Down With Paypal!

[rug]

[They_Live]

1. More information please!

or perhaps a link. Anything?

[Luminous Animal]

2. This is a good enough reason...

PayPal Freezes WikiLeaks account...

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/paypal-wikileaks/

[Chan790]

3. There are hundreds of these stories that provide a good reason.

In addition to the Wikileaks thing.

They froze some guy's account over Christmas because he was fundraising to buy toys for disadvantaged children (even after he offered to donate the money directly to Toys for Tots) and made him return the finds minus their commission that they took in both directions (receipt of funds and the paying-out of the funds.)

They did the same thing during Hurricane Katrina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_Awful#Hurricane_Katrina_charity) to donations being collected by posters at Something Awful.

I'm shocked they didn't go hissy-fit over the hearts here with the donations to PP actually.

That's just the high-profile ones. Paypal's good for this kind of crap on a near-monthly basis, it just usually involves them screwing the common person and doesn't make news.

[Webster Green]

4. I have a notice on my account that payments to me will be held for 21 days.

This is bullshit! I called and read them the riot act about it. They gave me a bunch of reasons why I have might been chosen for this status. The only one that I could see that applied to me is "inconsistent" ebay sales. So, I am being penalized because I don't sell every day? I've been buying and selling on ebay since 2003, with 185 transactions and 100% positive feedback.

When I complained about it, the person I spoke with said she would try to have my status changed. She said I should also send a complaint notice to PayPal, which I did. This was weeks ago, and my account is still flagged. I surely won't be selling anything on ebay, if I have to wait 21 days to get my money!

I'm hesitant to get rid of my PayPal account, because I don't want to lose the option of buying on ebay, and it seems to be the only payment method allowed now. What a bunch of crap!!

[Remember Me]

5. Guess what -- I was just reading a blog post that may be of interest to you

A possible option at the end:

http://underwearmoneyonline.com/avoid-getting-screwed/

I'd do it, if I were in your shoes, after calling them one more time and possibly mentioning that I might to this. Good luck.

[Luminous Animal]

6. Interesting. From the link: NEVER use paypal for subscription payments...

Either people paying YOU (membership sites) OR you paying others. They can and WILL shut you down – both ways – if they decide too.
Don’t pay for things with paypal unless you have no other choice. PayPal CAN just willy nilly reverse transactions you’ve paid to someone on “your behalf”.

BIG BOLD IMPORTANT STUFF– Reread #4 and 5 AGAIN. Let me reemphasize – paypal can just reverse transactions YOU’VE made to someone if they decide to lock you up. Yes, it happened to me during the second paypal fiasco.

[Webster Green]

7. Thanks!

Good info. I may try those steps, just to get my account unflagged.

[They_Live]

8. Thanks to all of you for the enlightenment.

Is there any alternative for them, though? I have to set up something for bandcamp, and I'm afraid I don't really have a choice there.

[Chan790]

9. Maybe Google Checkout?

I dunno, I've never used it. Nor do I know anything about their past actions and policies.

It's unfortunately not a field that is going to attract a lot of good-actors, the margins are tight (as far as banking goes.) and the CC-processors they have to deal with like FirstData are themselves first-rate assholes and the credit-card companies are more of the same. That's to say nothing of the major card-issuing banks like Citi and Chase that employ entire legal departments dedicated to figuring out how to screw everybody else in the process, deny charges, pass on the cost to the consumer of their malfeasance and keep as much of the revenues as possible.