"I'll never use Paypal again" Topic

First a little background, I don't use paypal much either to buy or sell. A few years ago I sold 2,000 dollars worth of World Series Tickets on evil pay in 2 transactions. Paypal held onto that money for 21 days, I understood. At Christmas time I sold a camera lens and a body and lens, again 2 separate transactions (not evil bay) and paypal released my money (over 700 dollars) immediately. Earlier this month I sold two model kits for 58 bucks, Paypal put a hold on the money for 21 days.

So I called Paypal today, the money is supposed to be released tomorrow, to find out when it would be available and sent to my card. The person on the other end said that, unless I list my bank account they won't send me my money. Now this never happened on the previous transactions. I told them that I wouldn't be giving them my bank info because I intend to close my account and to never do business with them again. "Well then you'll never get your money" was their response.

Now I'm not a business, I'm an individual. Had I taken a USPS Money order, which was what my buyer wanted to do (yeah, I should have listened) I would have had my money long ago. I did everything Paypal said that I should, I sent them the tracking number, etc. My buyer is happy. But I'm mad as hell, not at him but at paypal.

Strange. I've been using PayPal for ten years as a buyer and seller and I've never had any trouble of any kind.

Paypal has been under pressure to crack down on it being used for illicit means, including tax evasion and drug trafficking, so now they are being forced to collect additional information which is used to verify the people passing money back and forth are really doing what they say they are. I let my personal account go as well because there are some things that don't need to be shared, and as I never really moved money TO my account, but just used the Paypal balance, which kept my spending down. It helps that I gave up on eBay a while ago as well. It is a pretty recent development and is being enacted as fast as they can do it.

And it seems to be focused on PERSONAL accounts rather than BUSINESS accounts for some reason. I have an account I use for an association and it has not been targeted for this….YET.

Never had an issues with PayPal … other than the percentage they take. Always get my money in 2-3 days if over a weekend and usually with 24-36 hours during business days ( M-F). I have it set up with my checking account so maybe that makes a difference.

FWIW… I only use PayPal in a very basic way, as an occasional eBay buyer and seller and for other online purchases or sales, simply for the convenience and universality (especially for foreign transactions). But what I have done is set up a special, dedicated bank account, a basic savings account, that I only use as my PayPal and eBay link, and it doesn't have other funds in it and is not used for other purposes. This limits my vulnerability (in theory). And if my PayPal balance is low, I use the credit card I have tied into it as an alternate means of payment. That offers more security and protection against fraud or loss.

On the whole I'd rather use PayPal than submit credit card info over and over again for mail orders or online purchases. For me, it has been simpler to deal with and manage. But I don't use it more than necessary and I haven't yet encountered a scenario as described here.

To my knowledge, there are limits to the amount of money that can go through a non-business Paypal account in a given time frame, maybe lifetime.

I've used Paypal for very large amounts and haven't had that issue, but my account is a business account.

Thank the people who came up with the PATRIOT Act. The government makes PayPal require a bank account because terrorism.

Im curious how much money actually does flow through places like Paypal for terrorist groups and similar.