My PayPal account was canceled. No explanation or recourse.

[Caballus]

After a recent simple $25 transaction, my PayPal account was canceled without much of an explanation. It was an eBay sale (I am the seller). It was an item sold AS-IS for parts, clearly indicated in the listing form and description. The buyer erroneously bought it thinking it was new.

We exchanged messages on eBay and worked it out with a partial refund ($15, he covered the shipping), which he accepted and was processed. He claims (after only waiting a couple of hours) the PayPal refund never came through, even though I sent him screen shots of eBay and PayPal showing otherwise. I asked him to wait a day for PayPal to process it. Without consulting me, the buyer opened a second separate dispute on PayPal for the full refund. 

PayPal opened a case, which I responded with the eBay info. I expected they would see it as the buyer just opening duplicate disputes. Instead, they issued the buyer a full refund (PayPal ate the extra $10 even though they didn't have to). PayPal then sent me a separate email saying I am in violation of their Terms (exact wording below). They banned me from the platform with no evidence of my violations, no recourse, no way to contact. My reputation on eBay and PayPal is perfect. On average, I may have maybe one small refund per year to resolve eBay sales (none of which resulted in PayPal eating any costs).

What is going on?

You can no longer use our services

Because you have continually filed cases that do not align with the intent of the PayPal Purchase Protection Program and are contrary to the terms outlined in our User Agreement, we’ve determined you can no longer use PayPal’s services.  We’ve limited your account so you can no longer send or receive funds. Your ability to file PayPal Purchase Protection cases has also been removed. Any existing PayPal Purchase Protection cases you've filed will be denied.

For information on account limitations, please refer to the PayPal User Agreement. To find out what to do next, log in to your PayPal account and visit the Resolution Center.

[kernowlass]

@Caballus

Click on the words "Help / Contact" at the bottom of paypals pages and use the phone option in the blue band at the top OR very bottom of page dependent on what country you are in. Scroll down past the list of help questions and click on 'Call us' bottom of that page. Log in and get the code.

OR

have you considered contacting Customer Service via Facebook or Twitter?
You can send them a personal message from their facebook or twitter pages.
It's: https://www.facebook.com/PayPal and @AskPayPal for Twitter.

[Caballus]

Yes, I found the option to send email, chat, call, etc. I sent them an email, but they just have a robot response going back to the same useless FAQ. If they don't resolve, I'll try the chat or phone option during the week when I have time.

It would be nice if they provided detailed reasons for the sanction rather then a curt "You are banned, goodbye" message.

[Caballus]

So I didn't get any further with email or chat. The Rep says I would need to file a subpoena by a lawyer to get any information on why my account was terminated. I can't fathom what that scam buyer said over a $25 transaction to trigger this, but if a phone call does not resolve it, I am saying to good riddens to PayPal after a long relationship. Judging by the number of similar complaints, I suspect PayPal is just purging accounts that don't earn for them enough to keep around. They need some bogus pretext to terminate the accounts, and they know their service is not worth hiring a lawyer for light users like me.