Account Limitations: What You Need to Know

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PayPal Employee
PayPal Employee

 

Keeping your business and customers safer

To ensure PayPal remains a safer place for enabling payments, we regularly review all accounts. Sometimes, limitations may be placed on your PayPal account, which could restrict you from completing certain actions: such as withdrawing, spending, or receiving money. Limitations are in place to help protect all our customers, and in some cases to meet our regulatory obligations. Protecting your account and money is important to us.

 

Account Limitations: What might cause it, and how to help avoid it?

If your PayPal account is limited, you may be unable to withdraw, send or receive money. There are a number of reasons why your account could be limited:

 

Suspicious & unusual activity

  • We suspect someone could be using your account without your knowledge.
  • Your bank alerts us that someone has used your credit/debit card linked to your account without your permission.
  • There are unexpected changes to your selling activities such as a sudden increase in your typical sales volume.

In such cases, we do what it takes to protect you from potential fraud prompted by the unusual activity– through limiting your account, and investigating.

 

You can safeguard your personal information and help protect yourself against fraud through some simple measures.  For example, don’t enter your personal or financial details when describing items for sale or in response to emails, and log out of sites you’ve entered your personal information into.

 

Regulatory reasons or business is not compliant

Your account could be limited for regulatory reasons. For example, India PayPal sellers need to include additional information to be able to accept payments in their account. Also, reaching a certain transaction value in your account may trigger a limit, which can also be removed by providing information required to PayPal.

 

There are also restrictions on what a PayPal account can be used to accept (and make) payments for. For example, PayPal doesn't allow the sale of counterfeit goods or banned items. So, ensure that your business is compliant with PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy .


Increased buyer issues

An increase of complaints, claims and chargebacks from buyers can lead to account limitations.

 

Following some simple guidelines can help you improve your performance and reduce the likelihood of limitations. Overall, communication is key. You should:

  • Provide detailed product descriptions and photos.
  • Be upfront about policies such as shipping and returns.
  • Ship orders promptly and track shipments.
  • Respond quickly to any messages from buyers.
  • Work to amicably resolve any problems.
  • Ship to the address provided in the transaction details page.
  • Use quality shipping materials to prevent damage.

 

Removing limitations

 If your PayPal account is limited, here’s what happens:

  1. We’ll email you to let you know –  we’ll ask you to log in to your PayPal account and go to the Resolution Centre for details on how to resolve the issue quickly, usually by providing information.
  2. Once you’ve submitted the information required, we’ll review and reply via email.
  3. We’ll remove the limitations once we have verified your account. At times, limitations can be removed by simply changing your security questions and password.

Here are the types of information and documents we may need from you:

- Supplier’s invoice with contact information

This helps us determine the inventory source and validate that you have the items that you’re selling in stock.

 

- Payment information

When an invoice is unavailable, we’ll review the following information about your payments:

  • The item or service that was sold
  • The buyer’s name and shipping address
  • Proof of shipment to verify that an order was delivered

- Shipping or Tracking information

This helps us to verify that customer orders are being fulfilled.

 

- Proof of business
This provides evidence of a valid business registration and business ownership.

 

- Information for India sellers
This is to comply with our India regulatory obligations. Provide a valid PAN, a local bank account and the purpose code in your PayPal account task board.

 

- Proof of address such as bank statement or utility bill, Proof of identity such as passport or driver’s license
This helps us verify your identity when there is unusual account activity or to comply with regulations.

 

Once you’ve submitted your information, look out for any more emails from us as we may need additional details. We’ll do our best to confirm your information and remove the limitation within 2 business days, but sometimes it can take a little longer.

 

Quick Tip: If your PayPal account is limited, don’t open a new account. It could be traced back to the limited account.  It’s always best to resolve the limitation. We will guide you through it and restore full access to your PayPal account as quickly as possible.

 

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1,050 REPLIES 1,050

Bibobello
Contributor
Contributor
@PayPal_Mark my account has been limited without a single reason you cited. No notification before the account limitation, and have been calling and emailing for 4 days to know if you need any information from me and telling you that you are putting my life at risk by holding all my savings when I need to make payments for rent, school, food and I am about to lose all of these. I have absolutely 0 answer from PayPal and not a single human interaction over the phone ! This is a shame and abuse of power! I need my limitation to be lifted immediately.
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Slimpj
Contributor
Contributor
My account too..but it seems that paypal Don't mind my identification. After i submit my identity card 1day after it said that i have to do that again..until now almost 1 week..again and again
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Bibobello
Contributor
Contributor
@PayPal_Mark My friend who lives next to me just had the same issue, account limit at ion for no reason ! I filed a complaint on the BBB website yesterday and my friend is filing a complaint now! We are going to sue them and gather a maximum of reviews from users in the same situation!
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kofataman
Contributor
Contributor

My account is limited around 2 weeks, may be more.

I sent the information in the same day but still under review. One time one agent said will take 3-5 days, but 2-3 weeks have passed since then.

Very strange for me.

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notconstant
Contributor
Contributor

@PayPal_Mark Can someone let us know what's going on? This is class suit stuff!

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YveClark
Contributor
Contributor
There are so many of us. Something has gone very wrong somewhere
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tgrd
Contributor
Contributor
Yep I agree. They held my money hostage for 8 months now and it’s not just chump change (1.1k). It looks like someone at PayPal is getting ready to sink the ship
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TerryTibbs2000
Contributor
Contributor

My account was partially limited and I supplied requested documents.  Afterwards I got fully limited for selling something that is frequently fake.  Mine were not fake.  I had happy customers and I could have provided the receipts if they had been requested.  My account is twenty years old and I have never had an unfulfilled customer. After messaging and trying facebook, I called and after a three hour wait got to speak to someone unhelpful who just said that paypal would not do business with me.  There was nothing I did wrong and not having paypal affects my ability to use ebay and other services that I have enjoyed for the past twenty years.  

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BigRedRaymee
Contributor
Contributor

After 18 years of using my PayPal account with no issues, today I am surprised to find that I can't use it at all for some unexplained "significant changes to my account activity" reason. Links in the resolution centre tell me to upload details of a blank transaction (do they think I am psychic?) and some fulfilment thing that doesn't even work when I click on it. 

 

I need to put money on my Son's school dinner account so he can eat tomorrow, they don't accept cash and PayPal is my only option. Thanks PayPal, a little boy will have to go hungry tomorrow because of your incompetence, and I'd say he's not the only one.

 

 

 

 

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elmalloc
Contributor
Contributor

Am I the only one stupid enough to have uploaded my driver's license? Damn, this spells legal trouble if something happens lol.

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