Hello,

I would like to publish problems I have with pay pal accounts to avoid other webmaster to have same problems with them.
I own quite big hosting company operate on EU and US markets - we burn total about 450Mbps in peak times.

We have EU business account confirmed for our EU part, unconfirmed US account for US part where we waiting for new account activation and my personal account - confirmed.

We accept US customer payments on our US pay pal account, account was restricted when some webmaster had a problems and cancel payment to us. There is about +$10.000 balance now without possibility to take it out - we do not have bank account active still at this time.

I spoke with Damon from pay pal posting this forum too and he gave me a contact to person who will help me. After 40 minutes phone conversation and explanation of situation he closed for al types of payments our US account, we can not accept payment at all now, it was last week.
Today I received restriction notice that rest of our accounts and my personal one were restricted too because I broke rules - one account per person.

Problem is that people around pay pal has no idea about what the corporate business is.
I own and operate companies and I have personal account, that's why I have more accounts on my name - I am a responsible contact - and I broke a rule by this !

All requested papers were sent out and they require them again and again because they can not find this or that.
Accounts are still disabled I can not operate even my own personal one.

When I wanted to send them all paper of our US company i.e. article of incorporation etc, they required phone and electricity bill on my name ! Why bills on my name not on the company name? And if I will be unable to provide this I have to move to international one because I live outside US.

I live in Europe, Europe is not only in one country but it is a union too. Pay pal do not know it.
I live in one EU country and operate business in another one and they still require my name on bills on each location - so why is required my name instead of business name ?

I am really tired of this, when we will have our US account ready with direct merchant futures we will start it immediately.

Last notice: If you sell service using pay pal you are not protected against charge backs. I asked the person on the phone when I will have signed contract from customer, card copy and drive license copy etc if they will keep payment instead of charge it back and they will not !

Let me know if you will have any comments.

Regards
Peter

Originally posted by westmaster
...There is about +$10.000 balance now without possibility to take it out

I don't believe that PayPal is so naive as to require all these papers that they know you can not produce. Apparently you are getting the runaround and they hope that since you are outside the US you'll give up and they get your $10k.

This seems to be a recurring theme with PayPal, any jerk can do a chargeback and wham! your account is on hold and you have to prove that you are not a thieve.

One thing is for sure though, with all the recent problems of Instabill, PayPal putting accounts on hold, Revecom having problems with their systems, etc. it looks like third-party billing is not a sustainable business model and it will not be around for very long.

Of course, this is great for consumers and legitimate businesses who have merchant accounts since the fly-by-night outfits and one-man home-run shows that depend on third-party billing will dissapear.

Of course, this is great for consumers and legitimate businesses who have merchant accounts since the fly-by-night outfits and one-man home-run shows that depend on third-party billing will dissapear.
What about the legitimate businesses who use third-party billing, though?

Originally posted by XnHost

What about the legitimate businesses who use third-party billing, though?

They'll just have to mature and get a merchant account

Originally posted by brav0


They'll just have to mature and get a merchant account

I totally agree with you. I admit I used a 3rd party billing company and really disliked it but I had no other means when I started my business two years ago.

I always felt that having to have my customers use a 3rd party seemed lame and it showed my business as not being strong enough to be able to get and maintain my own merchant account.

I even posted a message in the advertising forum and got ripped about the way I worded my advertisment. I didn't mean to start anything, but having your own merchant account is a selling tool.

I am not sure where your case currently sits. I will do an additional follow-up with our account management team. The issues began with the multiple accounts, as well as the inability to provide the requested documentation.

Thank you for your patience.

After all the problems I've heard about paypal, revecom and instabil, we bit the bullet and got a real merchant account.

Total cost - $195
$100 for used Zon330 teminal $95 for reprogramming to work on processors network. $14 a month plus processing fees. No lease, no contract, no hold backs. We get our money in 2 biz days. visa, mc, amex, disc and dinersclub.

Paypals always seemed too, umm, amatureish to me. No offence meant. Just seems more geared towards the e-bay crowd, rather than traditional biz.

Originally posted by Kaith Sutai-Rustaz
After all the problems I've heard about paypal, revecom and instabil, we bit the bullet and got a real merchant account.

Total cost - $195
$100 for used Zon330 teminal $95 for reprogramming to work on processors network. $14 a month plus processing fees. No lease, no contract, no hold backs. We get our money in 2 biz days. visa, mc, amex, disc and dinersclub.

Paypals always seemed too, umm, amatureish to me. No offence meant. Just seems more geared towards the e-bay crowd, rather than traditional biz.

MY SAME EXACT FEELINGS!

