What does a 'pending payment' in PayPal mean?

[owensreed]

I purchased an item and paid almost immediately, but the instead of going through it was listed as 'pending'. The seller has not responded to any of my messages asking for clarification.

[shypansy]

I see your last purchase is from a new first time seller,   if this is the purchase in question, it may well be that they haven`t upgraded paypal to a premier account,  send a message and advise them to do so to claim your payment, or send them here for help,  you could also pull their details and give them a call.