Payment on hold for "government regulations"

robotbacon
Contributor
Contributor

In all of my years with PayPal, I've never seen this message on a payment :

"We've temporarily put this payment on hold while we verify that it complies with regulatory requirements. We'll contact you about this within 24-72 hours. To learn more, see PayPal goods or services regulations." (The link is dead in both this message and the email.)
A different message was in the payment email:

"To comply with government regulations, PayPal is required to review certain transactions. This payment is currently being reviewed and we will complete this process within 72 hours. This review only involves this transaction and does not affect the use of your PayPal account for other transactions."

The payment is for $10 worth of common action figures; I don't have any disputes with anyone and I file my taxes. Buyer is one state away from me, and we're bot verified. I've been on PayPal for many years and even have a PP debit card. Has anyone else ever seen this message? Is it about ME, or is it about the person who paid me? Very confused right now.

If anyone else has faced this, can you tell me what it's all about?

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77 REPLIES 77

Sherri2
Contributor
Contributor

All I bought were 3 nail polishes.  Names were The Fire Eater, The Magician And Fortune Teller.  Also, the online store does a polish launch and these are only available for about 2 days.  There were literally hundreds of women ordering these same polishes during those 2 days.  

Whatever you do, don’t try to pay the seller again if your hold times out.  If PayPal security doesn’t review your payment within 72 hours, they refund you.  I tried to pay again when I got refunded and the payment again got put on hold.  Took over 5 days.  

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law11
Contributor
Contributor

The only "odd words" in the item I purchased were cork and victory. It is a fricking antique canning jar. The problem is probably the word victory in the description of the item being sold.

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temp20171121
Contributor
Contributor

The same thing just happened to me, I made an order from an anime distributor that had Chaika the Coffin Princess Season 2 just like above and it flagged me. Does Paypal actually think... I'm trying to buy... a coffin? I don't have 3 days either as an item was also limited in stock... Annoying. Not making the mistake of using Paypal next time.

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temp20171121
Contributor
Contributor

And now they reversed the payment... I guess blu-ray discs are against government regulations now?

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les55
New Community Member

Happened to me today. Not sure why the purchase of a Frank Sinatra vinyl disc would trigger something like this.

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pitzicat
Contributor
Contributor

I just sold a plain blouse  with a Baroque  print on Etsy with no bizarre words in the title and now the payment is pending until they check this out ?! This is getting crazy.

 

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authenticamus
Contributor
Contributor

We sell t-shirts and have had two payments flagged in this manner in the last few days. This thread alerted me to it being related to the product sold. Sure enough, both people bought the same FSM (flying spaghetti monster) Resist t-shirt. They are the only orders of that shirt paid for using PayPal since we introduced the shirt.

One of the orders was from a customer who had placed two other orders that very same day (for shipping reasons), also using PayPal. Those went through fine. 

Our shirts are anti-Trump, very political. So now I’m wondering if that’s why they’re under review, by the freaking government. What the … ?

I am really unsure how to proceed. I guess I now simply have to wait for the 72 hours to be up, which will happen in the wee hours overnight tonight. For now I have placed a hold on the orders, which will delay their arrival. 

I have a lot of questions about this practice. This is not the end of this issue, for us.

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authenticamus
Contributor
Contributor

Did a little digging and found out that FSM also stands for Foundation Secours Mondial. From Wikipedia:

“The Global Relief Foundation (GRF), also known as Foundation Secours Mondial (FSM), was an Islamic charity based in Bridgeview, Illinois, until it was raided and shut down on December 14, 2001, and listed among the "Designated Charities and Potential Fundraising Front Organizations for Foreign Terrorist Organizations" by the United States Treasury Department in 2002. According to the US Treasury, “The Global Relief Foundation (GRF) … and its officers and directors have connections to, and have provided support for and assistance to, Osama bin Laden (OBL), al Qaeda, and other known terrorist groups.[1] It was one of the few organizations registered with the Taliban.[2]”

So it looks like we’ll be changing our product listing. No idea what will come of the two items already sold. 

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Sherri2
Contributor
Contributor

When they put the hold pending review on my purchase, they ended up refunding me because it timed out.  They didn’t get to it before 72 hours.  I immediately paid the seller (someone I’ve bought Cosmetics stuff from just about every month for a year along with about 600 other people) via F & F.  That was sent for review too.  Explanation customer service gave was that the computer must have recognized I was trying to send the money to the same person.  Which I was and the amount was exactly the same.  The names on mine were The Fortune Teller, The Magician, The Fire Easter, and Pier Reviewed.  I don’t think those are weird names.  So make sure and wait for the money before mailing the product. 

I saw a comic con with the stars and producer and director of the show Person Of Interest.  Someone asked why they picked the theme of the show being a computer tracking us all via cel phones, internet, etc. The producer or director answered “so when the government does it, we will get royalties.”  This was before the NSA spying thing too.  Apparently the show is more factual than I thought.  Lol. 

Being as I voted for Trump, I guess I won’t be buying a t-shirt you sell. 😂😂😂😂

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lildedgrl
New Community Member

I just had this problem when trying to purchase a gift card from Open Table.  IS going out to eat at a restaurant a threat?

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