I got my own also.

But others seem to disagree with me about a 3rd party making your business look unprofessional, mind helping me out?

<<MOD EDIT:>>
I don't care what reason you might have, you may *not* link to your threads in the advertising forum. That is *not* the proper place to discuss the merits of merchant accounts verses 3rd party processors anyway...
<</MOD EDIT>>

Originally posted by brav0


They'll just have to mature and get a merchant account :eek2: Are you talking the business; or the person??:eek:

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
:eek2: Are you talking the business; or the person??:eek:

I think he was talking about both.

Originally posted by ljprevo


I think he was talking about both. Then I think I'm offended :mad:
But, I should reserve any further statement 'till I hear from him I suppose.

Sorry for staying off topic.

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
:eek2: Are you talking the business; or the person??:eek:

Business.

I think you make these meaningless posts just to raise your post count. Hardly ever any of your posts contain anything of substance.

I think you make these meaningless posts just to raise your post count. Hardly ever any of your posts contain anything of substance.
I think he does

that

too!
For shame!

:D :D :D :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:

Originally posted by Kaith Sutai-Rustaz
After all the problems I've heard about paypal, revecom and instabil, we bit the bullet and got a real merchant account.

Total cost - $195
$100 for used Zon330 teminal $95 for reprogramming to work on processors network. $14 a month plus processing fees. No lease, no contract, no hold backs. We get our money in 2 biz days. visa, mc, amex, disc and dinersclub.

Paypals always seemed too, umm, amatureish to me. No offence meant. Just seems more geared towards the e-bay crowd, rather than traditional biz.

Who did you get the used equpment from? WHat merchant processor are you using?

Originally posted by multipleimage


Who did you get the used equpment from? WHat merchant processor are you using?

Yea, no doubt. That is a good price. I would like the URL also for when I get my merchant account.

-Kyle

where I can get a merchant account if I leave out of US...

You might want to see if your country is on the list of countries PayPal supports withdrawals to.

I think xinganlia is looking for something that's *not* in the paypal world of billing.

Take a look at Planet Payment and SFCommerce. Both support international merchants. WorldPay is another option but I've always felt it's much like Revecom. I'll be happy to be put right on that though...

Greg Moore

Originally posted by paypaldamon
I am not sure where your case currently sits. I will do an additional follow-up with our account management team. The issues began with the multiple accounts, as well as the inability to provide the requested documentation.

Thank you for your patience.

Today i heared another secarry story about paypal.com. The guy from one fery reuptable hosting directory ( i don't want to disclose there name) told me that paypal.com ripped off there account and took $2000 and never returned them.

Now this is really making me secarry of what about my balance accumlating at paypal.com ?.

dear paypaldamon can you tell me, Suppose if something mess up with your company, what documents will be required then. Since i am from india i can not do much in this regards.

for me, paypal.com service is good until today but these stories are scarring me. :( :stan: :crap:

Thats a pretty cool site, sorry damon! :D I mean no offence to you, or anything, I just like reading all of the information to make sure I would like to keep my account with you.

-Kyle

P.S.- How many people work for PayPal?

I am aware of those sites. Please bear in mind that anyone can throw up a web site for any company---the information contained within the sites may not be entirely accurate (some of the people complaining about the service have been parties engaged in fraud,etc). I could post negative information about any company, but it doesn't mean that it is true.

PayPal has over 10 million user and 600 employees. I am the party that comes to the web to look for valid customer issues (to make sure they are resolved).

Account restrictions are extremely rare---they can also be cleared up relatively quickly with the proper documentation requested (most restrictions occur because there is incorrect contact information).


I can point to numerous forums where the company is discussed in favorable terms.

Mahinder,

Can you have that party contact me? I would like to verify the story and take action on it.

Originally posted by paypaldamon
I am aware of those sites. Please bear in mind that anyone can throw up a web site for any company---the information contained within the sites may not be entirely accurate (some of the people complaining about the service have been parties engaged in fraud,etc). I could post negative information about any company, but it doesn't mean that it is true.

PayPal has over 10 million user and 600 employees. I am the party that comes to the web to look for valid customer issues (to make sure they are resolved).

Account restrictions are extremely rare---they can also be cleared up relatively quickly with the proper documentation requested (most restrictions occur because there is incorrect contact information).


I can point to numerous forums where the company is discussed in favorable terms.

Mahinder,

Can you have that party contact me? I would like to verify the story and take action on it.

dear paypaldamon,

i have contacted the deceive party and can not disclose it without there permission. however i have directed him with this link so that he can contact you personally over here.

