posted on April 13, 2002 01:40:15 AM new
Paypal is a great and useful service when you are NOT doing a lot of sales or a occasional transactions, but when you are doing 50 transactions a day over 1,200 transactions a month. That’s when the problems start.
I was a fat and happy Paypal client until one day without notice my account was but on restriction back in March. At the time I had a balance of around $8,500. The restriction placed allowed me to still receive sales. Keep in mind when this restriction was placed I had answered all complaints and resolved all problems. I was very proactive, and any time I saw a charge back on my account that was not emailed to me I would Call and find out what information Paypal needed or how to resolve the situation.
Anyway the restriction in March was lifted with in a 24hr period after Paypal saw that all complaints and been answered and resolved.
Before this happen to me I like to have a nice large balance in my PayPal account anywhere from $6,000 to $12,000 at any one time.
Since I use Paypal debit Card to pay for my Advertising, Internet Servers and Inventory. I am cycling thru the money on a weekly basis. Usually keeping a nice balance. Well when they restricted my account in March some of those services I pay for with my PayPal account that automatically bill my PayPal debit card started giving me call for payment, being that my account was restricted payments were declined.
It would seem to me, maybe somewhat logical, that when there are complaints totaling less then $200 and a PayPal Balance of $8,500 that just maybe, PayPal can put a hold on say $2,000. And let us continue to run our business with the remainder of the funds.
Forward, after the restriction were lifted in March I feared they would restrict it again hamper my ability to run my business effectively so I tried to spend balance as much as possible on inventory or other business expenses. Even then I still carried average daily balance of over $5,000.
Well in mid March I had to travel to Asia for my business. I was really fearful that my account might get restricted while I was gone since I was not in the U.S. and I was not going to be able to access my account on a daily bases or take care of certain situations that may arise.
Well low and behold a problem arose. I had ordered inventory that should have arrived in a week’s time or before I left but there was a delay. I had someone processing my orders while I was gone. You can guess what happened Customers started to complain. The person that was handling my orders notified the customers there was going to be a delay and if they would like a refund we would provide it. Well refunds were provided to those that requested it. I was able to resolve most issues in a timely matter. Another problem I had to deal with is PayPal will put your account on restriction when logging in from a country not included on PayPal's permitted countries list.
Imagine trying to manage customer complaints while traveling in restricted country. Just by trying to handle customer service from another country can restrict your account. Fortunately when I was in a restricted country I Remote controlled into my computer in the U.S. to access PayPal.
My PayPal account was not restricted again in March. But on April 8th balance of $6,500 the dreaded restrictions had returned. This time it was restricted from receiving or sending Money.
Called PayPal on the 9th and got them to at least let me receive payments. I figured PAYPAL had cost me around $1,200 in sales that day.
I had a number (less than $200) of out standing complaints that were emailed to me and responded to in a timely matter. There were other complaints were I had not received an email or did not know they existed, being that I was having an email server problem with my service provider. Another enhancement of PayPal service is that there is no way to log on to your account and manage complaints from there. So if you have an email server screw up you’re likely to get your account restricted. Well being that I had not received the email on some complaints. I was not able to respond via PayPal. I called and was told to send PayPal and email through Customer Service Authorizing them to resolve all complaints with my available balance. Well I did so on the 9th. I kept logging on and they did not get to refund the customers until the 11th.
In the meantime I have some other customers that would like a refund due to the delay with one of my products being shipped. Guess what I have called PayPal Emailed PayPal notifying them that I would like to provide some refunds to customers that are requesting it NO RESPONSE AS OF YET (PayPal restrict my funds so my Customer Service Problem becomes PayPal Customer Service Problem). Keep in mind these customers that are wanting a refund have not yet complained to PayPal I am trying to resolve the problem before it becomes one. Well I guess the solution is to tell the customer to complain to paypal and we can resolve it from there (BAD IDEA)
Well the status of my account is still Restricted I can receive payments but don't have access to the funds to provide refunds or purchase inventory, I have since moved my sales to a regular merchant account. Can you imagine if I kept taking in money I would have over $30,000 with in a month with no idea when the funds are going to be released. I would have to mortgage my home just keep doing business. I have called PayPal every day since the 9th asking them what I can do to resolve the issue. Basically Customer No Service I have authorized PayPal to deduct all claims from my account. At this time I believe I have resolved all customer complaints but unless I can refund the money that some of the customers have requested I fear more to follow and longer delay in releasing the funds.
#1---------------Papal Answer to My Question of how to resolve issue----------------------
Dear (MyNameHere),
Thank you for inquiring about the restriction that has been placed on your Papal Account. We cannot proceed with the appeal process until you log in and complete the steps as outlined. Please use the link below to log into your account and follow the instructions provided. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us resolve this matter.
If your email program is unable to open hyperlinks, please copy and paste this URL into the address bar of your browser.
https://www.paypal.com/wf/f=ra_default
Sincerely,
Papal Account Review
#2-------Logged In Papal to the previous link specified----------
Why was my account restricted?
Your account has been restricted because we have detected suspicious activity regarding the receipt or withdrawal of funds.
What can I do to lift this restriction?
Please reply to the Restriction Notification Email that was sent to your primary email address with a valid contact phone number and email address.
If you have further questions concerning your account restriction, you may contact the Papal Account Review Department using the submission box below.
#3------------------Ok here it is Restriction Notification Email------------------------------
Subject: Notification of Papal Account Restriction
Dear (MyNameHere), Papal is constantly working to increase security for all of our users. To ensure the integrity of our payment network, we conduct frequent checks on our system. Your account has been placed on a restricted status, pending further review. Restricted accounts are limited in their ability to send or withdraw funds. If you have questions concerning this restriction, please contact us using the link below:
https://www.paypal.com/wf/f=ra_default
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely, The Papal Account Review Department Note:
----------Get the Picture Round and Round We Go Back to #2---------
I like the concept to Papal it is useful for auction use and never had any problem with them until I started making a lot of sales. But using them for a full blown online business will only cause problems. From 1,200 sales in a month I had less then 1% of the people complaining. If you had $30,000 in the account and 10 complaints totaling $100 they would prevent you from getting to your funds.
Until Customer Service improves and they improve there policies. Papal is not meant for high volume sales. At least merchant account does not prevent you from giving the customer their money back.
I have decided cut back my use of PayPal with exception of the auctions via Ebay. Regular merchant accounts are the way to go if you are in a high volume business.
UPDATE 4/15/2004
ACCOUNT RESTRICTION LIFTED!!!
To be honest. I was resigned to having it take a lot longer to resolve. I will keep you updated on any further developments.
[ edited by luxorltd on Apr 15, 2002 09:29 AM ]
posted on April 13, 2002 01:32:07 PM new
you should have applied for a merchant account a long time ago,with that kind of sales volume.
it sounds like you need to expand -and i dont mean sales,but overhead expenses by hiring more nose picking staff to do the work while you are on the road,keeping customers and vendors happy.
also more planning before your trip so you know better not to log on to your paypal account in a country which is on their black list.
