Exactly 2-months ago, to the day, my PayPal account was banned. Paypal decided that they were going to hold my $5,000 balance for six-months to cover any possible credit-card chargebacks, and they denied my request(s) to appeal. I finally convinced them to return my $5k balance, I switched to Google-Checkout and things have been going just fine ever since. I proved to myself and to the thousands of people that have read about my ugly PayPal saga here in my blog, that life does go on without PayPal….
…Then today I got a call on the iPhone… and a voicemail at home… and a voicemail on the business number… and an email.. It was a very nice lady from the PayPal Office of Executive Escalations (whaa?!) – She told me that she was contacting me in response to some concerns that I had raised in my blog (hey, PayPal reads my blog! *waves to PayPal*). She explained the “limiting account” process (aka BANNING) a bit, and told me that after further review, Paypal was reversing their decision to “limit” (aka BAN) my account – and all that was necessary to UN-ban and restore my account was to agree-to, and sign the PayPal Acceptable Use Affidavit – basically swearing to abide-by and uphold the PayPal TOS and user-agreement. I signed-in to my PayPal account, clicked on a new link that appeared for me to sign the affidavit, read the rules and user agreement, and digitally signed it – and just like that, I was no longer banned from PayPal. My unappealable, un-reverasable ban had been appealed and reversed.
So I guess this proves a few things: Paypal is not a totally-blind, totally unresponsive organization – they apparently have some processes in place to catch at least some of the mistakes or borderline/salvageable customers. It took a few months, but hey, it worked in my case. Although based on my research and even from what my Executive Escalations lady told me, 99% of banned Pay Pal accounts are NOT reversible – there is still that 1% chance at getting reinstated and it looks like PayPal does try to save that 1% if possible. So if your PayPal account becomes “limited” (banned), AND you didn’t break the rules, don’t give up. Make some noise, call them, email them, and hope and pray that you’re part of that 1%.. If you did break the rules – forget it.. But if you didn’t, or if as in my case, it was ‘borderline’/arguable, don’t give up.
So the question is, will I keep using PayPal now that I’m not banned?
YES… and NO….Maybe…I dunno.. Depends…. For sending money, absolutely – Like it or not, PayPal is the king when it comes to sending money. During the time I was banned, my biggest problem was not being able to send money. I created an ePassporte account to pay for our new logo, and it sucked. So for SENDING money, PayPal will get all of my business.. There really is no other choice. For receiving money? I’m still undecided… Google-Checkout has been working flawlessly for us. GoogleCheckout deposits my funds almost immediately into my bank-account so I don’t have to worry about my funds being “seized” as PayPal did with my $5k, and the GoogleCheckout fraud detection system (so far) seems superior PayPal’s – so for now at least I think we’ll stick with GoogleCheckout – We may use PayPal for members/customers that have issues with GoogleCheckout (we’ve had a few complaints), and if we have enough demand for it, maybe we’ll resume a modified PayPal Premium Membership subscription service like we had before.
For a Tuesday, it wasn’t such a bad day…
Hey Randy, glad the Paypal option is back!
Papal is absolutely crooked. They have stolen, or in thier words, “limited”, thousands of accounts for no just cause and held peoples money indefinitely.
Paypal as a business has had thousands of complaints to Attorney Generals offices throughout America and they have been sued and lost countless times.
After using Paypal for 6 years they finally screwed me and now I will never use them again. Hopefully Google checkout or something similar will destroy Paypal for good!
This kind of thing has been happening a lot recently.
basically if something annoys you about a service…. blogging about it is one of the most effective ways to reverse the problems
Power to the blogger….
I’ve had problems with PayPal in the past.
Someone managed to get into my account and send all my money (about $400) to another account. I did get the money back but it took an age and PayPal were very unhelpful.