Until paypaldamon is on this form and i follow paypal.com guidelines and policy i don't think i need to bother much about my account with paypal but when i see these scary stories i get tension. after all this is my hard earned money.
:cartman:

paypaldamon, you are asset for paypal. :spiny:

Thank you for the kind words. I appreciate your taking the time to direct the customer my way, as I would like to make sure it is resolved.

I'd just like to say I have been a Paypal member for quite some time now, and really haven't any problems with it.

I was starting to get a little worried having read all the negative publicity, but seeing Damon posting on this board makes me a lot more comfortable.

I have a question though Damon. When I first signed up, I used my real name, and verified the account. Then, just to test the system I opened a couple of other accounts in John Doe type names (didn't verify them of course) and just sent a couple of dollars back and forth to familiarize myself with the system before I used it properly.

Of course I haven't used my "test names" in a year or two, but was I in breach of TOS doing this, and do I risk having my "real" account frozen or terminated? If so, how do I rectify the problem so I am in no danger of this happening.

At present I only really use Paypal for when friends and family owe me money, but was going to use it as an option on a new site of mine. However, I am very worried about reports of accounts being frozen due to a chargeback. Can you confirm or refute this is the policy? If it is, I'd rather just keep PayPal as a "personal" thing rather than risk someone charging back a payment (which is bound to happen eventually) and being unable to use my account.

I know there's a lot of mis-information about your company out there, and you are doing a lot to help put the balance right, so we must thank you for that.

I am still out of the office, but I can answer the questions here..




I was starting to get a little worried having read all the negative publicity, but seeing Damon posting on this board makes me a lot more comfortable.

I have a question though Damon. When I first signed up, I used my real name, and verified the account. Then, just to test the system I opened a couple of other accounts in John Doe type names (didn't verify them of course) and just sent a couple of dollars back and forth to familiarize myself with the system before I used it properly.

(We do screen accounts, and review our system integrity, on a fairly regular basis. I would recommending closing the additional accounts. You can do this under the account PROFILE after you log in)

Of course I haven't used my "test names" in a year or two, but was I in breach of TOS doing this, and do I risk having my "real" account frozen or terminated? If so, how do I rectify the problem so I am in no danger of this happening.

At present I only really use Paypal for when friends and family owe me money, but was going to use it as an option on a new site of mine. However, I am very worried about reports of accounts being frozen due to a chargeback. Can you confirm or refute this is the policy? If it is, I'd rather just keep PayPal as a "personal" thing rather than risk someone charging back a payment (which is bound to happen eventually) and being unable to use my account.

(Account restrictions are rare and they are not likely to occur over one chargeback. This is why I advise users to follow the Seller Protection Policy. Users that have an outstanding liability for a chargeback could face an account restriction. Restricted accounts can still receive money, but they are limited in their ability to take the money out (until the situation is resolved).)


I know there's a lot of mis-information about your company out there, and you are doing a lot to help put the balance right, so we must thank you for that.

(Thanks...it can be trickly, but it is well worth the effort. I enjoy interacting with our users and I like to make sure outstanding issues are resolved to the fullest extent possible)

Please excuse the grammar/typos above...I am still kind of frazzled this week.

Hi Damon.

Thank you for replying. Your advice is most appreciated. I'll have to try and remember my login names for those toher accounts and close them. Haven't used them for aaages.

Sure if you have $10,000 hanging around, you can afford better than PayPal. But I don't have $10,000.

1. My plan was to use PayPal and not keep a large balance, in case of a freeze. It's easy to withdraw your money, isn't it?

(Sure I will lose business in a freeze, but so far I don't have any business. When I get some business, then maybe I'll get a merchant account.)

2. Someone please give me the URL for that place where I can get a merchant account for $200 startup plus $15 monthly. Sure, plus $150 monthly billing fee or something like that.;)

Or maybe like those pirates at http://ibill.com --no fees but 10-15% on every transaction. This should not be legal.

PayPal locked our account with no reason. I guessed some of our customers might use a stolen credit card. This was our assumption from what we heard from other PayPal users. I tried to ask PayPal for the reasons but they've never given us a reason. They kept using the email template replying to us and they'd never given a reason why the account was locked. We are willing to provide them all the details we have but they just keep asking us to fax in the documents. So, we fax our bank statement and the driver license. They replied and told me that the address is not in San Francisco and the driver license was expired. That's right I'm no longer living in the US and I don't have those info for them. I tried to explain and they still keep sending the reply in the template format asking us to fax again. Phone support? If you called them you will find that the person who picked up the call cannot help. Their jobs is to get more people to sign up. The person who picked up the call just told me to email. And the loop started. Email and fax, fax and email. No one wanted to talk with me as a human. It’s just like the communication between machine and machine. One said, “Give me a fax” and another one said, “I already sent a fax.” So I gave up.

