Wait a second. So they have a bug in their system that basically breaks the verification process, but they still say it's your fault and lock your money away for 180 days? Bullshit.
I bet they can get their ass sued to kingdom come for this.
Yea, except they didn't admit it was their fault till push came to shove/
Every time I have changed my password, they have done the bank account verification thing, and it has always accepted the normal account number. This time, *after* they verified the account was ours, they told me they were looking for 000 as the first three digits.
The guy I finally managed to talk to, was a some manager or something.
When I told him the routing number was NOT 000, he said, "Well, that's the number you stored on our system."
I told him that it was impossible because:
a) I changed the password every month, and it was impossible that I suddenly forgot that I had my routing number on record as 000 instead of what it actually was, after verifying with the correct routing number each month.
b) What were the chances that I had mistakenly stored my routing number as 000 for both bank accounts on paypal?
c) If my routing number was 000, how was I making withdrawals with an incorrect routing number?
Eventually one employee admitted the system had a glitch (after I told them I saw several paypal users complain from Canada on some forum), but then told me I shouldn't have attempted to enter the number so many times. I told him that paypal's own employee reset the tries thrice and told me to keep trying. When I initially called paypal, they should have just told me that the first three digits were zero. Unfortunately the person I had spoken to initially wasn't cleared to see my entire account number.
After I finally did the verification thing, because so many red flags had been raised, I was required to fax/upload documents to prove identity.
So all I had were the bank statements, which I proceeded to send to them immediately.
But then they asked for more crap. This was a Saturday.
They told me that basically when I uploaded the first document, a timer had started where I had 24 hours or whatever to upload all the documents I had.
Apparently I shouldn't have started uploading anything, unless I had all the documents ready.
That's somewhat reasonable, because you can't expect to take a week, because that's plenty time to forget documents.
However there was no mention of a limited time until after I posted the first document to them.
And how unreasonable was it for them to wait another 24 hours, till my business partner could get everything else ready? It was a freakin' Sunday when they shut the account permanently.
Why not let the account continue to be suspended?
I wasn't doing anything illegal. It was unbranded leather garments and decorative products. I had a fantastic reputation.
Regarding the lawsuit, unfortunately, in the TOS, paypal has you agree that they can do whatever they want at their discretion.
The messed up thing is that I was punished for being proactive with the security of my account.
So if you are careless, your account will get hacked from China or Nigeria.
And if you are really careful, paypal will fuck you, because they will assume your account has been taken over by someone from China or Nigeria.
Plenty of people have tried to sue Paypal with little to no success. I've heard so many horror stories with them that I try not to use the service if I can help it.
I am also registered a seller with moneybookers. They do all their verification when you first create an account. They verify your address, your supplier invoices, your inventory papers, your supplier address, your bank account etc etc. It is a really long process, but you know what? I'd rather that crap happen once, rather than them surprise you from time to time.
Problem is that all the buyers want to use paypal, and no one wants to use other services. Unfortunately paypal is excellent for buyers, but shit for sellers.
http://www.aboutpaypal.org/http://www.paypalwarning.com/http://www.screw-paypal.com/horror_stories/horror_stories.htmlhttp://www.paypalsucks.com/There have been some lawsuits where paypal has had to fork over money, but they've expanded their TOS since then to cover anything they do.
Oh and this all of a sudden seems like a real dick thing to say.
Sorry Pug!
No need to apologize. You guys were trying to help, and that's pretty good advise in normal circumstances.
http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?action=post;quote=92393;topic=6997.0;num_replies=17;sesc=fc66f69f50a3cf3c412a988c4367ad49Damn man, that sounds terrible. Paypal is horrible.
I had a horrible experience, and I was absolutely stunned when a quick search on Google showed how so many people were having the *exact* same issues as myself.
The thing is that if you are a buyer, paypal is pretty good. And if you are a casual seller, it is good as well.
My recommendations when using paypal as a seller:
* Always have a tracking number. Even if you are selling a digital product... like a download key. Just write the key on a piece of paper and ship it.
* If you are starting a business, keep all supplier receipts. Always build a reputation before increasing your sales.
Paypal is a business, and as a business they definitely want to satisfy most of their users.
Problem is that I was running a business. I answer to my supplier to whom I pay at least 10,000 USD a month for my leather goods. I also pay about 2000 USD to my shipping agent. Aside from those guys, if I am constantly selling items, I need access to at least the shipping cost to ship those items.
If Paypal holds my money at any moment for 180 days, how the hell am I expected to run my business? At the time paypal locked my account, I had about 40 items to ship that week. Now imagine, I had NO money, and I had to ship these items, or risk a serious dent in my reputation. 25 or so of these items were from eBay, and as you guys may be aware of, even two negative feedbacks can suspend your account.
With the DSRs, even if you get 100% positive feedback, you just need TWO 1/5 star ratings to have your account suspended for a month. Ridiculous, isn't it?
So yea, I was under immense pressure.
I think we need to mount a campaign to expose Paypal in the media, like CBS' 60 Minutes. Seriously. I've never before heard of a business this heinous that actually gets away with this level of abuse.
PUG!!! Welcome back! 
I am happy to be back. Let's hope my new paypal account doesn't face any problems, or I'll be gone again hehe.
Regarding exposing them, you can see the websites I've linked above in this post.
One guy's story was particularly heartbreaking.
He had a job, but was selling online part time, till he got laid off, after which he concentrated on his e business full time. He was selling laptops, which he bought from various places, and wasn't always able to get receipts. Suddenly, paypal locked his account, asking him to provide supplier receipts.
He wasn't able to of course. I mean, who has a supplier receipt for a few laptops they bought from some company shutting down and selling craigslist?
Anyway, they locked about 30 grand for 180 days, leaving him in a really bad position.
