When will my cash out arrive in my PayPal account?
Standard processing means your cash out typically arrives within 24 hours, often much faster.
Delays expected can happen around weekends, bank holidays, or with higher value payments.
Why hasn’t my cash out arrived?
If your cash out hasn't arrived, it usually comes down to an issue with your PayPal settings or account limitations. Work through the checklist below to get your payment through.
Important: If it's been more than 30 days since you cashed out and you still haven't received your money, contact Prolific Support using the chat icon in the bottom right of your screen.
Check and/or configure your currency settings in PayPal
First, confirm your PayPal account can accept both USD and GBP payments.
Log into your PayPal account.
Go to Settings, then Payment preferences, then Manage currencies.
Confirm both USD and GBP are enabled and accepted.
For detailed setup steps, see our guide on how to set up PayPal for USD and GBP payments, or PayPal's own guide to managing multiple currencies.
Check for unclaimed funds in PayPal
If your currency settings are correct, your money may already be sent, just waiting for you to accept it in PayPal. This happens if you have manual claiming enabled, or if your account isn't set up for multiple currencies. To claim your payment:
Go to Summary, then Pending, in PayPal.
Follow the claiming process there.
Important: you have 30 days to claim your payment. After that, it returns to your Prolific account and you'll need to cash out again, we'll email you when this happens. You also can't make another cash out until you either claim the pending payment or it returns to your Prolific account.
For help claiming a payment, contact PayPal support.
Please note: if you have a PayPal Premier or Business account, PayPal has a separate help article on payment receiving preferences. This doesn't apply to standard accounts.
Check for any account issues or limitations with PayPal
If your currency settings and pending claims both check out, there may be a limitation or issue with your PayPal account itself. Contact PayPal's support team to identify and resolve any account restrictions. Once that's sorted, try cashing out again.
Why has my payment been returned?
If your payment returned to your Prolific balance, it's likely one of the three issues above:
Your currency settings in PayPal.
Unclaimed funds in PayPal.
An account issue or limitation with PayPal.
If you can no longer cash out after a returned payment, don't worry, Hyperwallet, our payment processor, automatically disables cash outs whenever PayPal returns a payment to us, regardless of the reason PayPal gives. It's a temporary measure to make sure whatever caused the return gets resolved before you try again.