I don't understand if they are serious in doing business why they don't even give any reason why the account was locked. It seemed to me that they could do whatever they want to take our money. At least I need an explanation why the account was locked. At least if it's the reason of the stolen credit card, I can track down and know who used the stolen card to buy service from us. I don't know how many people have given up in trying to get the account re-activate. You can imagine how much money PayPal can make from just simply lock the accounts. They would be happy because they took our $2000. Maybe they forgot that it’s not their money.

:angry:

Can you please send me your account email address (damon@paypal.com or through PM)? I would like to have this escalated.

I did notice that you have Bangkok listed as the place of business in your profile. This is not an area we service, so I have a feeling that could be causing the problem.

Thank you for your patience.

paypaldamon,
Thanks for your fast reply. I really hope you can help. That will totally change our attitude about PayPal. The email is marketing@hostsearch.com

Originally posted by HostSearch
paypaldamon,
Thanks for your fast reply. I really hope you can help. That will totally change our attitude about PayPal. The email is marketing@hostsearch.com

what happen. do any one have any update on hostsearch issue. ?

:(

Our account is in restricted mode and we cannot get out of it. We have a bank account in San Francisco, but our mailing address is in Thailand. Can someone from PayPal help? Still cannot do anything with that $2xxx.xx amount. :confused:

According to the notes, a check was issued for the balance in the account because you were unable to provide documentation to clear up the issue.

(deleted)

PaypalDamon,
It seems whenever someone has a complaint and contacts your company all PayPal ever does is send out template responses and run people in circles, not really dealing with the issues. It's not until someone comes to a public forum such as this to complain that issues are "escalated". This I find very suspicious.

Please bear in mind that customer service handles thousands of contacts daily. At times, the information provided by the customer service team in a templated response is correct, but the information is not understood by the customer. There are also times that misinformation is presented based on the customer question----

I also advised what the issue was with the above case. I come to the forums to get closure on issues that may not have been resolved, as well as to clarify any questions on policy.

Originally posted by ljprevo


I totally agree with you. I admit I used a 3rd party billing company and really disliked it but I had no other means when I started my business two years ago.

I always felt that having to have my customers use a 3rd party seemed lame and it showed my business as not being strong enough to be able to get and maintain my own merchant account.

I even posted a message in the advertising forum and got ripped about the way I worded my advertisment. I didn't mean to start anything, but having your own merchant account is a selling tool.

So you're saying "I used them to get established but now that I am established I hope they go away so only "real" businesses can do business".

It's nice to know how long people's memories are, here you were USING 3rd party billers 2 years ago and now you're a "reputable" business and don't use the 3rd parties and want no one else up and coming to use them either.

I'm quite happy paying the $.35 per transaction and 2.9% paypal charges. But now that I do enough business to make it viable I'm shopping for merchant's accounts.

Originally posted by Dixiesys


So you're saying "I used them to get established but now that I am established I hope they go away so only "real" businesses can do business".

It's nice to know how long people's memories are, here you were USING 3rd party billers 2 years ago and now you're a "reputable" business and don't use the 3rd parties and want no one else up and coming to use them either.

I'm quite happy paying the $.35 per transaction and 2.9% paypal charges. But now that I do enough business to make it viable I'm shopping for merchant's accounts.

Show me anywhere in that message where I said

"I Wish they would go away so only real businesses can do business"

And where did I mention that "If a company uses a 3rd party billing company they are not reputable."

Also I never said I didn't want anyone else to use them.

Seems like you have a problem here with assumption.

I think 3rd party billing companies are great for start up's, but if your business grows, and you can move into your own merchant account, you should seriously consider it.

Originally posted by ljprevo
. . . . .Show me anywhere in that message where I said . . . .
. . . . .I always felt that having to have my customers use a 3rd party seemed lame and it showed my business as not being strong enough. . . . . .


Maybe that's not what you meant; or even what he's talking about.
Maybe it's some spillover from the Advertising thread you elluded to.

paypaldamon,

First, thanks for your help. We can log on to our account. The status was changed from "Locked" to "Restricted"

I just found out that our $2,xxx.xx was now gone!

Check Withdrawal from PayPal ID. #5LC39675RM431343L

Amount
$-2,380.28

Date Time Status
Oct 26, 2001 09:45:32 Completed

Did this mean PayPal send the check out? I just wondered where do you send the check to? We are no longer at the address in PayPal record (as I posted earlier).

