Burning Man Temple account frozen!

[Deadsouls]

I am disappointed that PayPal has frozen the Burning Man Temple account, preventing them from accessing the donations people have made for this art. Many people at Burning Man go to the Temple to say their goodbyes and leave wishes/momentos for their loved ones. This event is only a few weeks away and this action will upset 30,000+ people who will be attending. I will be boycotting PayPal and informing all my friends until this situation changes for the better.

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/08/10/paypal-freezes-finances-burning-mans-temple-crew

[RenRamp]

Dude, WTF Paypal? Freezing the funds raised by numerous fund raising events and such, and saying it's because it's of it's inability to prove it's non-profit status (thanks to the government) is a joke. What I love, is  that you didn't wait to take the 3% fee from them so that you could make your money. You just froze theirs. And right before the major construction takes place! They've only been your client for god knows how long.

And I thought the founder of PayPal is a burner. What the **bleep** is happening to this company. If this doesn't change very soon I, and a very large group of people will cancel PayPal, and do our business through other avenues.

Josh Hayes

[momgotchat]

Paypal don't care.  They are a revolving door.  They have as many people coming in that don't know how paypal works to theive their money, as many as people leaving that has had their money theived by Paypal.

I think it's a shame that paypal even take a percentage of charity money!  Charities should get 100% of their donations.

[surplusdealdude]

Paypal does not take a percentage of legitimate charities receipts.

There may have been a problem with the legitimacy of this donation site.

[Towhead]

This is going to be a pretty bad PR mess for Paypal.   I suggest you explain why you're holding all this money everyone donated and why you can't work out a temporary solution until the non-profit status is resolved.

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/08/10/paypal-freezes-finances-burning-mans-temple-crew

I'm a business owner and we've been evaluating paypal vs other payment solutions, and I have to say that I really don't want to spend money with you guys unless I get some reasonable explanation.

[mizchvus]

This is such bull**bleep**, do they know how much money travels through them to purchase costumes, tickets, clothing, art supplies from people who attend burning man.  I am canceling my account.

[revblasted]

Paypal, I have been a loyal customer since the begining. I am shocked to hear at the 11 7/8 hour you have frozen these funds. Please use your considerable clout to ask for a temporary permit to allow these funds release prior to the completed and filed paperwork being processed. You have a voice in this and can try and help. Please help.

[Amanda411]

Hi All,

Welcome to the PayPal Community!

There has been an update to this situation here: http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/08/11/paypal-releases-burning-man-temple-funds

And as it says in the article "Because of PayPal's privacy policies, we can't go into more detail on that.” But speaking generally about their policies toward groups with pending nonprofit status, he said, “We encourage nonprofits to get 501c3 certification because we are under certain regulations and we have to report that back, but I can't go into more details than that.”

Amanda

[Corvus]

Notifying the IRS is one thing, Miss Amanda; freezing the account is quite something else.  If an account raises suspicions, the *last* thing you want to do is tip off the account holder.  Report to the appropriate authorities and and act as if everything is normal while the investigation takes place.

[surplusdealdude]

And meanwhile, a fraudulent account holder withdraws the money and runs.

Paypal has rules to follow - they're set out by the US government and there's no wiggle room.

If the certificate is missing thery're NOT ALLOWED to collect money - period.