PayPal PayPal.com EBay EBay.com PayPal & eBay security system is only a distress for genuine users San Jose California
I am a partner in a legally registered import-export company. Our company conducts a part of our business through eBay and PayPal. We have eBay Store and use other paid services of eBay, also the attached PayPal account is verified. We have already submitted all the required documents to PayPal including our Company's 'Certificate of Incorporation' and 'Telephone Bills' etc.
We have 100% positive reputation on eBay through over 150 feed backs. I also have another set of eBay and PayPal account for personal use, which is also very old(over 7 years old) with 100% positive feedback.
But still we faced this weired problem with eBay and PayPal. Few days ago paypal limited our company's paypal account for no valid reason and asked for various documents(address proof, dealer information etc.) for verification, which we provided immediately. Mean while company's eBay account and my personal eBay accounts were also suspended. After few days wait and some attempts we received email from PayPal stating that : They are "not comfortable with the amount of risk your business exposes itself to." and they "would like to begin the process of ending our relationship in a manner
that is least disruptive to your business."
The disbursement options they provided are:
1. Your remaining account balance can be used to provide refunds to your buyers (if applicable).
If you choose to provide refunds to your buyers, please provide a list of transaction IDs for the buyers that you would like to refund.
OR
2. Your remaining funds will be held in your PayPal account for 180 days from the date your account was limited. After 180 days, you will be notified via email about how to receive your remaining funds.
Now, we've already shipped the items to the buyers(we tend to ship the items within 24 hours of the payment), So we can not refund the money. Now, the only option for us is to wait 6 moths(?) for our honestly earned money. Not only that we have to bear the debt for 6 moths on the items we sold and shipped, as there is no other option to get the money from PayPal before that.
On top of that, our eBay accounts are lost. We received the following conned response from the eBay support representative:
"I've looked at our records and see that your account was suspended because you owned or are associated with previously suspended eBay accounts.
We have reviewed your appeal and decided that your account will remain suspended. Our decision is based on evidence in our records as well as any additional information you may have provided.
At this point, we will not accept any additional appeals or requests for more information. Although we will read emails you send us in the future, we may not respond."
Now, PayPal has our hard earned money(hopefully for 6 months), also they have restricted our access to our eBay accounts and they would not even listen to our appeal. :(
This is really frustrating, the scamers easily con people on eBay and run away with the money. And the genuine users like us loose access there hard earned money and also the online reputation for no obvious reason. I think this is how PayPal compensates for there own loss. They get the money from honest people, when they lose it to the fraudsters.
Shobhit
Lucknow
India
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2 Updates & Rebuttals
Larry
Phoenix,Arizona,
U.S.A.
More explanation
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, May 21, 2008
Several other sellers have reported similar situations with eBay and Paypal on RipOff Report. In those cases, they were casual sellers who suddenly offered big-ticket items. One offered tickets to the Superbowl and another offered over a dozen brand new Iphones. You have not indicated what you sell or if there has been a change in what you normally sell.
Both the Superbowl tickets and the Iphones are expensive items that are sometimes counterfeited. A person could sell thousand of dollars worth of these things on eBay, collect the money through Paypal, and then disappear. When the buyer makes a claim for a refund, eBay has to make good on the loss to the credit card company. eBay, therefore, is placed at risk when a seller offers high-priced items that could be counterfeit.
I can only speculate that you offered something for sale that was high-priced and possibly counterfeit. It would help if you told the whole story.
These kinds of problems are not limited to eBay. Several years ago my wife tried to get signed up with a credit card processor so she could accept plastic for her personal chef service. The minute she disclosed that her average sale was $350 the discussion ended. The card processor would have to make good if one of my wife's clients filed a dispute and they did not want the risk. There is also a report somewhere on ROR from the owner of a moving company whose client paid $8000 on a credit card. The processor was going to hold that money for six months to ensure that the processor did not have to eat it if there was a dispute filed.
Tryingtohelpifican
Bellevue,Nebraska,
U.S.A.
This won't fix situation but it may give you some understanding!
#3UPDATE Employee
Wed, May 21, 2008
I understand it is very frustrating when this sort of thing happens! I don't know the specifics of why you were limited so I will not comment on that except to say they don't cut ties with you unless there is past troubles, user has bad credit, or you are closely linked to someone in you company who has negative accounts with them...things like this cause them to send you the parting ways email & I don't see it very often b/c, trust me, they want your business. Either, I have speculated too much b/c I don't know your situation.
However, I can explain the 180 days. PP doesn't want to hold your funds that long. They will give you every penny back(MINUS any open claims against you). They do not keep it or recoup any of their costs from dealing with you.
It is very simple. If you want to blame someone then blame the CC companies & thieves. CC companies give consumers up to 180 days to file a charge back claim against any CC purchase they make. When an account is shut down, funds are held for 180 days simply because so many that are shut down do not ship mdse & do not issue refunds. In many cases, by the time the risk is detected & the account is shut down, the damage is done & not enough funds are left in account to cover charge backs filed against user. The 180 is how long they CC have given your customers to file a claim against you so PP the funds for that many days. On the 181st you can exit your funds without any issues. In the meantime, if it is a large amount of funds & you were signed up for the PP money market account you will accrue interest until the day you w/d the funds. Again, I hope I helped more then confused you! Take care MAO