Now it seemed like that $2,380.28 was gone forever. Can you cancel the check and put the money into our bank account instead?

Just wonder why there isn't any single email notify us that there's a withdrawal from our account in October. That's a lot of money.

The check would have been directed to the address we had on file.

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue

. . . . .I always felt that having to have my customers use a 3rd party seemed lame and it showed my business as not being strong enough. . . . . .


Maybe that's not what you meant; or even what he's talking about.
Maybe it's some spillover from the Advertising thread you elluded to.

You're on target, that is basically what I was talking about. It just seemed like "it was OK for me to use it while I got my legs in the business but now that I'm established I think 3rd party billing is unprofessional and businesses that use it are slated for failure" or something like that.

Enough harsh words on that matter, everyone needs to drink a beer and calm down :D

:beer:

i see nothing wrong with using a 3rd party billing company , but i must agree that paypal is getting a bad rep, from alot of people


i have been using third party billing for 1 year and a half with no problems -- if you dont want charge backs screen you customers before you set them up lmao:D

Let me get this straight, you have 10 million users, your company grows by 20,000 users a day, and you only have 600 or so employee's total?! I heard somewhere, though I cannot verify the accuracy that over 5 million dollars were transferred through paypal daily, which gave paypal a daily profit in excess of $200,000 usd per day.

Now correct me if im wrong (as im sure you will do regardless) but if you guys bring in in the ballpark of 6 million $$$/month, would it not make sense to hire some more employee's to deal with the customer service issues? I can certainly see why paypal hides its phone numbers, addresses, and sends everyone generic templated emails. You must have some very wealthy CEO's and such by now.

Originally posted by porcupine
Let me get this straight, you have 10 million users, your company grows by 20,000 users a day, and you only have 600 or so employee's total?! I heard somewhere, though I cannot verify the accuracy that over 5 million dollars were transferred through paypal daily, which gave paypal a daily profit in excess of $200,000 usd per day.

Now correct me if im wrong (as im sure you will do regardless) but if you guys bring in in the ballpark of 6 million $$$/month, would it not make sense to hire some more employee's to deal with the customer service issues? I can certainly see why paypal hides its phone numbers, addresses, and sends everyone generic templated emails. You must have some very wealthy CEO's and such by now.

that goes to 4%, do they really earn so much ?. i don't think so, this may be there total revenues but not there direct income and 600 employees must be taking lots of share of there total revenue !! ;)

Hi,

In order to keep costs down, we do try to get users to answer as many questions as possible from the web site. We also review our processes on a regular basis to make sure we are as efficient as possible. I also come to the forums to directly assist users, resolve issues,etc.

The response can depend on:

a) did the user ask the correct question
b) is it a case, such as fraud or a buyer complaint, that takes longer to resolve

Nearly 80% of the company is involved in customer service functions. Nearly 100 are involved directly in fraud figthing, as well as the numerous reps answering emails.

The customer service number is available on the site, but we do direct users to the HELP section first (so a user doesn't have to wait for an answer).

Instructions for the customer service phone number-
1. Log in
2. You will notice a STILL HAVING TROUBLE LINK on the left hand screen instructing you to CONTACT US.
3. Brings you to a screen asking you to make a choice---

Contact Us




Before contacting Customer Service, please be sure you have looked for your question in the Help Center, or tried the Help Center's search box.

Ask PayPal Here






Our Help Center was designed to provide you with the quickest answers possible. If you are still unable to find an answer to your question, please contact our Customer Service Department.

4. Clicking on contact our CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT provides the user with the correct phone number.

Manhinder:

Paypal collects the 4% + like .50 from each transaction, etc.

but i mean 5-10 million transferred a day... 5,000,000 * .04 = 200,000, 10m * .04 = 400,000. salary for 600 employee's? if most work in customer service, i doubt any make over 50k/yearly, 600 * 40k (lets give them the benefit of the doubt and say the average salary is 40k, im sure its lower) = 24 million/year, or 65,753$/day, out of 200-400k, they must have fat piggy banks i repeat =), of course im sure this is way off, but you get the picture.

Customer service is just about the most expensive part of any operation, but you are forgetting:

a) leases
b) fees paid to vendors


And quite a few other items. As most of us are aware, there are more costs to running a business than it appears on the outside.

Anyhow, i think i've prooven my point, if paypal has to employ people to monitor message boards to avoid bad PR, they're approaching the problem from the wrong angle. Most people need to be very angry before they go on message boards, or buy domains and setup websites to bash a company. I'm not saying you're "Mr. Moneybags" because you work at paypal or anything, but I am saying that they make a lot of revenue (other sources i didn't note like investing current customers $$$, etc., i read the TOS) that seems to be going to someones pockets, or to mismanagement, that's all.

