Paypal's reserve is thievery

glensideshirts
New Community Member

I just got off the phone with paypal after noticing my 'reserve' funds have been at $430 for a while.  After browsing help, I really didn't find out how or why my money was being held.  Speaking with customer service really didn't help clear up the 'why' but I did find out that they are holding 10% of my receipts (including shipping charges) for 60 days.  The only reason given was that this is a protection against a buyer opening a claim requesting a refund.  Customer service told me accounts are reviewed every 30 days.  I have been an ebay bronze level powerseller for at least five years and have NEVER had a buyer open a case against me.  Never!  I have issued a handful of refunds over the five years to buyers who have changed their minds.  Never more than $20.  Every now and then, I will issue a partial refund of a few dollars for buyers who selected the wrong shipping method, thus paying too much.  I have NEVER been in a negative balance; always using my paypal balance to issue those small refunds.  There is absolutely no justifiable reason for paypal to be holding 10% of my money for 60 days.

 

Better yet, when I asked for my account to be reviewed because there seemed to be no justifiable reason for the reserve, I was told it's done by the computer and a person can't do it.  

 

What do I do?  I am basically caught up within the paypal/ebay monopoly.  Why doesn't ebay accept google checkout?  I guess I just have to live without my $430 for 60 days while paypal makes money on my money.    I guess it is the cost of doing business with the monopoly.  Infuriating since I really need that $400 of MY money!

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34 REPLIES 34

bcaa8ra
Contributor
Contributor

This just started happening to me. I have never had a chargeback, never had negative feedback. I have been selling on ebay since the very early days (around 1996).  I only sell on ebay occasionally but I feel like I am being hung out to dry in the transaction.

 

So I guess the only defense for me is quit selling on ebay and only using craigslist.

 

 

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Mellon
Contributor
Contributor

yep, I'm in the process of changing over to someone else for a gateway service due to this.  The other company doesn't hold any reserve and they charge 1-2% less per transaction. 

 

currently with PayPal, my reserve is 5x larger than my available funds because they are taking out 20% on transactions that may have 10% profit if that much.  It'll be another 2 months before the first reserve funds start coming back.  That's a very long time to wait for a new company that needs their cash to pay the bills.

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ts56
Contributor
Contributor

@WigWamCrafts13 wrote:

WTF!!! PayPal is AGAIN claiming that they intend to hold 30% of all of my daily sales for 90 days with out a VALID reason. This is the second month in row that they have done this. I am NOT using their virtual terminal. And I refuse to continue to play their games. So if any one wishes to make a purchase from me, ...contact me via email at (removed) or call me at (removed).


Same!! I started using Virtual Terminal and they did it to me!! I stopped Virtual Terminal and it is still happening!!!

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7727645
Contributor
Contributor

You folks should not complain all the time. Get another card company to protect your money.

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cmesoftware
Contributor
Contributor

This is happening to us too, except they are holding $3000!  We are very upset and truly ready to open a class action suit!

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7727645
Contributor
Contributor

This is business and paypal claiming to protect buyers.

It obvious that they are over doing it and this will invite others to come out with a service that will put them out of business.

 

They are holding 30% of my money and I am in service business.

 

You should call your bank and get a credit card machine and only use pay pal when needed.

 

Thanks

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Mellon
Contributor
Contributor

I've been moved over to authorize.net for over a month now and haven't been using paypal's cc service.  they stil won't give my money back, I tried to close my paypal account entirely and they still won't citing that they can't close my account with money in it.  they said I still have to wait 90 days to get it back 1 day at a time...i'm so **bleep**ing **bleep** about this.  I have to make payroll and this **bleep** are making me look terrible to my employees, I'm sure they be quitting any day now.

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jross
Contributor
Contributor

Here is the solution folks, just dont say you heard it here. After a sale,  contact the buyer and explain that you are going to refund their money and ask them to pay either by money order or direct credit card sale if you take them. You get paid, the buyer gets their item, and paypal gets nada. Nice picture, isn't it ?

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ts56
Contributor
Contributor

@jross wrote:

Here is the solution folks, just dont say you heard it here. After a sale,  contact the buyer and explain that you are going to refund their money and ask them to pay either by money order or direct credit card sale if you take them. You get paid, the buyer gets their item, and paypal gets nada. Nice picture, isn't it ?


LOVE IT!!!

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touroneinc
Member
Member

just another cut throat business. i have used ebay and paypal since they started. never a negative mark. like most of you, i have done right by ebay and paypal, and they are doing wrong by us. that's what quasi monopolies do. one customer disservice rep emailed me "60 day hold.... 10% of the money".... another responded "60 day hold.... 20% of the money".... wow , and i thought the banks had the corner on sqeezing every drop of blood out of us depositors. now, my money is stuck in paypal hands making them money, instead of me making money. the more comments posted, the more paypal will pay attention.

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