Dang. paypal really is the devil

While out of town I got a notice from paypal that they needed some information for a security issues & my account was limited. They wanted proof of delivery on some ebay items, no problem. They also wanted copies of my purchase invoices - some quaifes I sent to australia (no problem), but also for a 1954 Johnson outboard thats been @ our cabin for years. anyway, send it everything I can find.

Get this email back today:

Hello Pro Motors,

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response. For assistance, log in to your PayPal account and click the Help link in the top right corner of any PayPal page.

Now, I've got a good chunk of money in my paypal account (I do 5-10K / month in ebay / paypal sales), they're going to hold it for 180(!) freaking days.

Man WTF.

Did you have these conversations with a human, through mail, or via email?

Set up a 'faux' buyer's account and refund the balance of your paypal account to it?

Sounds like someone got pissed off at you for something.

They've been doing shady things with my debit card. I'm pretty much going to money order only. I've pretty much stopped using ebay all together.

I have never had a problem with PayPal, but then again I don't have a commercial account. I also 'insulate' it from my checking account by using a savings account.

Ah, the random acts of Paypal. They once locked up my account for a month because I sent money to my wife (as I did every month) and that once, we both used the same computer...

I would call them and inquire about their escalation/complaints process as holding money that doesn't belong to them without giving any reason. For the sort of money I expect you have in your account, it might be worth raising a stink.

What helped me was that UK Paypal is regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK, so I asked for a copy of their dispute resolution policy so I could follow that before taking my case before the FSA ombudsman (which would have cost Paypal money). Magically, they "reviewed" my account and released the funds before I got a copy of said policy...

It does look like they're regulated by someone here in the US, but a quick Google didn't show who this is...

I've only had one problem with Paypal and it was a few years ago. I sold a Jag to some chuckleheads in Ohio who paid me through Paypal, funds were cleared and in my account and then after they picked up the car the funds vanished and Paypal couldn't explain it. No record of payment to me, no confirmation of cleared funds to me ( a page I failed to print out ), and no record of the funds leaving my account.

I got boned for 1453.00.....

Hell, now you've got me nervous. I just sold and shipped a $3k instrument. If that money vanishes before it hits my bank account...well, I have an address in Houston and some time on my hands. I suppose I can always 'investigate' on my own.

Scammers like that use places like Mailboxes ETC.

mith612 wrote: Set up a 'faux' buyer's account and refund the balance of your paypal account to it?

Any reason this wouldn't work? Sounds like a good idea to me.

I've also never had an issue with paypal, but hearing tales like yours makes me nervous, too. I've emptied my paypal account, now, (after a few accumulated ebay sales.)

alex wrote: Hell, now you've got me nervous. I just sold and shipped a $3k instrument. If that money vanishes before it hits my bank account...well, I have an address in Houston and some time on my hands. I suppose I can always 'investigate' on my own.

don't care what the amount, i don't ship until the money has cleared into my checking account. yeah i'll get the occasional person wondering if i'm for real, but i haven't gotten screwed over selling yet...

Get a human at the phone at Paypal. You won't get anywhere otherwise.

They don't elaborate on "security issues"? What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

I dont know what the story is, but I just got the notice last night & they are pretty hard to get on the phone. they had a pretty good automated system to let me upload files, provide documentation, etc

I was actually one of the (few) people who found paypal handy & didnt mind the fees. The convenience far outweighed any fee (IMO)

Anyway, a phone call is next...

KJ

when they do finally release the money, do they have to pay interest on it? because you know that they are earning interest on it the whole time they hold it..

Derick Freese wrote: Scammers like that use places like Mailboxes ETC.

Thanks, so do honest guys like me.

In reply to Trans_Maro:

What I was getting at is that if he "pays them a visit," he might end up at a place like that and still not be able to do anything about the loss.

Y'all do know that PayPal is owned by eBay, right?

PayPal isn't considered a "bank" in the eyes of the US, so it doesn't need to meet the security criteria that a "bank" does here in the states.

Basically, never, ever link your primary checking with PayPal and never keep funds there if you can avoid it. If you sell something, as soon as the money comes in, transfer it to the account you have linked to PayPal.

Quickly transferring the money, makes it harder for it to disappear since PayPal would have to work with the institute you transferred the money to.

With every paypal transaction a tesla gets its wings!

I've gotten similar emails that were phishing attempts. I forwarded the email to spoof@paypal.com. I received an email back from paypal each time confirming that it was a phishing email. There was 1 time that specific transactions were in the original email and paypal was never able to explain how that information leaked out of their system.

When I was younger I tried to delete my paypal account. I forgot password and ended up just locking the account through wrong password attempts and leaving it at that.

Years later I was re-motivated to get my credit card out of their system. Called them up and explained. They said no problem. Fax over a copy of my social security card and birth certificate and they would sort it right out.

wait, WHAT? Paypal, you do no even know my social security (I hope) in the first place, what are you going to check against? To get them to have LESS information on me I am expected to send it some of the most private documents possible? berkeley that.

I told them "Look. I have a credit card in my hand... remove the number from your system. I don't need any info, or to have anything verified... Take down the number, don't even tell me if its in the system... just delete it if it is."

Nope, they can't do that.... Send in my social security information or their is no way to get my info removed. They saved my credit card info with out my approval, so no way am I gonna give them anything like a birth certificate or social. My credit card is STILL locked to a closed account I can't access...

Makes the choice to boycott very very easy. berkeley paypal, they are indeed the devil.

In reply to Don49:

I've heard from people that use pp so infrequently that they just shut it down until they need to use it, then delete again that they only got phishing pp emails when they had an active account. Delete the account and no more phishing emails...

I wonder why no one has come up with an alternative to PayPal.

In reply to RedS13Coupe:

It may be a hassle if you've got a lot of autopay stuff attached to that number, but you can call up your credit card company and request a new CC number. I've done that before when I've lost a card that I knew wasn't stolen, just wanted to make sure if I wasn't the one who found it, that it stayed safe.

Paypal has been evil for years. With the dollar amounts you are doing you should be able to find a real credit card processor and be rid of paypal