I will tell you why we are on the message boards---

a) to get customer feedback (pro and con)
b) answer customer questions
c) interact with our user base
d) get suggestions on how to improve our product ( I can point to close to 15 changes as a result of interaction out here)
e) resolve issues that were not initially
f) correct information that is incorrect

The idea came about because of a book I read ---"The Cluetrain Manifesto"

There is a lot of good information on the internet, as well as a fair amount of bad information.

fair enough, at least you seem to have your head screwd on in the right direction. you want a suggestion though? you can make all these business customers a lot less hostile towards you if you suspend their entire account instead of suspending their access. that makes sure more customers do not pay them through your service while their account is suspended, just refuse payment with a friendly note. OR allow them to do anything except withdraw the cash from their account so they know they're still in control of it and can see who has paid them instead of sitting in the blind.

It wont win me back anyday, because paypal provides bad customers with a easy potential for ripping me off, i accept prepayment in cheque or money order only now as a result, but its a start for your future problems.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Restricted accounts can be set to receive payments during a dispute. They can also be set to NOT receive payments (it depends on a couple of factors).

In addition, your exposure to chargebacks is based off of a credit card. You would not run into as many issues with echecks/balance payments. I can cover chargebacks more in depth (they are always a potential risk when accepting credit card payments).

paypaldamon is not lying or making up the cost Paypal has, they are even loosing money by the millions and want to take the company public to nag shareholders.

Read this article:
http://www.washtech.com/news/software/12791-1.html

"That hasn't been enough to make PayPal profitable. The company has lost $231 million since its inception and management warned in the prospectus that the red ink is expected to continue at least through the rest of this year."

I agree with this comment by ygoodman at
his site http://www.ygoodman.com/paypal.html in regard to this article.

With reference to paypal making huge sums of money, don't forget :

a) personal accounts, which pay 0% to transfer money
b) they have to pay visa/mastercard etc most of the % they yield from business accounts

I can't imagine they get left with a whole lot.

Stay away of Paypal. Try to use another payment service like Bidpay. I have used Paypal and have a situation very similar to what the first post describes. Paypal's business rules were set up wrong to begin with so now it is impossible to pull out the money. The customer service reps on the phone are very poorly trained and have no idea how businesses use Paypal.

Also, about a month ago they implemented new rules deciding which account money will be withdrawn from when paying. After using the service for about year without a problem, all of a sudden my second and third payment sources are being used to pay when the primary source has funds in it. I explained this to many support reps at Paypal. They would say something like "yea we just started that but we can't tell you how or why it is working like that". Needless to say I have stopped using Paypal and am using e-bays payment service and other payment services. Paypal was great for about a year, now they have bad support reps, bad business rules. Now I just need to figure out how to get MY $2,000 out of my business account without having my other two accounts cancelled. Any ideas?

I wouldn't tell them you have three accounts, isn't it against the TOS to have more then one? I've read 'stories' similar to your situation where their accounts have and are still suspended as a result of having multiple accounts and attempting to withdraw large amounts of $$$. I got jumpy with paypal having over 50$ in mine.... $2,000 is more then i'd attempt to take out in one payment to say the least.

I am sorry to hear of the issues you are having.

Can you clarify this--

Also, about a month ago they implemented new rules deciding which account money will be withdrawn from when paying. After using the service for about year without a problem, all of a sudden my second and third payment sources are being used to pay when the primary source has funds in it. I explained this to many support reps at Paypal. They would say something like "yea we just started that but we can't tell you how or why it is working like that". Needless to say I have stopped using Paypal and am using e-bays payment service and other payment services. Paypal was great for about a year, now they have bad support reps, bad business rules.

(IT sounds like you are not choosing the type of payment method you would like to use on the send money screen(


I can also assist with this issue with a clearer explanation as to what barriers you are encountering. Our terms of use do allow for only one Business/Premier account per party, so you could be having some issue there.

Now I just need to figure out how to get MY $2,000 out of my business account without having my other two accounts cancelled. Any ideas?

Hello paypaldamon,

To clarify the primary payment option is set up as a bank account. I used to buy a lot of items off of e-bay then pay for them all at once with Paypal. Sometimes I would pay 10+ different people within one session. Each of these separate payments would come out of the default/primary payment option (the bank account mentioned above).

About the end of November I noticed that when trying to make a bunch of payments the default primary bank account was used for the first few payments. The remaining payments were made from other sources that I had listed on the account but DID NOT specify for paying that particular transaction. These other sources included credit cards and another bank account. Some of the payments that I was making were about $500 or more. These selection of the payment sources for a transaction appeared to be random.

