Used Paypal Here Card Reader and My Money is Being Withheld

[RickMcM]

I got a Paypal Here reader because I intended to sell at a large local sale on Sat Nov 5, 2016.

The day was successful and I took credit card payments of over $2100. Great! Or, at least, I thought it was...

When I got home from the sale, I saw an email from Paypal telling me that my account had been Restricted and my Paypal Debit Mastercard had been Deactivated.

I had to upload a photo ID, proof of address and business info, which I did. I then called Paypal and had the restriction lifted. Great again! Or, I thought it was...

In my account, only $500 was "Available", with the remaining $1548 "Withheld" and inaccessible.

Called Paypal. was told by representative Abby that the withheld funds were now available and could be transferred to my bank. Great! Or, at least I thought it was...

Hours later, funds were still showing as "Withheld", so I called again. This time represenative Angel told me that the funds were on hold in case of chargebacks (I have never had ONE in almost 20 years of using Paypal for payments).

Funds will not be released for 30 days. Angel told me that, if I had a chip reader, funds would be available immediately. I asked how I could get one, she said she could arrange it - cost would be $149.

So, if I pay $149, I can have future funds available immediately but, if I won't pay that, I have to wait 30 days..?

Is this legal, or moral? I am an eBay Top-Rated Power Seller with 100% Positive Feedback of 2600+ amassed over 17 years. My record with Paypal too is unblemished, and yet I have sold $1500 of items that customers took with them that I paid money to buy, and yet my payments for them are being withheld by Paypal for 30 days.

Can someone, anyone, justify this..?  

[DPCreations]

Of course it's legal and also moral.

PayPal is a business and you have a choice to use or not use their services.  When you agree to use their services you agree to abide by their policies and terms of use.

Witholding and limiting transfers to a bank is part of that agreement.  If you want higher limits you need the chip card reader and a history of low risk with PayPal.

If you want immediate access to your funds you could try a different service such as Clover Go with First Data.  Your funds would immediately go into your checking account about the day afer the sale; rates are also lower.  You would need to go through a full credit review.   You would be the merchant and have direct access to First Data support.

You could also try Square.

[RickMcM]

You state that "..it's legal and also moral."

I don't know what your qualifications are to be able to offer legal advice, but I appreciate you doing that.

So it must be legal then, if I owe someone money, to tell them that, if they pay me $149, I'll pay them what I owe them..?

If you think THAT is moral, then I question your morality.

I'll get a Square reader and be done with Paypal.

[Whac-A-Mole]

When you sign up for the Paypal here card reader,did they tell you they would be withholding 75% of your sales proceeds?

Your past history of using Paypal,is it just selling on venues such as Ebay and what is the average $ per order and per day?

It sounds like Paypal risk model figures you are new with using a new device,accepting payments outside your regular venues and collecting more than your avearage daily take.

There is no way to differentiate if it is the same person using Paypal on your regular venues and the venue where  the card reader is used?

say if I borrow your cardreader and go to a bazaar ,how does Paypal know it is you or me using it? 

[RickMcM]

---

@sumiko wrote:

When you sign up for the Paypal here card reader,did they tell you they would be withholding 75% of your sales proceeds?

Your past history of using Paypal,is it just selling on venues such as Ebay and what is the average $ per order and per day?

It sounds like Paypal risk model figures you are new with using a new device,accepting payments outside your regular venues and collecting more than your avearage daily take.

There is no way to differentiate if it is the same person using Paypal on your regular venues and the venue where  the card reader is used?

say if I borrow your cardreader and go to a bazaar ,how does Paypal know it is you or me using it? 

---

I'm not prepared to divulge my average order or per day value, but I have total eBay sales in excess of $350,000

I have used Paypal for 17 years, and have never had a single chargeback.

The only person who uses the reader, or my Paypal account, is me.

[RickMcM]

---

@sumiko wrote:

When you sign up for the Paypal here card reader,did they tell you they would be withholding 75% of your sales proceeds?

---

I received no such notification - if I had, I wouldn't now be complaining about not knowing about it.

Paypal claim to have sent me an email, but I have received no such message.

[DPCreations]

Square does offer a lot of advantages over PayPal Here, but I don't have experience with transfers to bank; I beieve it is automatic, however.

What I like about Square is the inventory management system; it's better than PayPal's item list without inventory management.  Square also offers a free online store.

PayPal, on the other hand, includes a bar code scanner; I use that.

The deciding factor for me was that PayPal includes a bluetooth print option for receipts with Android system.  Printing receipts was important for our business.  Square only offers a bluetooth printer option with the IOS system; I already was invested in a nice Android tablet.