Serious PayPal Limited Account Issue

[Shmee150]

I have a very big problem, and this is going to need somebody who's been in a similar situation to help with. But please do so if you can.

The situation starts that I am a personal eBay seller, buying and selling for myself mainly, often for close family, and sometimes for friends.

So on eBay I'm selling things as always, although in this particular week I sell my own laptop for £825, and buy one for £590, as well as a mixture of other items bought/sold totalling approx £250. The payments for these items all appear to have gone through totalling £1700 - then bang; an e-mail arrives saying PayPal account limited. This means that things I have bought totally about £750, the sellers want either the items back or the money paid by another method. Nearly all of this (including the laptop) are for people not in immediate family and hence do not want to pay again, and want to keep the items. This means I have to magic up another £750, but on top of this I am down £950 myself, which further complicating matters I owe to my parents.

Now consider that I'm short of £1700 and don't have a PayPal account by which to receive money for things that I do sell, so bigger problems. And just for reference, I'm a student who hasn't got a single penny spare, let alone £1700 that can just appear from nowhere.

So stuck in this position I followed the instructions sent to me, sent int the required details to PayPal, telling everyone that it would be ok shortly and honestly expecting that they would unfreeze my account in a few weeks and all would be good again. But alas, the send the confirmation that they've received my details, and the next e-mail from them says:



We have reviewed your PayPal Account, and due to the excessive risk involved, we would like to begin parting ways in a manner that is least disruptive to your business.

Please reply to this email by logging in to your PayPal account and filling out the Limited Account Access web form to facilitate the disbursement of any funds remaining in your PayPal account. You can locate the web form by typing the following in your browser: https://www.paypal.com/emailus, choosing the topic "Limited Account Access," clicking "Continue," and writing your instructions in the message box.

Disbursement can be handled in one of two ways:

1. Your remaining account balance can be used to provide refunds to your buyers (if applicable).

OR

2. Your remaining account balance 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 with information on how to receive your remaining funds.

If you choose to provide refunds to your customers, please log in to your account and contact us with a list of transaction IDs for the buyers that you would like to refund.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department



So now you can imagine I'm like **** etc... as I watch my life flash before my eyes. I found the number for them and they are just utterly useless, they don't tell you anything and certainly won't give me a reason for the closure of my account; just that there is "too much risk involved" and won't give me anybody important to speak to.

So what I am appealing for is please please please anybody who can help me out in this situation, and advise, personal experience etc... that may help me through this situation.

Thank you very much for your time,

Tim

[ctid]

Wow that sucks. I suggest reading www.paypalsucks.com. If you go onto the forums, people have posted about their experiences. Maybe someone on there has had the same situation as you.

[MD]

the account was limited, but what happened to the money you have paid people, did they withdraw that back too?

the buyers/sellers should be covered, but this is why you should never keep a large amount of money in your account online, I would write them a fax, and send it to them, they have to review it, you should be able t get the cover sheet for it from the page that shows the dispute against you.

matt.

[Dav0s]

havent got a suggestion, just wanted to say sorry .

paypal really do suck, i just hope you get it sorted buddy

[Shmee150]

Sabriel; thanks for the link will look into that now.

Matt D; Yes unfortunately PayPal have pulled back the money from people I have paid it to, so neither of myself or the sellers have access to it - so either I need to pay again or send the items back; both of which are going to be difficult! I have sent an e-mail via the system which they say they will read and am hoping they will be a little more helpful; what I would love is to actually speak to somebody more important and find out what the reason might be.


My advice to myself and others; you CANNOT trust paypal, as you see just when everything's going smoothly, bang and then ur life can go into turmoil. I am rapidly opening accounts with other companies, so far Nochex and PPPay, what others are advised? And is there anyway to an individual such as myself to be able to take credit/debit cards direct without too much costs?

Thanks,

Tim

[Kumagoro]

I dont quite get whats going on.

How are you down money?

[javalord]

Get in touch with the FSA. Then they'll sort things out. Typical paypal.

[Spud1]

I've never really had problems with paypal, and use them for almost all my ebay transactions...but anyway with respect to other solutions...

Getting a merchent account just isn't going to happen. a) you will be very lucky to find a bank to give you one as a student, and b) it's going to cost you a fortune.

If you want to recieve payments directly Worldpay are a reasonable choice (look at http://www.worldpay.com/emea/sme/dat...ds_worlddirect)

stormpay, e-gold, nochex, fastpay, pppay, ccbill (famous for a certain type of website, but they do processing for other things too..),

just a few names for you there that might help, good luck is all i can say really.

[5lab]

i would explain things to your sellers and give them your address to make them feel safe. give them a phone number to contact you on, and tell them that as soon as you get the money off paypal you will be sending it on.

next, email paypal, ask why you're being shut down and why the money has been withdrawn. my guess is they think the bank will start refusing the cash.. putting them at risk. ask what the limit is to avoid this happening, and tell them to send the money back to the sellers.

[david126047]

i have bid on a product and wone it and i want to buy it but have a limited acount

[schmunk]

i have bid on a product and wone it and i want to buy it but have a limited acount

Pay by a method other than PayPal?

Stop dredging up old threads?

[SiM]

Just outta interest, what happened to Shmee150?

[moogle]

Just outta interest, what happened to Shmee150?

same..
i got all interested reading through it then for schmunk to make me realize it's been bumped.

[pauldarkside]

same..
i got all interested reading through it then for schmunk to make me realize it's been bumped.

Yep, me too! I doubt the OP is still waiting for his PayPal account to be sorted 20 odd months later

[muddyfox470]

Call them to sort out the problem you will need to talk to some senior member of staff to rectify the situation to ensure the transactions are genuine.

Regards

Ian

[ikonia]

paypal can put blocks on transactions for weak reasonas, but paypal don't close accounts and wish to distance themselves from people for no-reasons.

Is there something your not telling us, paypal wouldn't close your account with no notification or reason....unless they have a reason.