PayPal Business Debit Card Declining?

[Kallidre]

After having my card seemingly declined randomly lately I contacted PayPal tonight. I've been a card holder for about 4 years and have my bank account linked and verified. I've always used my PayPal card whether or not I have money in my Paypal account. The representative told me they are using a new "algorithym" that randomly declines cards due to the fact that they have lost money from back up funding sources not coming through. The only way to avoid this is 1. Call PayPal whenever you want to use your debit card (that's customer friendly...) 2. Transfer money into your Paypal account. Well tonight my card was declined for a $30 charge WITH a couple hundred dollars in my Paypal account. The rep told me I would not be able to use my card as I have for several years now and also there were no plans to let their customers know about this change. He had a carefully scripted answer to my question so it's apparent;y they are getting calls about this. BAD customer service Paypal! How can you let your customers get their cards declined without letting them know why! Last night I tried to use it to purchase a bleep deal on some air fare. They allowed the initial authorization to go through then declined the charge several hours later. When I woke up I saw the email saying I had lost out on my airfare. Basically they have changed the terms on their debit card without any plans of telling people. Ticked off? You bet I am. 

[Whac-A-Mole]

I used it recently in 2 places.

I haev enough in my Paypal balance.

first is online ,it was decline twice,but Paypal sent me 2 notices saying transactions have been completed,but when I check my account,they both said cancelled?

then to day,I used it in a store as a credit and it went thru,

no longer a reliable way of making payment

[melissacscarlet]

I always have funds on my paypal debit card - and have used it without any issue at all until yesterday.

I felt utterly embaressed at Toys R Us in front of a line of people, trying my card twice as I knew there were funds available. Eventually I used another card.

I called customer service who had a terrible attitude and told me "Well, its your fault for not having several other cards with you, you cant rely on this card for payments" WOW... I quite honestly was shocked at this response!..and she went on to inform me that my card is going to decline randomly as there is a list of businesses and every day one or two a tagged as possible fraud (This was completely bizzare to me, and I honestly do not think the representative knew what she was talking about - but I believe it is the  algorithm procedure that has been put in place.

Then mid conversation while verifying who I was,  the phone was disconnected by the representative as  - it had turned 6pm PST! Double WOW.

So, I sent an email and was informed that everything was great, I can use my card without any issue at all.

Ok, so I went to check a bag in at the airport, using my paypal card for the transaction - when, what do you know? DECLINED. 

I called Paypal and was informed that there was a 3 hour hold wait and they will call me back. I am pretty sure that their phone lines are jam packed with customers experiencing this same issue.

Am closing my paypal card down - I am not going to deal with this blatant disregard of customer care and a ridculous way of attempting to stop fraud.

Melissa

[Whac-A-Mole]

It has to do with the stores and their setup/

[GenesQueen1]

FIRST time ever getting DECLINED.  Today at 2 different locations, thinking maybe it was their card reader.  Called PayPal only answer I received was "SECURITY REASONS", NO help what so ever.  Have more than enough money in the bank to cover purchases!  Ridiculous the card issuer can't give an explaination or fix the issue, after all the transactions over numerous years. VERY POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!   SMH  

[accolade]

I've been getting the same issue as well lately and like many in this thread I been a Paypal Debit Mastercard holder for several years.

Well it's been fun but I guess this is a point where all good things come to an end, with my use of Paypal.   Guess I'll relay on stores reward cash-back services for now.

[Whac-A-Mole]

Some stores acept it and some cannot.

I suspect it has to do with that chip,until Paypal sent us a new card with that chip embedded,it will be declined at stores which handle the chip.

[Kallidre]

That's not true. It has nothing to do with the chip. PayPal themselves told me declines are issued according to some mysterious algorithm they use

[HyperDreamer]

Ever since I got my first replacement after my first card expired I have not been able to use my debit card. That was last year I think. I did the whole activation thing, went to the store to buy shampoo and conditioner that would cost me 10 bucks. Ended up having to use my Chase debit card instead. Was actually very **bleep** off I couldn't use my debit card. I called up PayPal and they said it should be working but they sent me another one after I agreed to it of course and after I did that 

activation step still didn't work got declined again. I tried getting ahold of PayPal but it was becoming annoying so I threw it in a drawer and forgot all about it till I got a letter in the mail telling me they are sending me a new one with a chip. Oh joy I hope it will work for me.mafter alll the hoops I jumped to get myself verified and not be limited and sure as **bleep** feel limited if I can't use my debit card. I've been thinking about canceling it for sometime now. With all these issues of declines, why do they even bother with keeping it active and just discontinue the service like they discontinued the ability to deposit checks with their app.

[Whac-A-Mole]

come back and tell us if the new card with chip works.

[WH3]

After having my (pre-chipcard) PayPal card skimmed at Six Flags Whitewater's day-lockers last summer, my card was compromised and several thousand dollars of purchases were made at a Walmart and a Sams in the Atlanta area.  Fortunately I was able to catch the problem almost immediately and PayPal reversed all the charges before they ever withdrew from my backup funding source.  The thing that saved me, I believe, was that I tried to use the physical card the same day, at the same time, in another place two hours away...and when it declined, I called...that's what set off the research.

After a fairly pleasant experience with PayPal about the fraud, I told them that I needed a chip card... but never got a replacement card... in fact my account was just unexpectedly closed without explanation.  I had been a loyal PayPal customer since the brand came into existence.

I mostly used the card for 'pocket money' purchases to shield my primary accounts from exposure since it seems there's a data breach every. single. day. 

So I missed that convenience but ultimately just went back to using other cards.

But last month I needed to start taking payments via card online, so I opened a new account and ordered the new business debit card.  The chip DOES look different from my other cards and the name & number are not printed on the front.  I have had mostly poor results trying to use the card IRL as it gets declined more often than not.  Here's what I believe is happening.

New laws in place say that which ever card system has the weakest technology, when fraud occurs, has to eat the transaction.  PayPal has twisted from no chip card at all (probably lost a lot) to a new chip that many systems can't read yet...ingenico chip card readers seem to reject it outright as a bad card type.  Samsung/Google pay.. when you try to add the payment card it gives an error saying "cannot accept this card type yet."  In fact the only places I've been successfully able to complete a transaction is at a Kroger fuel pump (debit) and at a local pizza place (signature credit.)  I maintain a zero balance and simply use the backup funding source as I always have... but I think the main problem is that point-of-sale systems that are not 'certified' by PayPal are simply rejected.  I think this is the argument: 

PayPal: well, your card system is less secure than our system, you must upgrade your card system or we won't accept your customers...we aren't paying out any more on bad cards because your system is antiquated

Retailers: **bleep** you, it's expensive to keep upgrading all this hardware; we don't think it's a big enough component of our business to matter

I have no problems using PayPal online to make payments...this is all physical card stuff... except, oh yeah, the pop-up payment window that comes up in online stores.  In Chrome you cannot click anything in the window...like the popup is being blocked.  The workaround is to maximize Chrome's window for some reason, and then you can complete the purchase.  THIS IS A KILLER for online business, where consumers then have to call in before they can complete their purchase.

Last issue... routing number.  What happened to the routing number that we used to have for banking? It's no longer possible to treat your PayPal card as a bank-to-bank deposit & drafting system.  I'm not sure what regulations have made PayPal withdraw from traditional banking (oversight? overseas?) but basic "send money" "get money" features that were once PayPal's mainstay are now so difficult to accomplish or so cash-unfriendly as to make them impossible to use.

Come on PayPal... after reading through these threads it is clear you've had ample time to witness and fix your system.  If you can't iron this out, it won't matter any more.