I took some things to the post office late yesterday to mail (most of the stuff from my first wave of sales a week ago), and tried to use my paypal debit card and could not. Thinking that I might have some fraud, I immediately came home, logged into paypal and found my account frozen. I called them and they told me that there had been unusual activity over the past 10 days, so they froze it. They then made a demand for original invoices for toys sold (to prove I had purchased them!) and a incredible amount of other "verification" info. I checked further and found that this is common when funds flowing into or out of a paypal account exceed $2k in a short amount of time. Now it appears that everything could be frozen for awhile, perhaps even weeks (see http://www.screw-paypal.com/resources/p ... ounts.html). Even though I am an active attorney in CA, this may take considerable time to resolve. I had a similar episode a few months ago after someone hacked my linked checking account. That took 4+ months to resolve. I am so tempted to file a lawsuit today and have it served on their San Jose office before the end of the day, but litigation has its own shortfalls. Even though paypal is so very useful, especially here on skullbrain, and in purchasing toys everywhere, they are still the biggest jackasses when it comes to consumer contact and resolution. Anyone know of any viable alternatives to them?
I'm sorry that happened. Your Topic header reminded me of this site; it may be helpful (if you haven't discovered it already) http://www.paypalsucks.com/ -CR
terrible communication and slow customer service. sound like paypal to me. figs are still shipping out right?
Absolutely. I am contacting a few boardmembers regarding this directly by PM. I did contact a few boardmembers to issue refunds and ask for a check or money order to be sent directly to me -- that will sidetrack partially paypal's freeze. If you have not heard from me by PM already, then you are ok. No boardmember will ever be screwed by me for paypal's odd practices. The buck stops here. I just wish there was some more effective way to buck paypal, if you know what I mean. Thanks for the good words everyone. This is very frustrating to say the least.
I had the same problems with Paypal one year before, it needed 4 month and a lot of faxes to clear the problem. Paypal really sucks!!
This happened to someone else I know. They muled a ton of prints and signed things from SDCC for people and he got screwed. Not to make it seem worse, he never got his money from paypal and is in the act of sueing them. I try to take my money out ASAP cause' that made me paranoid, but usually spend it before I take it out Good luck on this, REALLY blows.
good to hear theyre shipping. bad to hear paypal blows. I would really like to look into another payment method also..
I don't understand how they get away with this stuff ... freezing peoples' funds and then refusing to communicate or do anything for long periods of time. When a bank puts a hold on a credit or debit card due to unusual-appearing activity, all it takes is a quick phone call to clear things up. Given that the credit card companies are even bigger than PayPal, what's their excuse? They make it impossible to get through to a real human being, and if you do via e-mail, all they reply with are template responses that don't address the specific issues. Unacceptable. I also transfer funds out of PayPal ASAP but there's a $500 a month limit on that IIRC. Want all of your money? Tough luck. Seems like it should be illegal. On what basis are they demanding you prove you bought the toys? There is no probable cause to suspect that you're selling stolen goods. They've had enough dealings with issues from the KR board members to know that reselling of vinyl toys is very common, and that PayPal is the de facto means of transferring payments. A simple "this is legit" from the account holder should have been enough to free up the funds.
Check out the link in my first post, above, Dean. They are complete blockheads. I called today and thought I could get better treatment from them by asking for a senior agent. Well, needless to say, I got someone who was tougher than a federal prosecutor, and more fogged than the least helpful dmv clerk. I should not be surprised, because this is my second round with them this year, but previously I kinda believed they shut me down to protect me due to the hack on my bank account. This time, the "offense" seems to be "unusual activity" due to my recent toy sales. Just be careful everyone.
I dont undertand this: If someone pays me with money they illegetimently got from another paypal user, how is that now my problem and I lose the payment and the package sent??? wtf??
The larger problem at this point in time is that there is no alternative, because PayPal is the de facto standard, like eBay. Has anyone used Google Wallet? EDIT: I guess Google Wallet never got rolled out, but weren't they planning some sort of PayPal-like service? ANOTHER EDIT: Seems that it morphed into Google Checkout, which is credit card payments only. Not really a PayPal replacement.
I have not used it before, but I will look into it. Paypal is the perfect example of why competition is good in the marketplace. Paypal need effective competition, then abuses would have to decline.
That totaly sucks ass DYB.. I hope you can resolve it fast.. I know I'd be pissed as all hell bout now and fit to kill some paypal bozos
Unfortunately, a lot of times we don't read the "fine print" and assume we are ok. This is even true among attorneys. PayPal may be within their "rights" and you just never knew what their "rights" were. I don't see a good way around PayPal. It is so pervasive on the internet as a method of payment. I personally have had nothing but good experiences with it, including dispute resolution.
OK, I read most of that page and will read the rest tomorrow when I can concentrate at home, but I've gotta say, I was really surprised (in a bad way) by some of the documented reasons why PayPal might freeze funds. Some are even worse than the reasons Harmond was given, like ... the company doesn't like content on your personal website, you became irate with a PayPal employee on the phone, some blockhead left negative feedback for you at eBay etc. Jeez, even the IRS and various law enforcement agencies have gotten into big trouble for snitty vengeful actions (anyone remember the Texas lady who got audited by the IRS for saying that their agents had tacky big hair? She succeeded in suing for improper harassment.) What makes PayPal less accountable than credit card companies, the IRS, or for that matter the FBI? That "any reason" clause is clearly unfair and clearly enables frivolous actions against customers. Yeah, I breezed right past it when I signed up too, but still I'm amazed that none of the class action lawsuits against PayPal thus far have led to anti-monopolistic government intervention. It wouldn't surprise me if PayPal is careful not to freeze the accounts of Congresspersons.
I used to receive prepaid visa gift cards at work as incentives, usually ranging from $25-100, and would use them via paypal. But one time when i tried to remove ones that had no value to exhange with ones that did, they blocked my account. I had a horrible experience getting it straightend out. Now anytime I need to change any Visa or Bank account info, they freeze my account.....a major pain in the ass. It would be great if they had competition with another company. Their customer service is seriously lacking. Good luck with your issue.
This was a big problem right after hurricane Katrina. Paypal froze accounts that were getting too many donations and demanded shipping addresses. It's really too bad that there isn't a good alternative. Has anyone used bidpay?
I have zero probs with paypal, hell once some dude ripped me off for 2600.00 and paypal made good on it within 10 days of me complaining.
This is how is was for me too for a long time. Never could have imagined the horror stories, or let alone, having any problem with them myself. But when it happens to you for no seeming reason, well, it's frustrating. Nothing like dealing with a credit card company. I got charged $3K on my Amex Card at a bar in Paris in 1996 when I essentially got held up by the "management". I had one drink. When I got back to the US, I just called them, they reversed it and never heard any more. Paypal likes to remind people that they are "agents" for the transfer of money, not a credit card company and their agreement's fine print says that they can "freeze" an account for "any reason" for up to 180 days. Too bad Google Wallet isn't offered yet. I'll probably work it out with them sometime in the next month or 2 or 3 or 4. I just wish they would "protect" me a little less.
Asking for a money order in the meantime really inst a bad alternative-bit of a nuisance but seems reasonable seeing as how peeps know you here and will only delay transactions by a few days-this blows but make some lemonade and get thru it-hope this doesnt happen to anyone else here anytime soon.Best of luck!!
