Paypal shuts down my mom’s account for selling coins on eBay

Introduction

I had written about my other Paypal shutdown a few weeks ago.  That account was my ‘buying’ account.  My mom’s account however was a ‘selling’ account meaning I used it to receive payments on eBay.  The account is many years old, so not new.  It’s been used to receive payments in the past just fine. However, it has been “dormant” for about a year (maybe less.)

 

So what happened

Well, about a month ago, I decided to switch my eBay payments to go from my account to my mom’s account.  I was selling 10 US Mint coins on eBay.  Yes, I resell coins too!  I had them priced a bit high, so I decided to lower it by 10% just to get some action.  Sure enough, I sold about 6 within 3 days.  I shipped out all 6 using my Paypal account (and not my mom’s so I could use a cc.)  However, on my mom’s account, it showed that it was shipped out.  Then after the 3rd day I get this email (bolding mine):

We need your help resolving an issue with your account. To give us time to work together on this, we’ve temporarily limited what you can do with your account until the issue is resolved.

We understand it may be frustrating not to have full access to your PayPal account. We want to work with you to get your account back to normal as quickly as possible.

What’s the problem?

We recently noticed a pattern of account activity that, in our experience, is usually high risk. For more information, see Restricted Activities identified in our User Agreement.

 

When I logged on, I needed to do all this:

 

 

Paypal asking for documentation

Once I uploaded my identity, the next day, I got this email (bolding mine)

Hello,

We’re sorry, but we cannot restore full access to your account until we receive additional information. Please provide a copy of each of the following items:

– Original bills of sale or invoices referencing your purchase or acquisition of the items you are selling, along with the name and telephone number of your supplier(s).

This was an issue since the coins were bought by ME and not my mom.  I faxed it in; waited a couple of days and eventually got this back:

Hello,

For the safety and security of the PayPal network, we often review accounts for potential risks. After reviewing your account, we have decided to close it because of security issues.

We are making every effort to minimize any disruption to your business.

If your PayPal account balance is zero, and you have no unresolved buyer complaints or chargebacks, your account will remain limited.

———————————–
Disbursement options
———————————–

Option 1. If you owe refunds to any of your buyers, you can use the money in your PayPal account to refund them.

To refund your buyers:
1. Log in to your PayPal account.
2. Click “Contact Us” at the bottom of any page.
3. Click “Contact Customer Service.”
4. Under “Choose a Topic,” select “Sending/Receiving Money.”
5. Under “Choose a Subtopic,” select “Refund/Cancel a Payment.”
6. Click “Continue” and follow the instructions to refund payments.

Option 2. Money in your PayPal account will be held for 180 days. After 180 days, we’ll email you information on how to receive your funds.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

Thanks,
PayPal

 

 

So what caused it?

I don’t think it’s a linking to my other banned account since my wife’s account and my other accounts are fine.  I think they were just suspicious of the ramp up in payments received (only $1.5K in 3 days) and afraid I was trying to fraud my sellers.  I even told them I had shipped all 6 and gotten 2 positive feedback already.  Alas, it was to no avail, so to Paypal, I say this:

I’m gonna CFPB them to find out what went wrong and hopefully get my money sooner than 6 months, which is ridiculous.  F*** you Paypal!