About PayPal and its limitation, please help!

Hello Everyone, I'm new in online business. But I'd take my chance to sell in eBay.com, I don't live in US and to be able to receive the payment from the buyer. PayPal is being used by everyone, so that I used my brother's PayPal who live in US. Suddenly, PayPal limited his account and asked us to complete all the information needed, such as our suppliers data, proof of address, etc. I had submitted all necessary documents and PayPal came up with the answer, 'sorry we cannot do business with you anymore, and your account balance will remain in Paypal for 180 days', luckily we just had 18 dollars in the account! In other way, they have frozed our account with no good reasons. Then what should we do now? Does anyone have the same experience before? Thanks for your help. :(

Be very careful.....doesn't sound like paypal but more like a phishing scam. Other than a go between paypal is nto all that useful but this doesn't sound like paypal.

No actually it does sound Like Paypal. You are from indonesia Right? If you submitted info to paypal that you are from indonesia then your account will be terminated almost immediately. 75% of frauds and scams on ebay have come from indonesia as well as a high percentage of credit card fraud. If they also traced your Ip to that country. They will freeze your account as well. This is paypals way of reducing problems stemming from that country. Its definately not right but this is what I have read all over the ebay forums for at least 2 years. You should try a different online payment service or get a Merchant account and use that to take credit card payments.

Good to know Jimmy!!

Thanks alot Jim for your explanation. It sounds unfair, not all scammers come from Indonesia. I guess I have to find another merchant for my online business then :)

That is not true i am not from Indonesia and right after i received my first payment for my first item i sold on ebay it limited my account for no good reason and i am from the usa and i have used the account for years when i used to buy stuff from ebay. I think paypal is gip off its not worth it.

Ebay takes a % of what you make already and paypal will too..

i think its better to just use something like paypal but beter and cheaper

That is not true i am not from Indonesia and right after i received my first payment for my first item i sold on ebay it limited my account for no good reason and i am from the usa and i have used the account for years when i used to buy stuff from ebay. I think paypal is gip off its not worth it.

Ebay takes a % of what you make already and paypal will too..

i think its better to just use something like paypal but beter and cheaper

First off what did you sell? And also did you have your account validated before you attempted to sell?

And yes the above statement is true because for people in indonesia it happens daily. Yours can be for a totally different reason.

Paypal started placing accounts on freeze just after the original xboxes came out a couple of years back and people started getting scammed.

When I first joined paypal years back, they had a selling limit of $500. until you sucessfully completed a certain numbers of sales.

Today, and even more intently since the xbox 360 and playstation 3 came out, they watch for what is called 'high risk items'. Even if you have an account that has been buying lots of items, and you suddenly start to sell, and especially if it;s a high value or high risk item, they are likely to freeze the funds until they check it out...

So sorry to see you've also became a victim of Paypal. I too, have had the same thing happen to me. Unfortunately I had over $3000 in my Paypal Accout. After 6 Months (180 days) with a little resistance, they however did release my money. The bad part was that I needed the money to replace the money use out of my personal account to pay for the items sold on Ebay. I asked them to close my account so I can have my money released but they wouldn't until after the 6 months. They asked my for documents and everytime I faxed the documents, they came back with more for me to 'prove'. Eventually after I had them backed in the corner with all the documents, they finally said that they would lock up my account and the decision was final. After over 5 years of dealing with them, my business relationship was ended like that, I'm still lost as to what really went on, but after being 3 grand in the hole for 6 months, I really didn't mind. Not to mentions they were successful in protecting my Paypal from me, they for some reason could never protect it from people sending me scam emails to get payment or my account information. Excuse my language, 'But ain't that a Bitch!'

Iaseanc,
yes it happened to me as well, Paypal keeps asking more to fax to them, and at the end the decision is for our lost. I guess that's not right, many legitimate sellers become the victims. Jim, do you have any suggestion for paypal alternatives? What about bidpay, do you guys aver use it? Do they also freeze the account like paypal?

Iaseanc,
yes it happened to me as well, Paypal keeps asking more to fax to them, and at the end the decision is for our lost. I guess that's not right, many legitimate sellers become the victims. Jim, do you have any suggestion for paypal alternatives? What about bidpay, do you guys aver use it? Do they also freeze the account like paypal?

Bidpay is about the second best as far as internet payements. I also hear google checkout is rising the ranks. But nothing really beats a real merchant account.

Hello,

I have been using Paypal for (7) Years
and have never had a problem. However
I don't use ebay much anymore, ebay
has been a money drain for a long time.
So lately I've been using U-bid, and doing
very well. The thing about U-bid is
the way they pay. You have to wait for
your money every 15 days and that hurts
cash flow, otherwise its been better than ebay.

I build and sell bunk beds and I request
payments with Paypal. Thats it.I also use Paypal
to buy stuff.

John (bacpro)

PS: I recently opened an e-creater store and signed up for Google checkout.(They seem Ok)

Hi, I have never had any real problems with paypal but I also have a paymate account that only takes a percentage of sales after you exceed I think its $500 sales a month. I don't know if paymate is only an Australian thing, but maybe you could check it out. Anyway hope this helps.

Jess
Aislintoys

Dont forget that you can get your own merchant account. If you are starting to do a large amount of volumn or planning on it in the near future, then you might want to think about getting that done...Then you won't have to worry about paypal...

Yes if you sell high volume its best to get away from paypal and use a seperate checkout service. Paypal will literally rape you out of hard earned money that you caould have saved using a merchant account.

Thanks for all the suggestion. Need help to find a good and reasonable merchant account. Anyone has any suggestion which merchant should I use? Are they available for foreigners outside US? Thanks.

Well Im not sure about the banking system setup in Indonesia but About every bank in the USA you can setup merchant accounts. Check with your local banks first.

Link hidden: Login to view recommends you to use this alternative site. You can check them out here.
Link hidden: Login to view

What about Alert Pay and Moneybookers? Are they legitimate and someone please tell me if you ever used their service? Do you have any suggestion for the real merchant accounts that I can use which have reasonable price and good service? Also, whether they accept international clients outside US. Thanks.