PayPal refunds customers after technical glitch

The eBay-owned online payments service, PayPal, has refunded some of its UK customers after their bank accounts were accidentally debited twice on some transactions.

"Due to a technical error on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 July, some PayPal account holders experienced duplicate credit or debit transactions on their accounts.  This affected less than 1 percent of PayPal UK customers," the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the technical error has now been resolved. PayPal said it has already refunded those who lost out, and "corrected accounts for transactions that were credited twice to bank accounts".

Customers whose accounts were over-credited, rather than over-debited, might be pleased to learn that PayPal is "not debiting users' bank accounts to correct the overpayment".

Although PayPal is best known as the most popular payment service for eBay customers, a recent deal between Yahoo and eBay looks set to extend its reach in the world of e-commerce.

Users of the service who are concerned that they may have been charged twice for transactions can call a dedicated hotline on 08707 307 191.