PayPal 180 day hold

Sm4llville

Hi
I’m sure this has been addressed many times on this forum and others online..
After my experience with my personal account that was limited and funds confirmed for the 180 day hold, I thought I’d share my story that may possibly help anyone in a similar situation to mine

I sell online for over 10 years, excellent customer service and standing within the trading platform..PayPal account for 10yrs as well

Last week 6th December I logged on and received an email that my PayPal account was permanently limited and funds could be held up to 180 day.. I was informed that I breached PayPal’s acceptable use policy, which is vague
I called immediately and was told that I’ve been selling a prohibited item, hence the reason for PayPal limitation, asked to submit documents to support my case which I did immediately
Called in again and was told it would be reviewed in order that cases came in which could be weeks...I lodged an appeal online with supporting documents on the 6th December, 7th December received an email that my appeal was denied and limitation upheld ( no mention of my documents uploaded )
As this was all of my money for my business to survive, I called again and got through to Paul who explained he was the 1 in between myself and the brand risk back office so i figured here’s my chance to plead my case but this guy was having none of even though I mentioned that my mortgage, car finance, bills were all due but this heartless chap, condescending attitude, in his exact words” it doesn’t matter what you say, what you send in, who you speak to, NOTHING will make a difference..
Anyway I still called in everyday but was denied a proper explanation and nothing will change so spent hrs searching online to find that this happens to many..got a few leads and emailed PayPal USA ( still not had a reply ) I then emailed the BBB “Better Business Bureau in the USA on the 8th December, received an email yesterday the 13th December stating that after reviewing my case they assigned a case no and will send a letter to PayPal which has until the 11th January 2020 to respond, failing a response they would persue after which gave me some sort of hope
Still not content I browsed online again and found an email from another forum which I figured I’d try
So I copied and pasted my email appeal from the 6th, uploaded documents, invoices, attached pics of the item stating my case, email sent 12th December to executive escalations department PayPal...
Today 13th December I’ve been busy making arrangements with all creditors to pay minimum each month until I can get back in my feet...
This evening 13th December opened up email to see a reply from PayPal’s executive escalations department, secure message which I had to forward to another email ( strange ) then received a link to open, register, then received a link to access with password to view secure message
Stated that it must have been stressful ( NO KIDDING ) basically mentioned PayPal’s acceptable use policy as well
She then mentioned :T:T:T:T:T that after reviewing the evidence I submitted she has lifted the limitation on my account, funds available and account fully restored
I couldn’t believe what I was reading, so i had to make sure, then logged on, funds are available but still sceptical I tried transferring some to my account and it was successfully completed

If this has happened to you then I hope my story gives you some sort of hope and never give up until you’ve exhausted all of your avenues

I’m no expert but I do not let things lie if I know I haven’t done my best and possibly help any1 in a similar situation, please email me if need be

I’m over the moon..

[Deleted User]

But what prompted all this in the first place? What "prohibited item" were you selling?

Sm4llville

It’s not a prohibited item, a simple fast effective drug authentication kit no different than Cocaine, amphetamine drug testing kit
This is a simple steroid identification kit

[Deleted User]

Sm4llville wrote: »

It’s not a prohibited item, a simple fast effective drug authentication kit no different than Cocaine, amphetamine drug testing kit
This is a simple steroid identification kit

Well, your original post left out that information...

garth549

My advice to anyone using Paypal is to always transfer the funds to your bank account on a very regular basis. I've heard literally hundreds of horror stories similar to this going back nearly 20 years.

They can (and do) block your account for processing a single stolen credit card or anything they determine to be 'unusual activity'

Never keep more in there than you can afford to lose.

Sm4llville

It was a hard lesson learned indeed as the stress off having all of my money in there almost took its toll
A few sleepless nights but I never gave up!

xlnc99

nice story - what was the list of emails you sent to paypal. I would like to do this too as ive had a blocked account for years for no reason.

Sm4llville

Did they state a reason for the action they had take, it should be in the initial email from them
My email was direct to PayPal executive escalations department clearly pointing out with all the proof I had pertaining to the items I was selling

xlnc99

Its been a long time and i cant remember what happened. I remember chasing them up after but as you mentioned it was pointless. Robotic answers on email and phone saying nothing they could do and not going into detail. If you have an email address that worked for you then maybe i can try emailing and speaking to someone with common sense. I gave up last time

Sm4llville

xlnc99 wrote: »

Its been a long time and i cant remember what happened. I remember chasing them up after but as you mentioned it was pointless. Robotic answers on email and phone saying nothing they could do and not going into detail. If you have an email address that worked for you then maybe i can try emailing and speaking to someone with common sense. I gave up last time

No problem
ppelce@paypal.co.uk