PayPal has hijacked the balance on my account, with no resolution in sight - Please help

[Temp20230206]

I've been a PayPal member since 2002 & after spending hours on the phone, dealing with numerous people my worst fear has been realized, PayPal has effectively hijacked, seemingly indefinitely, the balance currently showing on my account & there appears to be little I can do about this.

I have been fed 5 completely different / conflicting reasons as to why I am not able to access these funds. 

Everything from:

1. The seller & transaction has been flagged. Please note: the eBay seller in question has been around since 2017 & has a perfect 100% feedback score. Furthermore, I tried to complete half a dozen other purchases on eBay (different eBay sellers located in different countries, each selling different products - ranging from a motorcycle manual, a postcard, a vintage railway sign, you name it) and in each instance I was denied access to the balance showing on my PayPal account. 
2. The amount of the purchase does not precisely correspond with the balance on my PayPal account. Please note: one eBay representative (unbelievably) said that I had to perfectly match the eBay item purchase amount with the balance showing on my account, which I later on did & I was STILL denied access to my money. 
3. My Amex Platinum card has been red flagged/denied. Please note: I currently have a $962.49 balance showing on my Amex card, not a penny is overdue, I always pay well before the due date & I am nowhere near my credit limit (the Amex Platinum card having no actual limit). Furthermore; while I was on the phone with this PayPal representative, to test his absurd theory I successfully completed another eBay purchase through PayPal with the card that this individual said had been red flagged, only for this person to later on change his story to my card being red-flagged: “on a case by case basis.”
4. eBay doesn't allow for multiple payment sources (i.e. PayPal balance, bank, credit card). Please note: when I matched the eBay item purchase amount to the balance showing on my PayPal account, thereby eliminating the need for a multiple payment source arrangement, I was STILL denied access to these funds.
5. I've made too many purchases as of late. Please note: I've made 5 purchase in the past 2 months, well down from previous months/yrs.

One of the last PayPal managers I spoke with, when I asked this person when I would be able to access the balance on my account, this individual said (& I quote): “No one will be able to say when you will be able to use these funds on another purchase." 

I then asked this person: could it conceivably take a year to resolve this - and this person again responded that they could not provide any timeline.

I have done nothing to deserve this treatment. I have never violated any of either eBay or PayPal’s rules and when I was on the phone with one of the supervisors I asked this person if there was anything I had done wrong, anything I had done to deserve this and this person responded with: no.

I closed off one of my conversations with a PayPal representative where I asked the individual in question: Has PayPal made my life easier?” And this person responded with: “Well no, we haven’t.” Seemingly, this person found nothing wrong with this state of affairs, being completely undisturbed by this. 

A this point I trust nothing I am told by PayPal representatives & have removed the Amex card from my account (due to fear of what PayPal might do with it), so all that remains is the balance. One PayPal representative, when I asked to close my account, repeatedly said that I should just donate the amount to charity. When I asked this person to donate the same amount to charity they said they didn't want to do this (to which I responded: "Well now you know how I feel."). The representative told me that PayPal does not cut cheques to Canadians & the only way I can gain access to my money is to provide a bank account number, which based on this experience I would sooner cut both my own legs off than risk this with a company like PayPal.

So what do I do now? And how on earth can a company like PayPal get away with essentially hijacking people's monetary assets. 

[sharpiemarker]

@Temp20230206 

I wonder if this problem is attributable to not having a verified PayPal account and the multiple incomplete checkouts can’t be good either putting PayPal internal security system on high alert. You’ll have to pull back on account use/log in for about a week thereabouts so security can cool down/reset. Basically leave the account alone to rest for now. Then verify your PayPal account. Wait a few days before trying to make a purchase again. Don’t pressure or force the system. If you get an error message once, pull back for a hew hrs or a few days to try again, once. Don’t keep repeating failed actions.

https://www.paypal.com/ca/smarthelp/article/paypal's-account-verification-process-faq44

https://www.paypal.com/ca/smarthelp/article/verified-account-status-faq1219

If you are still unable to use the balance after all that, withdraw it.

If you have a PayPal balance, you may withdraw it by:

• Transferring it via a standard transfer to a bank account linked to your PayPal account; or
• Transferring it via an Instant Transfer using an eligible debit card linked to your PayPal account, subject to the fees applicable to such transfers that can be found on the Fees for Transferring Balance (for personal accounts) page and the Fees for Transferring Balance (for business accounts) page. The applicable fees will be disclosed to you in advance each time you initiate such a withdrawal. If your debit card is eligible to receive withdrawals from your PayPal account, you will be provided the option to use it when you transfer money out of your PayPal balance. Eligible debit cards include Visa debit cards that participate in Instant Transfers.

To protect PayPal and their users from loss, they may delay a withdrawal in certain situations, including if they need to confirm that you have authorized the withdrawal or if other payments to your PayPal account have been subject to a reversal (for example, as a result of a chargeback, bank reversal or dispute by a buyer). If PayPal place a limitation on your PayPal account, a payment is subject to a hold, or your account or an associated account has a negative balance in any currency while a withdrawal from your PayPal account is pending, you will have to reinitiate the withdrawal once the limitation or hold has been lifted, or the negative balance is fully paid off.

PayPal may set limits on your withdrawals, and you can view any withdrawal limit by logging into your PayPal account. Completing the following steps can help PayPal verify your PayPal account, which may allow them to remove any withdrawal cap:

• Verifying your bank account; and
• Linking and confirming your credit card or Visa debit card information.

[Temp20230206]

Thank-you very much for your response. What is infuriating is the fact that (as I mentioned) I have been fed totally false information by numerous PayPal representatives, I have essentially been lied to & I cannot fathom how any company can conduct itself in this manner. This is also not the only occasion when this has happened, years ago a similar event occurred (at the time a PayPal manager admitted that I had been told utter nonsense) - which turned me off PayPal to a point now where I would never trust this company again with my actual banking information.

You might well be right, the question is: why am I not hearing this from PayPal and why would their system attack & inconvenience a legitimate, by-the-rules buyer who has never violated any policy & why are human beings, senior representatives at PayPal so helpless in regards to fixing this intolerable state of affairs. One PayPal representative actually said: "the system runs itself & there is nothing we can do."

This, in my opinion, along with all the misinformation, is the hallmark of an awful company. 

P.S. On second thought, if your theory was correct, why then would PayPal continue to allow me to purchase via my Amex Card. If what you said was true my entire account would have been frozen, not just the cash balance. Either way I am finished with PayPal. NEVER AGAIN

[Gary191]

HI IT TOOK SOME LOOKING BUT I FOUND THE PRESIDENT OF EBAY EMAIL ADDRESS SENT HIM A MESSAGE EXPLAINED THE PROBLEM HE GAVE IT TO HIS STAFF AND FUNNY WITH SOME HORSE POWER PROBLEM FIXED