PayPal Community

You can always try arbitration. Other than that, you're acting at their whim. I would recommend filing complaints with the BBB and the CFPB, as this behavior - while standard for PP - is being legally challenged in many places. ... View more

The 180 days doesn't mean that you'll have the limitation removed (they don't do that), it means you can theoretically withdraw the money. Try to transfer the money to your bank account, if you still have one connected to the account. If that doesn't work, you'll have to try filing complaints until PayPal reluctantly complies. ... View more

A quick search shows that the Better Business Bureau does have organizations in Canada, so you might start there. I'm not sure if it will work as complaints against PayPal are specifically handled by the Silicon Valley branch, but it's worth a shot. As I said, I doubt you'll get your account unlocked as PayPal has a history of never reversing course, but they will respond to any complaint they get and you will at least get a reason as to why you were banned. At this point, the BBB is PayPal's unofficial customer service department (better than the real one), which is probably why they have so many complaints.   I can't give a link since that's against forum rules, but you should be able to find the BBB on your own. ... View more

You aren't the first person to have this experience. PayPal never gives an explanation when they banned someone. Given how quickly it happened for you, my guess is that you were banned through wholly automated processes. I'm not sure who receives complaints about businesses in Canada, but I would file a complaint as soon as you can. You will at least receive an explanation as to what happened; no promises that you'll like it (or that it will be honest), but it's more information than you have right now. ... View more

It's more than incompetence - holding money like this is actually illegal in some countries, which is one reason PayPal is currently the target of so many class action suits. They're also never going to give you an explanation - it took me two years and a half-dozen complaints before they told me anything, and when they lied and claimed that I had sent them fake documents.   In any case, I would strongly recommend filing complaints with the BBB and the CFPB, which is the only thing that animates PayPal to do much of anything for their customers these days. If that doesn't work and they're still holding your money, you might have to try arbitration. ... View more

Sadly, PayPal has a history of letting scammers do whatever they please, though it's rare to see someone get scammed as badly as you have. You absolutely need to stand up for your rights here. File complaints with both the BBB and the CFPB, then follow up every time PayPal responds until you no longer have the option of doing so. PayPal hates it when I tell people to do this and I fully expect to be banned one day, but what other recourse is there when this kind of thing happens over and over again? Each complaint is one step closer to the long-needed investigation of PayPal's practices. ... View more

There are ways to add a bank account, but be warned: You won't be able to remove it afterwards, meaning you'll be at PayPal's tender mercies for at least 10 years. If you're willing to take that risk, then you can try to contact customer service for help, but by now I'm sure that you've realized that they won't do much. The Better Business Bureau is pretty much PayPal's real customer service at that point - if you file a complaint with them, PayPal will respond swiftly and with accurate information. ... View more

Contrary to what the above suggests, PayPal customer service is entirely useless and will not help you. I would recommend filing a complaint with whatever body holds authority over financial service providers, though as you are in the UK I'm not sure whom that would be. ... View more

Unfortunately, that's not going to happen - it may even take you longer if your luck fails you. If you absolutely need to access that money now, you can engage the services of an arbitrator. There are some that specialize in getting money out of frozen PayPal accounts (which really speaks to how widespread the problem is). However, that's probably not going to be worth your time unless it's a very large sum of money. ... View more