Paypal Shuts Me Down

I have two Paypal accounts, one personal and one business. I just received an email from Paypal on both of my accounts saying that my account is “permanently limited”.

We recently noticed an issue with your account. What’s the problem?
We would like to learn more about some of your recent transactions.
Case ID Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Because of this issue, your account has been permanently limited. We understand this may be frustrating and inconvenient but you’ll still be able to see your transaction history for a limited time. You can get more details about your account limitation in the Resolution Center. For more information, please contact us and we’ll do our best to help.
You’ll be able to withdraw money from your account within 180 days. We’ll email you when it’s available. We just want to make sure that you have money in your account to cover any payment reversals.

I’ll try to contact them and see if that’s any help, but for now I’m Paypal-less. I also received an email that my Paypal debit card has been deactivated.

What’s odd about the whole thing is that I’ve been cooling it on Paypal since we started hearing about shutdowns. I’ve barely been doing much Paypal MyCash card activity. Maybe I did $1,500 or so on each of the two accounts over the past 5-6 weeks. Luckily, I don’t have much money tied up in either account.

The language of the above email makes it sound as if they just need to “learn more about some of your recent transactions”, but from what I’ve heard this is just a politically correct way of saying you’re shut down. When I log in to my Paypal account, they have a message there which says, “This limitation cannot be appealed.” Elsewhere on my account it says, “Your account is limited. Learn how to remove this limitation”. I’ll let you all know if I make any headway.

Has anyone been able to get Paypal to reinstate an account? I’d imagine that I can open another non-confirmed Paypal account without a problem, but I’m wondering if there’s any way to get a confirmed account or to convince them to reinstate my account. If anyone has any tips, I’d appreciate if you can share them.

View Comments (52)

  • I was limited too and PayPal told me they no longer wanted to do business with me anymore which sucks since I have been a member with them for over 4 years! All my transactions are done with them and every single one of my buyers use them because it is easy to.

    I tried to get back on, but they found out and limited my account again. So I done some research and Auction Essistance popped up as one of your readers mentioned. They offer an account set-up here: https://auctionessistance.com/shop/verified/

    But I am wondering is it safe to do? I don't want to get caught again and the realize I paid nothing for an account that got linked again.

  • Add $10 on 6/1,
    Add $50 on 6/1,
    Add $62.02 on 6/1,
    Add $5 on 6/1

    Account freezes on 6/2, sent copy of driver license to resolve

    Freezing funds: $147.00

    on 6/4, login, and see below
    You can't use PayPal anymore
    At PayPal, we value a safe community for our customers to do business. We noticed activity in your account that’s inconsistent with our User Agreement and we no longer offer you PayPal services.

    Any bank or credit card information linked to your PayPal account cannot be removed nor can it be used to create a new account. You can still log in and see your account information but you can’t send or receive money. Any money in your balance will be held for 180 days, after which we’ll send you an email with instructions about transferring your money.

    • If this is truthful., how is that even legal? "You can't send or receive money for 180 days in which case we'll send you an email that you MIGHT get your money back."

  • I was in the same position as well and PayPal gave me no chance to appeal. I needed to use them immediately as PayPal is where I send and receive for most if not all of my transactions. I was able to get back up and running using Auction Essistance, but it still doesn't take away the fact that PayPal assisted me whatsoever with the limitation.

    • Hard to give clear guidance. If you're using for small retail purchases, it should be fine. Isn't that what it's meant for?

      As for rent, to me it would sound fine, but I'm not a PP rep and I don't know if they view rent as "retail" or not.

  • Should i worry bout shut down? I plan on loading say $1000 PPMC onto paypal and then unloading by using PPBDC to pay rent and maybe get $200 in cash back when grocery shopping.

    • as Chuck mentioned, I'm not too sure pp would consider rent payment (RadPad?) as retail but since pp is unpredictable, I'd worry if my payment doesn't go through.

      for now, it looks like MS and PP are like oil and water so better not mess with the latter if you're doing business with ebay. JMO.

  • Didn't you just send out a newsletter this morning about opening multiple PPBDC accounts to go along with multiple PayPal and credit accounts? If you opened these new accounts recently, do you think that may have played a role in triggering these closures?

    • I didn't open them recently. That newsletter was written a couple weeks before I got shut down.

  • I just recently received an email on both my and my wife's account. I never withdrew to bank and only bought MOs once several months ago. I only did about 1000-200/mo. I load Serve and Redbird using the PPBDC. My PPMC loads or loads to Serve/Redbird are what triggered it. My wife's account was reinstated after providing all the ridiculous information they wanted. They were especially interested in the PPMC loads.

    Mine was not so lucky. After I provided all the information, I got a follow up email asking why I was loading my Redbird with my PPBDC instead of directly. I had a pretty thorough reply with lots of reasons (security, convenience, being able to load it online, better rewards using my CC). My next communication with them was a permanent shutdown and holding my funds for 180 days. So long PayPal.

      • I'm not entirely positive. It may be the PP MyCash cards, or it may be other large transactions that I made, irrespective of MyCash. Or a combination of the two.

    • I'm surprised that went after you with such low volume. I guess it's really not worth it to deal with Paypal.

  • My theory is any time you repeatedly exploit a loop hole you're going to end up at the top of some negative list of financial services companies that look at profitability all day long will do something about sooner or later. I'm sure all financial institutions run reports to pull off the obvious leeches. Only different is how they handle it. PayPal gleefully uses the ban hammer often without hesitation because customer service isn't required when you have a monopoly on ebay payment processing. In any case, pulling the backup funding trick frequently in any amount is bound to set off some alarm bells because what good customer really does that repeatedly? Not worth the $400ish max profit to burn that payment option in my opinion, but who knew it would so short lived and end so abrubtly. Thank you for sharing the news though to warn others. Hope they don't tighten the noose further and go after low volume PPMCC churners.

  • I had this happen to me. They said I did too many disputes. I didnt think i did that many. But they shut down my account and also shut down my dad's account, Im a Junior, we have the same name. He was able to get his account re-enabled since he has nothing to do with me. I just created a new account but I have not added a bank account yet since they require my SSN. Also you will be prevented from using any bank account or credit card you previously had on file. I just use it for making purchases on ebay. But I found out, you do not even need a paypal account to buy on ebay. Paypal process's credit card transactions.

    • Dear Anythony,
      You used old name and address which you had on shutdown account or new name and address to open new account. and isn't new credit card you are using had same old address as billing address. does it cause any issue with new account.
      Thank for suggestion in advance.

    • However I will add, that I never received any warnings, never received any letters or emails from them.

  • Terrible. I had applied for their prepaid debit card and I even got them in mail. But just after activating, I read that scary post here about possible shut down and I never attempted that route. I still have that prepaid debit card with -$4.5 balance, I never put any money, I guess that -$4.5 is too cover the fees in case I add any money there