help paypal closed my acc won't release my money for 180 days!

sassi

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???

deanos

https://www.paypalsucks.com seems they do what they like

peterbaker

Contact the Financial Ombudsman Service.

PayPal are a disgraceful outfit but they are scared stiff of the Ombudsman.

You can send initial complaint by email to the Ombudsman and they will write quite fast to PayPal.

You have to follow up your email complaint to the Ombudsman with a signed complaint form, but by then you might find that Paypal (running scared) will have unstuck your money in some way.

PayPal are a disgraceful outfit.

Oh I already said that, didn't I?

It's still true.

soolin

This is a duplicate of a thread already running on the ebay board if anyone is interested to see how the discussion progresses.