UPDATE! YEY! >>>>>>>>> PAYPAL CLOSED MY ACCOUNT and won't give me money for 180 days!

sassi · 13 April 2007 at 8:07AM

sorry so long, wanted to give as full a picture as possible in the hope somone can advise me...

PLEASE
Can someone advise me how paypal can do this to me???

I Have been using Paypal to buy and sell on ebay for a year or so.

I have recently become verified, and then sold a larger number of items than usual because i am really struggling to make ends meet at moment. My partner had an Xbox 360 which we sold and we both sold our mobile phones and were going to buy back a cheaper one each.

I also sold several smaller items, such as childrens toys,clothes etc, and i guess there were arond 20 sales in all over a 2 week period. I kept most of the money for the sales in my paypal account, and after withdrawing £150 to put towards my rent it came to £410 left in there.

I tried to withdraw this money last week, and it said my account had been limited, and i had to complete a number of steps to regain my full account status. I could refund buyers or recieve funds but not withdraw while my acc was limited.

I telephoned them enquired as to why my acc was limited, and was told it was considered to be 'potentially high risk or had suspicious activity' :eek: they could not give me any further details, and said 'its just a safety measure, to protect both yourself and others'
Perhaps its to do with the nature of items sold, or links with other accounts.
I do not have any other accounts!

I followed all steps which included sending them a fax of ID and proof of address, Confirming my bank details (again) and providing tracking numbers for 6 random transactions. (one of which was the xbox, and as i couldn't use paypal to purchase a courrier service on ebay, it cost me £19.75 via royal mail special delivery!...i'd only charged £12 the price i usually pay to send via parcel to send on ebay):mad:

Anyway, they recieved information requested, and then yesterday sent me an email saying they had decided not to 'let me appeal against the limitation, and had decided to close my account'

They give me two options for the remainder of my money (£410)

I can either
1) refund my buyers with it (no i can't they have the goods already!)
2) wait 180 days and then paypal will release my funds to me. 6 MONTHS!
:eek:

i TELEPHONED THEM AGAIN TO FIND OUT WHY.
And they couldn't tell me anything more than the email did.

I needed this money, and am in such a muddle. Plus my OH has sold his beloved XBox 360 and will not get money for it for 6 months.

They say the 180 day thing is because buyers may request refunds or there maybe disputes against me.

How can they hold my money? I provided them with the tracking info so they know items were delivered...and ppl have left positive f.back on ebay too.

Things just keep getting worse for me. I have 3 children, and am struggling.
I sell some stuff (some of it was hard to let go too, but needed the money so much)
And for nothing.
I am still struggling. I was expecting the £410 so had allowed for that in my budget for the next few weeks...now i'm truly stuffed.

How can they do this to me. I've been on the phone and could not help crying.

I feel so low now. I was trying not to get behind with things, and feel they've kicked me while i'm down. Surely they'll earn interest on my money over this 6 month period??
Is there anything i can do???

soolin · 13 April 2007 at 8:23AM

I'm sorry I don't know quite what to suggest here.

They obviously 'found' something in their checks that confirmed you are high risk and are following normal bank guidelines to hold money in case of chargeback. I am also concerned as to why you left such a large balance in there anyway, you'll find most people grab their money from paypal as soon as they reach the £50 free withdrawal limit.

Your problem now is to resolve this with paypal as quickly and amicably as possible. In the first instance call them, their number is available on the web site and they are open normal business hours. See if talking to them on the phone helps, if only to explain what they think they have found. See if they will accept further details from you about your identify to unlock your account.

When talking to them though try and be calm. I understand that this is important to you but be careful about playing on emotion too much as that is a favourite scammer trick and you want to make sure they understand that you are just a regular seller, and there is nothing suspicious about you at all.

sassi · 13 April 2007 at 8:33AM

Thank you Soolin .
I was going to withdraw all the money from my sales as i needed it for bills and thought it'd be easier for me to save it if i could see the figure as a single sum.
(yes, i'm not very good with budgeting but am REALLY trying)

I did call them, and there is no further info they will give me. I can't see what they found. Of all the ppl who are not genuine, and who scam ppl, and get away with it, i am left in a muddle, and have as far as i can see done NOTHING to suggest i am a scammer or high risk.

I have not got the best credit history due to getting in a muddle a few years ago with credit card which am still paying off now.

Maybe this is connected? But even so, i can't see why, when have always conducted this acc properly, and was verified.

I need my money! It is afterall MY money! (well actually its for car tax, and other bills i find hard to meet, but now can't) I'm so upset.

Sugar_Coated_Owl · 13 April 2007 at 9:00AM

I'm really sorry to hear about the situation.

If I were you I'd be on the phone to PayPal until I was given a reason as to why the account is being closed.

I don't think your credit history will be taken into account with PayPal.

TMF · 13 April 2007 at 9:29AM

yes you need to demand an explanation here. I know the problem with the paypal satff on the phones they are hard to understand but you need to remain persistant. They put a limit on my account so I could only seel one thing at a time, but after rining them constantly it was sorted.

Paypal do have supervisors in their call centre so ask to speak to one if your not getting answers.

I sympatheize with your situation and hope it gets resolved asap

soolin · 13 April 2007 at 9:30AM

The credit history *might* be a factor. if it is just a debt or something then no it shouldn't matter. However if anything is flagged as a concern, and there are certain things the banks take a dim view of, then yes it might mean paypal will act with extreme caution. However, OP does say paypal account has been open for nearly a year, so it seems odd for it to have happened now, unless it was already flagged by paypal as an account to watch and then something happened to tip them over the edge?

sassi · 13 April 2007 at 9:44AM

What could have flagged it?

I HAVE sold more items of late, than before. 20 give or take a couple in 2 weeks.

The only thing i can think of is the Xbox 360 that sold for 250 with 6 games. this is largest value item i have ever sold on Ebay.

The lady on the phone was really kind, and just said she was really sorry, she didn't see what else she could do, as they had decided to 'deny my appeal and close my account'

I assume from this that they didn't even look at the information i sent them via fax etc, and decided to just close my acc.

Its really frustrating and i feel confused and down, as i haven't done anything wrong. I feel like they're treating me like a criminal, and all i wanted to do was pay my bills!

jordan_gibson · 13 April 2007 at 9:53AM

Sorry I don't have any constructive advice but welcome to the wonderful world of Pay Pal.....muppets!!!!

Moglex · 13 April 2007 at 9:59AM

I can only offer sympathy.

Paypal are such a bunch of muppets it's untrue (except that, sadly, it is true).

Let's hope that the new google payments system shakes things up a bit.

hewlett · 13 April 2007 at 10:03AM

although its hard you must get back on the phone to them and demand to know what the problem is . ask to speak to one of the supervisors and remind them that you are the customer and it is your money , also if they hold the money and get interest on that money i would check to see if you are entitled to get the interest as well, maybe something martin can advise you on ? . just keep going until you get an answer.

frivolous_fay · 13 April 2007 at 10:16AM

This is a horrible thing to happen.

My best suggestion is to persist with the phone calls. In my experience, paypal phone support is reasonably good, but all it takes is to get a few muppets on the line and you're completely disheartened. With luck you'll eventually get one of the helpful people who will give you more of a clue about what's going on.

Good luck!

UPDATE! YEY! >>>>>>>>> PAYPAL CLOSED MY ACCOUNT and won't give me money for 180 days!

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