E-Cheques are every sellers nightmare, you just know it's going to cause you grief! [1] As a Buyer. So you have bought an item and paid through paypal, that's it your item should arrive in a few days. That should be the case if your payment type was "Instant" (and I don't mean how long it took you to pay), but if the payment type was "E-Cheque" you will be lucky to receive anything for at least a fortnight! [2] As a Seller When you receive a payment via the e-cheque method you get a Warning from Paypal NOT to post the item until the payment is cleared ( normally about 12 days after the buyer has paid) , now you know that your feedback is at stake if you wait and your cashflow is going to suffer if you send. You know that the buyer probably doesen't even know what an e-cheque is and it's going to take ages to explain, oh what fun! Paypal in there wisdom don't give the Buyer the same info as they give the seller, and the buyer maybe new to ebay and not have a clue how it ticks. So if you buy something on eBay using Paypal and it takes a while to arrive, it maybe that your payment was an e-cheque ( it could also be that the sellers is hopeless but hopefully eBay are getting rid of them)? You can check in your Paypal account to see which type of payment you have sent, find the transactions and click on the "Details" , look at the bottom for the "Payment type" . If it's "Instant" then that's great and the seller has your money, If it's "e-cheque" then your seller is probably crying . Following a recent statement by a Paypal employee : "Yes it is true that PayPal may block some funding sources for several reasons. Please note that eCheques may also be the only funding source if there is no valid credit/debit card registered on the account. PayPal employs complex statistical models to identify patterns of behaviour. This is similar to the way banks and credit card companies identify patterns of behaviour that are out of the ordinary when approving individual transactions and this has no bearing on the standing of either the buyer or the seller. When our system doesn't allow a certain funding source for a transaction, it's merely an indication that the individual transaction fits a pattern associated with a higher risk that we have observed in the past. Please be assured that this is a standard procedure for all transactions going through PayPal. Please note: If your transaction has been refused, you may be able to complete the transaction using another funding source or at a later date. " It seems that if a Payment looks dodgy then paypal lumber the seller with an eCheque, Thanks Paypal . The reasons that your payment are e-cheque and not Instant can be any of the following: You do not have a card on file with Paypal You had a card on file but the expiry date has expired Paypal is throwing a wobbly again! For whatever reason, if you have sent a payment through Paypal and it's an e-cheque. Don't blame the seller for being slow to send, I have just spent age's trying to explain this to a buyer, so I thought I would write this Guide for future reference. Below is a link to Paypal's explanation of an e-cheque.