To be clear, I NEVER changed the default payment option and did not selected another payment option at the time of sending the payment. The most info that I could get out of Paypal support was that there were new business rules in place that prevented a lot of payments to be made from one source. I ask time and time again for them to tell me the business rules so that I could predict which payment source would be used. PayPal support was unable to provide this information. Therefore, I had no way of knowing which account the money was going to be pulled from so I stopped using Paypal. After many hours on the phone over several days I gave up.


If you can help me make the withdrawal of the $2000.00 from my other Paypal account this would be much appreciated. This account has never been verified because the address that was used for the first Paypal account is the same. Also, the bank account for this second Paypal account is a business account that I have linked to the first Paypal account. After talking with Paypal support it seems once an address, credit card or bank account has been assigned to one Paypal account it can't be assigned to another Paypal account even if it is removed from the first account.

I want to keep my personal and business transactions separate so that is why I am still collecting the money in the second account but am getting nervous because the balance is growing.

Any suggestions?

Hello,

so we have finally our own US internet merchant account and we are happy with it. To implement it to our own billing system is a powerful selling option.

About pay pal, they still owe us over $10k, even they promise to sent it to us in 60 days after account closing but after 4 months they do not reply our emails.

So if anybody need help or advice with real US merchant email me.

Best Regards
Peter
Westmaster.com

Can you please forward your account email address to me (pm)? I would like to look at this issue for you.

Thank you for your patience.

I have a question for Damon.

I have about 5 online businesses which I would like to use Paypal for, and of course for personal use as well.

The restriction of having only one account is preventing me from doing this, as I don't want the same name appearing on all my payment pages.

It seems Paypal only alowing us 1 account is restricting everybody, not to mention preventing Paypal from generating extra revenue.

What can be done about this?

Why not just start a whole website on how paypal can assist past or vexed customers. LMAOPMP!! Geez people. I find this kind of amusing. Not to say that your problems are funny at ALL, just saying it's amazing with the large customer base they have, and what occurs and happens from that. ;)

-Kyle Reilly
Happy New Year's Eve ;)

That is why I am out here:)

Originally posted by paypaldamon
That is why I am out here:)
Yep, I can see. Thank you for providing users with personal assistance in acquiring the fix and solutions for their troubles with PayPal. You go the extra step for PayPal, and I'm sure you are rewarded. ;)

-Kyle

Hi,
The check would have been directed to the address we had on file.


__________________
Damon
PayPal Consumer Relations



That's what I'm talking. There are some people taking time to cut the check, put it in the envelope and send it out but there's no one (or the system) can send us an email notify the action taken on our money.

Now it's showing $0 in our account. Where has the money gone? We've never cashed the check.
ANSWER: The money is still with PayPal.

paypaldamon, what you have done was wonderful (changing from "Locked" to "Restricted"). We couldn't get that kind of help from PayPal's ordinary contact channel. Can you ask someone at PayPal to transfer the money to our bank account instead of sending a check? We've never received the check because we are no longer at that address.

Sorry but all I did was get piad credit card proessing. :) No problems! You might try www.ccnow.com though - looks like a good deal for less..

ccnow don't allow any hosting or services or any kind. nor do they allow anything that isn't a shipable, tangible piece of merchandise.

they are pretty good for that though, but there % is quite high.

clickbank.com allow email adns ervices, but don't do recurring and have a low maximum amount threshold , although they will adminster your affiliate prog.

i have been with 2checkout with one of my sites for a while as they offer no ceiling, recurring billing, shopping carts etc, but no affiliate prog management. low % though. 5.5% ccnow is 9% I think

Hi Paypaldamon,

Could you tell me if there is any way to use paypal to receive international credit card orders instantly, where the user doesn't have to verify a bank account or the one cent credit card billing (which takes usually a month for them to do)?

With U.S. orders, they just enter a credit card number and I am paid, but for international orders, they have to sign up; be charged several cents from paypal to verify their card; then at the end of the month they have to look at their credit card bill; find the ammount they were charged by paypal; and then verify the account. By that time they don't even know who I was or where they saw me!

Is there any other way? Or are there plans to make a simpler international payment system?

[When I write to customer support, they send me a template on "how to make a payment button for your website". I replied three times and each time got the same template.]

Anyway, I like paypal a lot because it is simple and cheap for me to use. Never had any problems.

dsj:

Thats the same reason i stopped using paypal. If you look on the "running a webhosting biz" forum's they have many threads regarding online/cheap cc billing companies, and most of them cheaper then paypal (paypal gets a lot of the payments if you think about it). Most of those do not require people to become members or anything, hope that helps.