Guess it didn’t hurt that your DP friends were linking to your story from their blogs and making sure your article was “seeing the light”
Not to mention the comments some friendly guy left about filing a legal claim against Paypal to recover your funds
Anyway, glad to hear you got your funds released. Now maybe if somebody could help me get Google to stop listing my blog as “Could harm your computer” in the SERPS (even though I’m still #1 for most of my keywords it’s killing my traffic). I know it’s all because I wrote a few truthful yet scathing articles about G!+Adsense and I even engaged M@ttC^tts on his blog but, oh well… Some fights you win, others you lose and even though I am sporting a black eye in round 1, a real fighter can always go the distance !!!
Peace out…
Nice work Randy! Shows that you can even crack the hardest of nuts. I’m having a similar issue right now. Hope it clears out.
I remember it was Sunday morning when I red your (important) story about your encounter with paypal (then another article about going with checkout.google.com and after that the one with positive result afterwards). Initially the story actually disturbed my whole day, and so beyond a bit. Until then I experienced only one minor glitch with them and I thought it’s needed for my own security (which could be so as I logged into my account while being on overseas trip and the account was frozen the next day but I kind of liked it as in a way it felt safe – luckily I payed for your ebook before that day:). I am happy paypal overturned the original decision for you now. I don’t understand why they couldn’t email ahead to you, especially to the business making a good business to them. Obviously not a totally good policy as it seems.
Well because the dealing with paypal is of a great importance to me too, your insight post made me to act and so I had broaden my google account also with Google’s Checkout whilst since to my very nice surprise this precaution made my web site transferring extra money my way. I am not using subscriptions. So there you go, it was one good move for me too. And as they say, “can’t do without a healthy competition” anymore. All the best.
Randy, any following news on this? I just red all of these posts with interest.
Convert said:
nothing else to say really.. They un-banned my account and gave back all my money – but i’ve switched to GoogleCheckout for payment processing at the site, and only use Paypal for occasional purchases.. i just cant find it in myself to trust them with any significant amount of money – you know, after they basically tried screwing me for no reason and all..
I used paypal for years for my other company, Studio One Wellness Center (studio1wellness.com) and now for Tierra. Apparently, massage therapy fell into their Adult AUP violation. We did nothing wrong. Arguing with them about it has produced nothing. I am now looking to work with others screwed by PayPal to start a class action law suit for infringement. If interested, contact me. I am also writing a letter to the state and federal attorney generals offices, and congressional reps. If anyone is an attorney and wants to take this case, let me know!
How to get your money out of your frozen paypal account
I would like to help people who can’t get their money out of PayPal account. First educate yourself about what PayPal is doing by holding your money in a frozen account. Then write a friendly reminder demanding letter to PayPal to let them know that you know your rights, and demand your money without any exception.
Let’s educate ourselves first:
1 – By holding your money in a PayPal account for 180 days, PayPal is manipulating their stock prices. WHY? Think critically….A publicly traded company needs to keep their stock prices as high as possible, so they can get free money from the investors, and stockholders(completely free money). THIS IS A NASTY WALL STREET GAME…If a publicly traded company doesn’t have enough money/asset to keep their Stock prices high, they can try to cheat/manipulate their Financial Statements by either understating their liabilities/expenses OR overstating their asset account.
In this case, PayPal is overstating their Asset account by holding your money, and showing it as a proof to SEC. If your money and thousand of others’ money frozen in different PayPal accounts, money is in present and a proof to SEC, showing they have so much Cash. Thus this will keep their stock prices high, so EBAY’s CEO and other big shots can receive extra hundreds of millions of dollars as a bonus for that period. Do you see their Nasty GAME?
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO STOP THIS NASTY WALL STREET GAME?
You can write a letter to Securities Exchange Commissions(SEC) to let exactly know what they are doing, and how PayPal is stealing your money for 180 days.
This is a VERY BIG CRIME that a Publicly Traded Company can play, and believe me, if you file a complaint to the SEC, the government will go after PayPal for misleading action. Don’t think that SEC will ignore your complaint. Because, it is SEC’s job to investigate these types of cases, to protect the market and the public.
