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Anyone Experienced Paypal Account Being Frozen?

by regska
19 replies
Hi Warriors,

I've been hearing a lot of those paypal stories about the account being frozen if they noticed a suspicious activity or high-risk? I'm really worried right now, my account is still active, but I might experience that as well in the near future.

Why?

Right now, if I can show you, the activity in my account is normal. Everyday the amount of money coming in are $7, $10, $12, sometimes only $4, that's the everyday activity and that's normal. However, I'm about to launch my next product which sells for $47 and there's also a back-end product which sells for $97. I currently have several JV partners with over thousands of subscribers on their list ready to launch an email once the product is live.

My worry is, if the sales start to come in and they noticed that all of a sudden I have huge amount of money coming in to my Paypal account, they might freeze my account as well. I've been hearing stories that the money will just be frozen and can't be withdrawn for several days, weeks, or even months, I'm not sure. Of course, I don't want that to happen because this would be my first major product launch, and I want to feel the money, feel how really is earning big money online.

On a daily basis, I'm averaging around $7-$10 coming in to my Paypal right now, but once the product launch came, I'm expecting thousands of dollars to my account all of a sudden because of my JV partners with huge subscribers base as well.

I'm afraid that it might happen to me also, and of course I don't want that. Any advice here? What should i do if ever that happens? I've also heard from others who experienced this horrible Paypal story, that they were really had a hard time on this, some of them were not able to get their money once it's being frozen.
#account #experienced #frozen #paypal
  • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
    If I was in your position and expecting a higher volume of sales than normal I would contact Paypal and let them know the launch date and what's happening. That way they can hardly call it suspicious activity if they're in the know.
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    • Profile picture of the author regska
      Originally Posted by Hamida Harland View Post

      If I was in your position and expecting a higher volume of sales than normal I would contact Paypal and let them know the launch date and what's happening. That way they can hardly call it suspicious activity if they're in the know.
      Thanks for the advice. If ever the account got frozen, do they ask for something to send for verification or something?
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      • Profile picture of the author prevea
        I've had my account frozen recently because of too much activity for a "new" account. They asked me to provide proof of inventory (invoices from your suppliers), proof of delivery of products sold, proof of identity (Utility Bill, Drivers License & Social) & proof of business registration. After I supplied all the needed information my account was reinstated 1 day later. I have had no problems since.
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        • Profile picture of the author regska
          Originally Posted by prevea View Post

          I've had my account frozen recently because of too much activity for a "new" account. They asked me to provide proof of inventory (invoices from your suppliers), proof of delivery of products sold, proof of identity (Utility Bill, Drivers License & Social) & proof of business registration. After I supplied all the needed information my account was reinstated 1 day later. I have had no problems since.
          Good to hear that your account was reinstated after just 1 day of providing information. The thing is, I'm selling digital products, and I have no way to show them my inventory as it is a digital product. And my account is not new, I've been using Paypal for over 2 years now, but this will be the first time I'm gonna have a major product launch with 7 big list owners with a combine of 100k+ subscribers will promote my product, so I'm expecting a huge fluctuation in my account.
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  • Profile picture of the author Diana Gordon
    I have some beef with Paypal's system. Someone please come up with something better. When I was in China, my account was frozen every time I bought on a Chinese IP. There system has certain stop actions in place regardless of you.

    So good advice about calling them ahead of time. See what they can do for you. I had to use a VPN, to get past my particular account freezing problem (which is frowned upon).
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    • Profile picture of the author Deepak Media
      Originally Posted by Diana Gordon View Post

      I have some beef with Paypal's system. Someone please come up with something better. When I was in China, my account was frozen every time I bought on a Chinese IP. There system has certain stop actions in place regardless of you.

      So good advice about calling them ahead of time. See what they can do for you. I had to use a VPN, to get past my particular account freezing problem (which is frowned upon).
      PayPal does a wonderful job of freezing accounts when they think your account is at risk. My account got hacked once and the hacker sent the payments out to 4 different accounts. PayPal immediately blocked it and limited my account. I sent what they requested and my money was safe. The transactions got reversed.
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      • Profile picture of the author halfpoint
        Just call them prior to launching and let them know the dates.

        Every time I'm expecting an increase in volume I call them and let them know and all is well.

        As long as you communicate with them and let them know what's happening you shouldn't have any problems, most of the time.
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        • Profile picture of the author Crew Chief
          Originally Posted by Diana Gordon View Post

          I have some beef with Paypal's system. Someone please come up with something better. When I was in China, my account was frozen every time I bought on a Chinese IP. There system has certain stop actions in place regardless of you.

          So good advice about calling them ahead of time. See what they can do for you. I had to use a VPN, to get past my particular account freezing problem (which is frowned upon).
          I'm in total agreement with someone taking the ball ans running with it in terms of coming up with a alternate solution to PP.

          We "IMers" made this monster and we can create another one!

          Although I've never had an issue with PP, I believe in balanced competition. Well at least when it IS NOT referring to markets and businesses I'm engaged in...

          A well heeled competitor would force PP to start cleaning up it's act.

          The truth is when PP freezes those accounts for six months, they are making a killing off the interest.

          If a bank did that, the FDIC would have the bank's executives eating lunch with Bernie Madoff.

          Originally Posted by Deepak Media View Post

          PayPal does a wonderful job of freezing accounts when they think your account is at risk. My account got hacked once and the hacker sent the payments out to 4 different accounts. PayPal immediately blocked it and limited my account. I sent what they requested and my money was safe. The transactions got reversed.
          That's the upside of PP but personally, I would like to see the books on what they are doing with these frozen accounts.

