PayPal closed account for no reason and now holding my money for 180 days

KarenL16
Contributor
Contributor

Despite literally 100’s of messages I cannot get a honest answer from PayPal - they send the same auto message and I’ve not really idea why the account closed or when I’ll get access to my money anyone got any ideas how to solve this?

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homerlea
Contributor
Contributor

Blaming the virus for bad service is nonsense. They have people working from home who could easily be set up to answer complaints. They do ban people for no real reason. They have no idea why they banned someone except some badly monitored fraud modeling algorithm has picked you out as a potential fraud, but they have no idea just why you were rejected by the algorithm. They cannot give you any specific reason that they think you are a fraud or give you any specific rule you broke.

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26 REPLIES 26

kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@KarenL16 

 

Paypal do not give reasons for why they have banned you, they just say you have violated their user agreement or acceptable useage policy.

But to be honest they don't ban accounts for 0 reason, what would be the point? They want you to open and use a paypal account as that is how they make their money.


Paypal holds your funds for 180 days as that is the same time frame that buyers have to open paypal disputes.

So if no disputes are opened against you in 180 days then you are allowed to withdraw the funds as long as you are over 18, the account is in your legal name and registered in the country where you reside.

Sometimes Paypal request further documentation from you before you can withdraw those funds.

Your best bet is to wait until the phones are back up and running and then phone customer services so that you can speak to an agent.
Then they can help advise on how you can withdraw the funds if and when you are allowed to do so.



Advice is voluntary.
Kudos / Solution appreciated.
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homerlea
Contributor
Contributor

PayPal's Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is a joke. PayPal will freeze you account, embezzle your money (not stealing because they already have it), tell you that you MAY have done something wrong, their decision cannot be appealed, that they have no obligation to tell you anything more, and that you gave up any rights agreeing to their terms of service. So if you are using eBay you are out of business entirely there too since you can no longer list items without a PayPal account.

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Thatsnotright
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Contributor

Yes, this is exactly what happens.

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Solved

homerlea
Contributor
Contributor

Blaming the virus for bad service is nonsense. They have people working from home who could easily be set up to answer complaints. They do ban people for no real reason. They have no idea why they banned someone except some badly monitored fraud modeling algorithm has picked you out as a potential fraud, but they have no idea just why you were rejected by the algorithm. They cannot give you any specific reason that they think you are a fraud or give you any specific rule you broke.

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JoelS85
Contributor
Contributor

I set up a ebay and paypal account for the very first time and made my first sale. I was a bit confused using the paypal platform as it was my first time and didn't realize I had to link my ebay email. Once i did this I finally saw the transaction for my sold item on paypal, and was extremely happy that i finally figured it out, however I couldn't remember my password as I was using auto fill in so I changed my password to something I could remember. Immediately I received a warning message saying my account was limited and I needed to provide a photo ID and information on what i was selling and so forth. I did these things and the very next day my account was permanently banned. I did absolutely nothing wrong, all my information was correct, I provided everything they asked for and they banned me after they supposedly "thoroughly reviewed my case" and "didn't make the decision lightly". This is completely ridiculous and by far the worst experience I have ever had with a company in my life. There is no one available on the phones to talk to and the message center agents simply keep repeating over and over they cannot reverse the decision or provide any information as to why they did this. This is absolutely inexcusable and down right unethical in every way. Something as simple as using paypal should not be this deceptive and volatile. I did nothing wrong at all, sold one item perfectly described and in perfect condition with 100% honestly, provided the correct information on paypal regarding my email, bank account, identification and so forth only to be locked out of my funds for some undisclosed reason as soon as the funds became available. This should be illegal how they conduct their business. Unbelievable.   

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Jayfly3571
New Community Member

Ya the funny thing is I never sold one thing using PayPal ii never used there service to send or receive funds in a manner that even constitutes a sale all I did was have my unemployment money sent to the account and used the card to buy stuff and pay bills never used the account to receive any payments for anything I sent to anyone and they still hold my money saying somebody could posssibly dispute it. Dispute what it’s the. Ingest joke I’ve ever envmciuntered as I read they have been doing it for years and getting away with it. I wish I had read up more before I used this dam company

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alexki
New Community Member

This practice is not only wrong but should be illegal and should be reviewed and investigated.  Anyone holding money for 180 days should be compensated with interest for 180 days.  Imagine the amount of fund they are holding with this excuses and utilizing it for their own use earning interest on it.   Please everyone who is affected by this should contact your congressman and FTC to raise this issue which is purely fraud.  Making billions of dollars sucking money out of people trying to make few dollars and company like Paypal to take  advantage of it is pure evil and should be banned.  They are like blood suckers only cares about their own benefit by taking advantage of small business people.  Not providing reason and blaming size of their billion dollar company is no excuse to not responding nor provide customer service.   They should not be in business if only thing they care about is sucking money out of business people and don't care after.

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Flossie001
Contributor
Contributor
The FTC slaps them with a fine that’s chump change for them because they got caught in 2015 for fraudulent and deceptive practice. So hit them where it hurts. Everyone needs to complain to EBAY/AMAZON. this issue doesn’t pertain to my issue but I will send a complaint to EBAY and hopefully AAXON too by the end of the day.
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homerlea
Contributor
Contributor

You are mistaken. They do ban people for "no reason". A  software fraud system picks you out and nobody understands the software sufficiently to figure out why you were banned. I was fighting with them for months. Then I found thousands of people were having the same problem being banned because "you may have done something." You can't reach a real person. You are just talking to an over-automated system when you reach for answers. The only way to get their attention is to sue them, or as I finally did take what I call the nuclear option. As a PayPal stockholder I checked with SEC rules and sent a proposal for the next stockholders meeting  that they follow their own code of ethical conduct and not ban people and seize their money without giving a definite and substantial reason. Their current system is unethical and un-American. If they are not able to convince the SEC that my proposal is not appropriate it will appear on the ballot in 2021 and they will at least have their unethical behavior exposed to the stockholders.

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