SEC is very sensitive about these Publicly traded companies’ crimes which Manipulates their Financial Statements. If you file a complaint, be confident that SEC will investigate this, and they will have a pressure to change their policies, and will pay FINE.
2 – According to the Federal Anti-Trust law, PayPal CAN NOT hold customers’ money for 180 days without no real reason, unless you were selling illegal drugs, illegal items, or you were scamming your customers. You can file a complaint to your state’s Office of Attorney General, & the NEBRASKA office of Attorney General, and many other states’ office of attorney general that you sold your items.
3 – You can also, send a complaint to your state representatives to let them know how PayPal is screwing your business by holding your money for 180 days. So, if politicians receive complaining, they eventually take action to regulate the market, which PayPal hates to experience.
Now, you know what PayPal hates to see. You sit down and customize my letter for your situation and submit it to below email addresses. It is your earned money and they have no right to hold your money without your permission. You give them only 48 hours to contact you to release your money, otherwise you tell them that you will be taking an action and filing complaint to SEC which is their GOD, and many other states offices of Attorney Generals including your state representatives.
Here is the email addresses that you can send your email for your demanding friendly reminder letter to PayPal:
RDutta@paypal.com; sthompson@paypal.com; account-review@paypal.com; aup@paypal.com; complaint-response@paypal.com; resolutions@paypal.com; escalations@paypal.com; complaints@paypal.com; ; crme@paypal.com; press@paypal.com; exec.relations@ebay.com
Here is my letter, you can customize this letter for your story and send it to above email addresses:
To whom it may concern,
I am respectfully requesting that the hold on my funds/account be lifted. I am requesting my account to be re-opened so, I might close the account without any open issues left behind me with PayPal, as I have already taken my business to your largest competitor and am no longer in need of PayPal’s services.
I have previously requested a review/appeal of my case which was denied on the phone. I will not comply with your requests for further documents, or shipments I have been completed. However because I feel that holding my funds for 180 days for a non-fraudulent violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy is excessive, and perhaps a punitive abuse of power, I will be filing complaints with the following agencies on Monday morning, March 16, 2009 if I am not satisfied with PayPal’s response to this request to release my funds and lift the restriction on my account:
(Agencies in the states that I reside or have a business presence in)
The New Hampshire Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau
33 Capitol Street, Concord, NH 03301
http://www.state.nh.us
Tel: (603) 271-3641
http://doj.nh.gov/victim/index.html
http://www.egov.nh.gov/consumercomplaint/conscomp.pdf
The Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General
Public Inquiry & Assistance Center Hotline,
Consumer Complaints; Attorney General’s Office
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-8400
http://www.mass.gov/Cago/docs/Consum…plaintform.pdf
The Maine Office of the Attorney General
Consumer Protection Division
6 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0006
http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/…?id=27951&an=1
http://www.state.me.us/ag/consumer/c…int_form.shtml
The New York State Office of the Attorney General
Antitrust Bureau
120 Broadway
New York, NY 10271
Phone: (212) 416-8262
Fax: (212) 416-6015
antitrust@oag.state.ny.us
http://www.oag.state.ny.us
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/a…/complaint.pdf
http://www.oag.state.ny.us/bureaus/a…tml#violations
The California State Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General’s Office California Department of Justice Attn: Public Inquiry Unit P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
http://ag.ca.gov/contact/complaint_form.php?cmplt=CL
The Washington State Office of the Attorney General
1125 Washington Street SE
PO Box 40100
Olympia, WA 98504-0100
Tel: (360) 753-6200
https://fortress.wa.gov/atg/formhand…laintForm.aspx
The Florida Office of the Attorney General
Office of Attorney General
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050
To contact Attorney General Bill McCollum please email: ag.mccollum@myfloridalegal.com
Tel: 850-414-3300
http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact\
The Arizona Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Terry Goddard
Office of the Attorney General
1275 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Tel: 602.542.5025
Tel: 800.352.8431
Fax 602.542.4085
http://www.azag.gov/AllComplaints.html
Nebraska Attorney General’s Office
Office of the Attorney General
2115 State Capitol
Lincoln, NE 68509
Tel: (402) 471-2682
http://www.ago.state.ne.us/consumer/…_complaint.htm
Additionally: The United States Federal Reserve (I understand that PayPal does not operate as a “bank” which is precisely
why they may be interested in such complaints)
http://www.federalreserveconsumerhel…nfo.cfm?info=1
The Better Business Bureau:
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/complaintlink.aspx
Additionally: I will send detailed information to my State representatives to stop non-fraudulent violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy which is excessive, and perhaps a punitive abuse of power.
