PayPal Permanently Limited my account - Without Warning

xtekkit
Contributor
Contributor

I have been selling digital goods on my account for about 18 months now. The items are for use on my various websites and everything has been running smoothly. Customers are happy, there are of course the occasional refund as with any business and confused customer. However, I am also careful to make sure all complaints are handled and most of the time things are sorted out in less than 48 hours.

 

Today I wake up to find that my account has essentially be locked. I can not take payment or remove the $3000 sat in my account.

 

Calling PayPal I was told that I would have to email PayPal in order to find out what is happening and why and I could not be transferred to the department that would be handling the issue.

 

This is the message I received:
549744d1ecf61758d1ace6a42cb804ae

 

When I click the notification it cycles me back around to the same warning message.

 

Needless to say, I am rather annoyed.

 

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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@xtekkit

 

Sadly there is nothing you can do, that is a permanent ban message as paypal no longer want your business.

 


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kernowlass
Esteemed Advisor
Esteemed Advisor

@xtekkit

 

Sadly there is nothing you can do, that is a permanent ban message as paypal no longer want your business.

 


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

Ok, so a little update on my situation. I have been a doing a little research and it turns out that Paypal can ban (permanently limit) your account as and when they feel like it, but it is essentially a full ban and they are highly unlikely to remove the ban. However, hold funds for any longer than 10 days is actually illegal in many states, but needless to say, Paypal seems to willingly ignore the law in favor of profiting from held funds. And just last year a class action lawsuit won in favor of the people and Paypal was fined $4million - https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/306260-paypal-account-hold-class-...

 

This means that with a little bit of pressure in the right direction, the funds should be unlocked in a timely fashion. Failure do so with an email shot off to the right authority will result in another fine for Paypal. With that in mind, I sent the following letter to as many high ranking Paypal employees as I could find emails for:

Spoiler

I am respectfully requesting that the hold on my funds/account be lifted. I am not necessarily requesting that my account is re-opened or allowed to continue to use the PayPal service, as I have already taken my business to your largest competitor and I am no longer in need of PayPal’s services.

I have previously requested a review/appeal of my case which was denied.  Although I still disagree with the decision to deny my appeal I will abide by it – however because I feel that holding my funds for 180 days for a non-fraudulent violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy is excessive, and perhaps a punitive abuse of power.

In light of the recent class action lawsuit: Zepeda v. PayPal Inc., Case No. 5:10-cv-02500 SBA, I will be filing complaints with the appropriate agencies on Friday morning, December 7th, 2018 if I am not satisfied with PayPal’s response to this request to release my funds:

I understand PayPal’s need for holding funds for credit card chargeback purposes, however, a review of my account history for the last year will reveal a very low chargeback rate as well as a very high customer satisfaction rate. I feel that any reasonable person would conclude that holding my entire balance for 180 days is excessive and may be viewed by some as punitive or as already stated, an unnecessary abuse of power and perhaps even contrary to the law. That being said I have no problem with and agree to leave a balance of $200 for credit card chargeback purposes for the duration of the 180 days. I feel that this is a fair resolution while still leaving PayPal with the means to charge back any future credit card disputes to my account.

Please be aware that replying with the standard “this is part of the terms of service that you agreed to” will not satisfy my request, or deter me from filing my complaints on the morning of Friday, December 7th. It will be up to those agencies to determine if PayPal is operating within the law, abusing power, etc. I am simply seeking a resolution that is fair and in the best interest of both parties.

Thank you for your time again in looking into this matter.

Case PP-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx

And now I wait 🙂

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shoganshipping
Contributor
Contributor

Hi Did you have any luck? I have just had mine limited too!

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D00chala
Member
Member

Here people are having the same issues. I think its time we reach out to the UNITED STATED ATTORNEY GENERAL since this falls under consumer protection laws. 

theres so many ways to collect your money from clients and sales without using paypal so its “banning”  at will is not the issues.  Its the holding money for merchandise after we’ve  sold and shipped it. Its essentially theft! 

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Matt160
Contributor
Contributor
They did the same thing to me without warning did nothing to cause this and they couldn’t even tell me the reason just that there’s nothing they can do
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kristimalushi1
Contributor
Contributor
Hi! Please let me know if you got your money held back after the 180 days?
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Junegray510
Contributor
Contributor
Me too. I've had my account for years I don't know why. The only thing I can think of is that my very last transaction was from this weirdo on Facebook who kept trying to get me to Snapchat him. He sent me $10 but the link he put please Queen answer it's your slave. Needless to say I'm going to be very upset if I just permanently lost my PayPal account over that.
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EastCanyonDiva
New Community Member

So I recently had the same issue and I'm actually on the phone with customer service now and APPARENTLY its because my wifi was using a VPN and/or proxy and that's strictly prohibited as stated in the Terms of Use. I had no idea my wifi was automatically doing it so I'm hoping & praying that they will overturn this decision🤞🏼. I'll let you know if I have any luck and what steps I took to do so. 

**GOOD LUCK TO ANYONE DEALING WITH THIS SAME ISSUE ✌🏼👍🏼

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Rinous
Contributor
Contributor

My friend was at school with me, and he was trying to order doordash so he had gone on a vpn because our school has doordash blocked and we tried ordering something but it didnt work, I am so confused and I hope this can be fixed.

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