I was just looking up how to fix this today.
Can confirm that rider99’s suggestion works. Adding Shopify registered email address as a confirmed email address on your Paypal account fixes the problem immediately.
Login to Paypal and go to Account Settings > Account Owner Information > Email addresses. Add your Shopify-registered address here and confirm it.
Hope this helps someone else!
I tried rider99’s solution and it’s still showing the error “A $X USD payment is pending on PayPal Express Checkout.” I had a different PayPal email from my store account. I linked the store account email to my PayPal, I tried deactivating and reactivating 2x and it’s still not working. Any other solutions? It says it’ll be refunded after 29 days. Today is day 28.
I just opened my account and I’m having the same problem my email for pay pal and Shopify are the same and I tired Removing it and changing the email several times but I still can’t fix the problem
I am having this same issue. I had not set up my paypal account prior to the sale but I did immediately after notification so the email addresses are the same for both shopify and paypal. I contacted Shopify who said I needed to contact Paypal. I contacted Paypal who said to contact Shopify. I have been going in circles for 3 hours now! What can I do? I know I shouldn’t fulfill the order without payment but I don’t know what to do or how to fix it. My shop is brand new and I don’t want to upset anyone.
Thank you so much. This worked just as you said.
Thank you so much!!!
This totally works. It works the other way too - i had to change my shopify email address to match my paypal business one.
For those whom this hasn’t worked make sure you receive confirmation emails and confirm all of these. You WILL also need to deactivate and reactive the paypal setting in the customer payment section of settings.
Adding my Shopify email address as secondary on my PayPal account unblocked this annoying problem. Tech support from both Shopify and PayPal on this were of no help.
I did this !! I’ve followed every step and confirmed every email. Still nothing. I’ve cried multiple times today over this. Somebody please help me please. Shopify not PayPal have no clue. They are blaming eachother for this. I just want my customers to receive their items. It’s been weeks now 
I am so glad that I found this. I’ve had money pending for a week. I tried this method and my money appeared in my PayPal account. Thank you!
Make sure you’re verifying your Paypal account email! After I did this and updated other stuff on my PayPal all of the orders instantly showed up in my PayPal account!
Thanks rider99! Great tip!
That worked for me, thank you!
I had the exact same issue. I created a business paypal account with the same email that I used to set up the Shopify store. From there you go to paypal, click profile settings, click update on the email portion, click send confirmation email for that specific email address. Go to your email and confirm the email address for paypal. Then, go to shopify, make sure that email for that paypal is the email you used for the express checkout. If it is not, disable it, re-enable it, and make sure you use the paypal you just set up. I had this exact issue for a while and it turns out I was using a private paypal that wasn’t the same email I used for the shopify store; once I fixed those problems I did not confirm the email. After I did all of those things the pending payments were immediately processed.
Guys! Not sure if this can help but try to unlink your Google account at on Shopify. I was first so confused like some of you did as well cuz I literally followed the steps thousand times and not working at all. However, when I disconnected the Google account, the payment immediately went through. So I’m thinking this might be one of the factors causing the pending cuz of using a third-party logging into your Shopify account.
Really hope this can help!!!
I’m not seeing this option to unlink a Google account. Can you specify where that is under “General”? Thank you!
Click your profile name on the top right corner > manage account > general > login service. Hope this helps!
Thank you! I see that now. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything connected
here, so that can’t be it. Thanks for the help!
YES!! This solved my issue as well!
Thank You!
Hello! I just had this problem with my first order that was payed with PayPal and have finally figured out the solution! I went to the confirmation email that I received when I first set up my PayPal account and confirmed my email address a second time. This worked instantly and the money went straight into my account! I saw this suggestion on another page and thought to paste it here so other people can get help. Hope everyone figures their issues out!
Just tried this and it didn’t work 
Dang, I was excited!