What is the difference between PayPal's “Processed” and “Completed” PAYMENTSTATUS?

Question

I'm coding a PayPal Express Checkout setup for a client, and see both "Processed" and "Completed" in PayPal's list of possible PAYMENTSTATUS response codes. The PayPal DoExpressCheckoutPayment API Doc describes them this way:

Completed – The payment has been completed, and the funds have been added successfully to your account balance.

Processed – A payment has been accepted.

I'm wondering whether I should treat "Processed" in the same way I would treat a Completed payment, or instead if it should be handled like a Pending payment. (EG: Will it eventually change to either Completed or something else?)

Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

The status "Processed" is used for MassPayments. When Masspayments are successful you will get a IPN post with a payment_status of Processed.

Answer 2

I'm having the same doubts, but after researching I found no clear information from Pay Pal side that explains it better the difference.

What I did is treat the Processed status as a pending status imagining that at some point should evolve to Complete.

I take it this way because what Pay Pal leaves clear is that you shouldn't ship until the payment is Complete.