PayPal might place a hold on your funds for several reasons. One of the most common is that a dispute exists over the purchased item or payment amount. Another reason might be that PayPal feels the need to confirm the source of the funds to make certain they are legitimate. A third reason might be that your PayPal account is new and the amount in question is larger than the usual customer's. Finally, PayPal might hold back funds if the seller has received too many complaints.
Contact the customer service Help Desk, reachable through the PayPal website (see Resources), and ask why the funds have been placed on hold. Include pertinent information about yourself, your buyer and the purchase.
Ask the PayPal representative if the funds can be released early. If your account is new, offer to use a credit card as a backup funding source. This may assure PayPal and the buyer that it is safe to release your money.
Try to resolve any conflict with your buyer. If your funds are being held over a conflict of some sort, contact the buyer and ask him what needs to be done to resolve the conflict. If the problem can be resolved, ask the buyer to contact PayPal to let the service know that the issue has been resolved.
Try offering the buyer a partial refund. Issuing any sort of refund to your buyer will normally unlock the hold on your funds.