          Giles, the Crew Chief
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      • Profile picture of the author regska
        Originally Posted by Deepak Media View Post

        PayPal does a wonderful job of freezing accounts when they think your account is at risk. My account got hacked once and the hacker sent the payments out to 4 different accounts. PayPal immediately blocked it and limited my account. I sent what they requested and my money was safe. The transactions got reversed.
        Good to hear that your money was safe. What documents or information they would normally ask if your account was frozen? I'm just really preparing for this if ever my account gets frozen despite letting them know the launch date.
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    • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
      Originally Posted by Diana Gordon View Post

      I have some beef with Paypal's system. Someone please come up with something better. When I was in China, my account was frozen every time I bought on a Chinese IP. There system has certain stop actions in place regardless of you.

      So good advice about calling them ahead of time. See what they can do for you. I had to use a VPN, to get past my particular account freezing problem (which is frowned upon).
      I'm surprised you didn't get banned for using a VPN, eBay/PayPal seems to detect them. Even before their flash cookies.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    Calling ahead does not always work. Sometimes they just freeze you.

    Get your own merchant account.
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    • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
      Originally Posted by Brad Gosse View Post

      Calling ahead does not always work. Sometimes they just freeze you.

      Get your own merchant account.
      Many first time merchant account owners are limited to $25,000 a month, which is no good for a real product launch either. Merchant account providers also get nervous when you go from 0 to 60 in ten minutes.
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  • Profile picture of the author ingeniousaffiliate
    Once Paypal has frozen an account it can be very difficult to get your money released. It's always easier to prevent the freeze in the first place by contacting them as previous posters advised. Make sure you take detailed notes of the phone call. What time you called, who you spoke with, their position. Make note of the questions you asked and the responses to those questions. Then wait a day or two and call back. When speaking with the new person tell them that you're verifying your launch date with them. Make sure the person you're speaking with to sees the record of your previous call on the account. Make sure to take notes of this call as well. This is your best chance of avoiding the rep that doesn't do their job. As long as you don't have a bunch of customers from high fraud countries you should be ok.
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    • Profile picture of the author regska
      Originally Posted by ingeniousaffiliate View Post

      Once Paypal has frozen an account it can be very difficult to get your money released. It's always easier to prevent the freeze in the first place by contacting them as previous posters advised. Make sure you take detailed notes of the phone call. What time you called, who you spoke with, their position. Make note of the questions you asked and the responses to those questions. Then wait a day or two and call back. When speaking with the new person tell them that you're verifying your launch date with them. Make sure the person you're speaking with to sees the record of your previous call on the account. Make sure to take notes of this call as well. This is your best chance of avoiding the rep that doesn't do their job. As long as you don't have a bunch of customers from high fraud countries you should be ok.
      Thanks for the suggestion, but there's no way for me to contact them by phone because I'm not in the U.S., I can only contact them via email, and I think it's hard to inform them about my launch through email, sometimes they don't reply.
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  • Profile picture of the author scrofford
    I wonder if enough people in the US started making complaints to the Attorney General of their state, if that would cause Pay Pal to change it's thinking? I understand they have a TOS but it sounds to me with all the threads I have read about how Pay Pal is freezing accounts for such stupid crazy reasons, that something along those lines could be done. I wonder if it would make a difference? Because in my opinion they are just plain stealing from honest people trying to make a living on the internet.
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    • Profile picture of the author Silas Hart
      Originally Posted by scrofford View Post

      I wonder if enough people in the US started making complaints to the Attorney General of their state, if that would cause Pay Pal to change it's thinking? I understand they have a TOS but it sounds to me with all the threads I have read about how Pay Pal is freezing accounts for such stupid crazy reasons, that something along those lines could be done. I wonder if it would make a difference? Because in my opinion they are just plain stealing from honest people trying to make a living on the internet.
      They have for years. Nothing seems to really stop them because PayPal operates through loopholes. Much of the banking industry is still many years old, regulations often take years to finalize, while the online industries evolve quickly. This makes it difficult for lawmakers to pinch extremely wealthy companies like PayPal which operate like a bank, but is not considered one. The FTC has probably been "financially persuaded" by PayPal to leave them alone, however next year all PayPal transactions will be reported to the IRS.

      PayPal could move to a country which protects them, and they will still transact money as normal.
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  • Profile picture of the author bhopkins
    I just always call them. If you get a merchants account with them then they are a lot less likely to take any action when you have fluctuation. It costs a little money but well worth it in my opinion.

    If you think about it, then Paypal is a perfect place for laundering money or other illegal money transfers. all someone would need to do is to set up a fake ecommerce site and then have fake orders made that are never filled but paid through with a paypal account. The Attorney general and Ebay knows this too which is the reason for a lot of their rules.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Brown
    Paypal can and will freeze your account. They have mine on occassion. They always tell me how to get the funds released. Usually I need to prove product availability. Sometimes I need to get positive feedback from the customer. Generally the funds are frozen until I satisfy their demands. Speaking with them prior to launching is helpful, but it is definitely not guaranteed, because it's a big computer that does the freezing and humans to thaw. Try not the make large withdrawals, this is a big red flag. Periodic withdrawals is better. BTW DO NOT BUY FROM CHINA AND USE PAYPAL FUNDS TO PAY FOR IT, PAYPAL WILL TERMINATE YOUR ACCOUNT AND FREEZE YOUR FUNDS FOR 6 MONTHS.
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  • Profile picture of the author mattbf
    I had my account frozen when I traveled out of the country. The reason was that I logged in from a different location. The only way to unlock it was to have them mail my address a code that I would need to enter. Since I was away, I couldnt receive the mail and my account was frozen for a few weeks. When I travel out of the country I always call and notify them so that it doesnt happen again.
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