How to Stop Payment on a PayPal Purchase

1. Access the PayPal website. Sign in by entering your email address and password on the left side of the screen.
2. Determine whether your payment has been claimed by the recipient. Access the My Account screen. Look at the transaction line for the purchase in question. If the payment status is pending, the payment has not been claimed. If the payment status is completed, then the recipient has claimed the money and the purchase can not be canceled. Contact the recipient and ask for a refund. The recipient's email address can be located by going to the 'History' tab, clicking on the transaction in question, and then clicking on 'Details.'
3. Decide whether the unclaimed payment can be canceled. According to the PayPal website, customers have the option to stop payment on a PayPal purchase if the money was sent to an email address that is not linked to a PayPal account. If not canceled, once the email address is added to the PayPal account, the transaction will be processed automatically. PayPal's website also indicates that a payment sent to an unconfirmed email address can be canceled, but due to security reasons, PayPal is only able to credit payments to confirmed email addresses.
4. Cancel the unclaimed payment. Click on the 'My Account' tab at the top of the website. Click on the 'History' sub-tab, which is the second row of menu choices. Next, find the transaction in question and click on 'Cancel' in the Order status/Actions column. Finally, click on 'Cancel Payment.'