Originally posted by dsj
Could you tell me if there is any way to use paypal to receive international credit card orders instantly, where the user doesn't have to verify a bank account or the one cent credit card billing (which takes usually a month for them to do)?

I think most people are frustrated with this, and it's the main reaosn why whilst Paypal is an excellent service, it is only part of the solution. IMHO we need Paypal to cater for the millions of Paypal users out there who are potential customers, but using Paypal exclusively will alienate a far larger audience.

So, my advice is to use Paypal and 2checkout.com alongside each other. That way you get problem free international users, and paypal users.

PayPal,

This is what you say on your web site.

When your withdrawal check is returned to us, the funds will be credited back to your
PayPal account. It usually takes about 30 days for the funds to re-appear in your PayPal
account.

OK, we haven't received that check. It was sent out Oct 26, 2001. Why haven't the amount of $2,380.28 credited back to our account?

The contact form on your web site is useless because it returns the above quote to me. How can users of PayPal get proper help?

BTW, The transaction ID of the check is 5LC39675RM431343L.

Please transfer the fund to our bank account. Thank you!

HostSearch, i would really contact the local BBB as well as the Attorney General of the state PayPal resides in.

I would have done that months ago, its sad how i was watching TechTV and they had a report on PayPal. It was really pathedic to see TechTV pretty much siding with PayPal (imo)

Personally I would never put all my eggs in one basket and it seems everyone who gets screwed by PayPal....has in fact kept all their eggs in that one basket.

Greetings,
I have read over a lot of your threads.. & have seen the merchant account problem more then a couple of times... I have waited to post, due to the fact that our website is not live as of yet.. However I am going to go out on a limb here. We are a company registerd with the BBB who offers merchant accounts no matter what type of business, no matter what type of credit..
We can set you up within your budget.. No contract etc.
It goes as follows... Internet gateway with shopping cart,e-mail tool,affiliate tracking,customer receipt program, & much more.
$300 settup fee.. $20 a month.. 2.5% rate.. Yes the settup is a little bit more then the mentioned $200.. However usually if you are getting it to inexspensivley, then there is some sort of contract regarding staying with the same proccessor, or they up the price when they find out your credit is not sterling.. Please e-mail me at ams@adexec.com MAKE SURE THAT YOU PUT CODE WHT IN THE SUBJECT LINE. These are not our normal settup costs.. the reason that I am offering you this at very little over my cost, is because I am really hoping that I can generate some refferals (which we are willing to pay BIG for). I hope this helps...
Thanks
On a note: Our parnter proccessor has been in busines since 98' & sets up AT&T,Nextell,& the IRS with thier credit card proccessing..

Uhm, No offense or anything, but:

1. you're posting in the wrong forum, you can't advertise in here.
2. Those fee's are outrageous, $300 setup?!, my bank will do it for $50 setup + pretty much the same on the other rates, if this is your "little over cost" you should really rethink your business plan as 90% of businesses wont pay $300+ for a online processor when their bank will give them one cheaper, or any other online processor.

Sorry about the wrong forum posting..Im pretty new here.
As far as your bank... I have been in this busines for quite a while, and most banks that people have thier business accounts with DON'T offer those rates.. If they did, they wouldn't be using paypal, etc. Sounds like you got a good deal! Also most banks don't even bother with online ccp if your credit isn't very good..
As far as our costs, that covers software,re-accuring billing,shopping cart,e-mail client software,affiliate tracking,coupon maker,and a ton of other stuff.. If you don't want the "goodies' its cheaper.. What I have been hearing is that a lot of companys aren't able to get the actual merchant account because their hosting companys, etc. We set up everybody, & that reacurring billing really comes in handy..(Also, if you don't need the hosting, it is cheaper still!) This was a quote for the average user..

People.... please don't waste your time at those credit card merchants offering you the world. The have hidden fees, ridiculous setup fees and re-occuring fees.

Call someone that is in the business (like Discover) - they can set you up on your own merchant service and give you Visa, Mastercard, etc. too.

____________________________
Keith

I'm glad I read this post! Thank god for WHT. :) Anyhoo, everyone forgot to add the interest earned off of the money sitting in PayPals account!

There are companies in the mortgage industry that make bi-weekly payments for people with the idea of them paying off their mortgage early, and what people don't realize is they can do this themselves instead of sending someone else the money and let it sit in 'their' bank accounts for a couple of weeks earning the interest off of it. These companies run totally off the interest earned.