New Hampshire Senate: Shaheen, Jeanne
G55 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-2841
shaheen.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm
New Hampshire Senate: Gregg, Judd
393 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON DC 20510
Tel: (202) 224-3324
gregg.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Contact.cfm…
ADDITIONALLY: I will file my complaint to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to let them know how Pay-Pal/E-Bay holds Millions of dollars in customers’ Pay-Pal accounts by freezing the customers’ accounts/money to show more Assets, Cash Flow, Earnings in their Financial Statements to mislead the Government, Stock Holders, Investors, Bond Holders and its customers. http://files.shareholder.com/downloa…66f/ar2007.pdf
http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/34-38545.htm
http://www.sec.gov/complaint.shtml
All complaints will be filed “online” by Monday morning March 16, 2009 and
written copies will also be sent via certified postal mail.
I understand PayPal’s need for holding funds for credit card chargeback purposes; however a review of my account history will reveal that I have no chargebacks as well as a very high customer-satisfaction rate. I feel that any reasonable person would conclude that restricting my PayPal account for 180 days is freezing my business and might be viewed by some as punitive or as already stated, an unnecessary abuse of power and perhaps even contrary to the laws of most of the states as well as Federal government.
Please be aware that replying with the standard “this is part of the terms of service that you agreed to” will not satisfy my request, or deter me from filing my complaints with the agencies listed above on Monday morning March 16, 2009. It will be up to those agencies to determine if PayPal is operating within the law, abusing power, etc. I am simply seeking a resolution that is fair and in the best interest of both parties.
Thank you for your time in looking into this matter.
Your Name
Your Phone number
By the way, thanks to Randy Brown who had a similar letter in his website, and I improved his letter which helped me to get my money out of PayPal frozen account.
hello
i am in the UK & my girlfriend has had her paypal account limited with her balance withheld, now she has been using paypal for a few years now & is no criminal but paypal are making it sound like she is! the amount is only £300 to £400 but i don’t think she should lose out of her money & i am going to try to help her with this. Any tips & advice would be welcome.
does anyone have copies of letters they prepared for the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau etc. that they would be willing to share?
uhuh, and how much did they pay you to write this?
Clearly you didn’t read this or the other Paypal related posts. Otherwise you would see that pretty much everyone here hates Paypal.
Just found these posts after googling to see if anyone had had the same problem I’d had. I’m not a business, just a regular chap selling stuff from the attic on eBay. I’ve had the account for 4 years, used it regularly, 93 100%+ feedback on eBay all good. Then bam! Account limited, please provide a mass of evidence – which I did then – then, please pay an outstanding balance on a previous account – oh dear. I asked for the breakdown of what was owed and when as this was from 6 years ago, told me a Direct Debit bounced… I apologised and paid but a few days later my account hadn’t reactivated as promised. I phoned them and was told, ‘oh sorry your account has been reviewed and we don’t want your business’ I couldn’t beleive it. Logged into eBay, account also suspended. I just couldn’t believe it, I can’t even buy anything now, and dare not set another account up. I tried explaining that the old account used an email address from my previous work that I lost access and so didn’t think it mattered setting up a new account plus it was so long ago… I just can’t believe they are so quick to throw customers away, and so unwilling to listen to reason! I’ve no choice but to use eBid now which seems no where near as popular…