Why people always say "12 hours hold time is needed" or "I need 6 hours hold time before sending you the goods"? What is the use of such hold time?
I guess for the most times, orders with delivery probably needs to be manually processed so they need some time to get that done. They may also want to perform checks on you before shipping because if you are not for real, they may lose the product and the money when you raise a dispute or a chargeback or if you use a stolen credit card or stolen paypal account. It is for their protection and the card holder/paypal account holder's protection. This is even more so if they are shipping out of their country.
I think digitalgoods should delivered instantly, Many users even hold paypal funds to be safe from chargeback , and to be sure that the fund they recieved is not from a hacked pp account or hacked creditcard. I think they cashout the funds to avoid chargeback and thus taking holding time. But if the funds came from hacked creditcard or hacked paypal account , then no luck.
You heard of the saying 'Time and Tide Waits for No Men' which basically say that Time is ever moving. While 'Hold' in English usually means to put something in one's hands or to restrain something. Say a bird would always be flying but if you 'hold' the bird in your hand, you prevent it from flying. So that is like 'Hold time', basically it is to restrain time. In this case, it means not immediate fulfilment as in the vendor does not send the product immediate but to delay it for a while.