Paypal Query...important Message, Problem Over?

I have a stamp dealer friend who had the same experience. He was having an auction, and lots of money going in/out of his account, and boom - all was frozen with precisely the same notice. It was total panic/chaos when he first rang me for advice.

Once he had provided the required scanned images (drivers license and some invoices with street address if I recall properly) to PayPal , his account was re-establishes in less than a day.

So just follow the instructions (step-by-step and literally), provide the required documents/scans, and you'll do fine.

And there lies the problem.
They give you 4 choices in two sections and you have to send them one document from each section.
Easy ?
Well....No.
On the first section, two of the documents I don't have. The other two are my Passport and my Photo ID Driving Licence. My Driving Licence is the old kind with no photo, but it does have all the details they need...Address, Date of Birth, Sex. They don't need a picture of me but they do need the other info. But I have to send a Photo driving Licence. And I cannot.
I do not like the idea of sending a scan of my Passport...and neither do the Passport Office or her Majesty's government.
In these regards, Paypal appear out of touch with reality. They could tell me to send proof of Address, name etc and I can do it...which altogether makes me suspicious.

The second group of 4 also includes documents I do not have, nor most likely ever will. The only one I could possibly send them is a Bank Statement......except I cannot ! My Bank Statements are all Online and they show neither my sex or address....and the Bank Account number and my name are just not ewnough [surprise,surprise].So I must contact my Bank and ask them to send a Paper Statement to my UK address. When it arrives, I must ask my Mother to send it to me in order that I can scan it and send it to Paypal.....but even then It might not be enough.

I have sent them all this info by email 4 times and so far have had 3 replies. All of the replies were exactly the same and all automated [of course]. On each automated reply I am asked to reply if I have any more questions....now can you see how funny this is ?
Talk about going around in circles.

I absolutely refuse to phone them and waste tens of dollars listening to Mantovani or Perry Como so it's only by email. Yes, I am stubborn.

So there we have it.
In my last email I offered to talk with Skype [Tongue-in-cheek] but one never knows, they may accept !

Londonbus1

London bus I feel for you nothing worst than stuck dealing with paypal I have had many a fight with them in the past. I always find a phone call works the best to explain your situation. I know you refuse to but I think it will be the best option. Paypal has there rules and regulations if you don't follow there instructions your out of luck. if you talk to them they may except a scan of your passport with certain information blacked out or a X through the photo, just tell them this is the only way you will agree or maybe update your drivers licence. You never know thill ya try

This may ease your mind about sendind a copy of your passport -- see item #6.

http://www.hmso.gov.uk/copyright/gu...0format).htm

Anything to do with finance these days always ask for photo id. I'm an accountant and as part of the money laundering regulations we have to have a copy of photo id, utility bill etc and thats for clients we actually meet face-to-face.

@LondonBus1... I know the catch-22 situation You are. Not so long ago I was in process of applying a passport for our oldest kid, and me & my misses stumbled with the "official requirements" of identifying ourselves (drivers licence etc. common documents are not valid for this purpose inside EU/Finland). Fortunately the officer dealing the application was very understanding, and stated that a vast majority of the passport applicants face the same situation. So they simply use "common sense" and look for the other documents people have with them. Not sure if PayPal does the same, but if they are smart (which I think they are), they will.

Possibly the worst option is that You do nothing, or try to refund or withdraw the funds from Your PayPal account. Unless you provide the documents PayPal asks/wants, it's the same as admitting being guilty (to money laundering). And it might have legal implications - not just to You, but also people who have done business with You. It's all in the small print / terms of service we all PayPal (Europe) users have agreed to follow.

So my advice is to send them scans of ANY documents You can, and see what's their response. Even on worst scenario, you'll just see the red "disapproved" icon for your documents.

I saw RED !

Everything anyone could wish to know in 6 lovely scans, including dual copies, matching names,addresses,Dates of Birth,Photos, and many more items I absolutely hate sending by email !

No good.

Now, I can't log in either. I wanted to reply to some of the horror stories I have been reading on the Paypal forum......no way.
I am not alone, so that's one comforting thought. But I do see a long road ahead which can only mean I am in a backlog of problems and will have to sit it out.

Still no reply from ebay [as if I expected one] on the cancellation of my bids ! I will inform the sellers at the auctions end and hope for understanding and no negative feedback.

I usually say 'Great stuff' about almost everything.
Sadly, this is not such an occasion.

Londonbus1

*** Edited by Staff | The bad word filter is in place for a reason. Bypassing the filter and making the intended word obvious anyway is completely unacceptable. *** happens. But I have the patience to wait for my lot until You get things sorted out. So don't stress on it.

I guess your only chance is now to contact the Paypal Customer Service either by phone or by email, and try to settle things face-to-face.



I think they never ask to send anything by email (as it's insecure)?!?

The last time I had some issues with PayPal they asked me to upload some documents through Paypal (secure/https) website.

And my friend (who had his account frozen like yours) had the same treatment - file uploads only.

Yes, of course, I uploaded the scans at paypal !

As for trying to contact Paypal through the site by email it's just a no-go area. I have sent about 15 messages so far and have received only automated replies.
But as I can no longer Log-in, it's all irrelevant.

I'll just wait for them to reply to my emails.

One day I will be at the top of the list and the email will be personal.......OK, I'm dreaming !

And the horror stories I have been reading makes me sit a bit uneasy in my swivel chair......I even wondered if they can possibly be true !

Londonbus1

Mr. Bus,
You have my sympathy. Last summer, while I was on vacation in the US, I used paypal to pay for a few auctions that ended during the time I was abroad. Paypal seized my account becuase it was "used from an unknown location".
No amount of emailng or calling could deal with it.. until I faxed them a copy of my driver's license and passport. If I could find an alternative to this system, I most defintely would!

Could Paypal be compared to a wonder drug that on one hand gives relief but on the other causes damage to the body ? It makes paying for an item incredibly easy..as for the other side of the coin...i have yet to experience it !!

I have been maintaining my paypal balance at a maximum of $75 for over a year. I certainly plan on continuing that habit after reading this horror story.

Paypal's and ebay's customer support is terrible, because they are a monopoly.
I had my ebay seller account frozen because I did an experiment selling pretty JPGs
(photographs that I took) at $1.00. They claimed I was infringing the feedback rules
(the theory being that the amount of the sale allowed me to manipulate my feedback
by the quantity of transactions - last thing I was thinking of after many years of
being an ebay seller).
There is no human element in that interface, because they don't have to. They have
your money, and no reason to go out of their way to give it back.
I use them because I have to, constantly looking for alternatives. Dwolla is a
payment service that charges $0.25 regardless of the payment amount, but it is
not widely used. Any real alternatives? Probably material for a different topic...

London Bus,
The thing to remember here is that Paypal belongs to ebay.
Did you make the mistake of connecting your Paypal and ebay accounts?
If you do this ebay monitor your Paypal activity and start to limit its use, if you are using it for any purposes other than ebay sales [pathetic I know].
To solve the problem disconnect ebay from paypaal and request Paypal-Paypal direct transfers from your ebay customers. I know this works because this is how I do it.
Alternatively transfer your business to bidStart, CQout, or delcampe; all of whom are far more professional and cheaper than ebay and they have no objection to any payment system you decide to use.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the pointer to bidStart. I just setup an account.
But, the market is a small fraction of the size of ebay. For example,
in the German States category (their Germany categories are nicer than
ebay.com, more like ebay.de) I see 59 auction listings, whereas ebay.de
has 5000+ listings. The only way for bidStart to become viable is to
lower final value fees and make it interesting for large dealers to list
there.