPal for risk.
Unilateral: The payment is pending because it was made to an email address that is not yet registered or confirmed.
Upgrade: The payment is pending because it was made via credit card and you must upgrade your account to Business or Premier status in order to receive the funds. upgrade can also mean that you have reached the monthly limit for transactions on your account.
Verify: The payment is pending because you are not yet verified. You must verify your account before you can accept this payment.
Other: The payment is pending for a reason other than those listed above. For more information, contact PayPal Customer Service.