PayPal
Appeal Denied, Jewelry Sale Funds Held Up to 180 Days

Wow! What an eye opener! I am a newbie to eBay and PayPal, and I can only be glad that they decided to rip me off before I had a significant amount of money in there. Apparently everything is great with them as long as you are a buyer sending money or a seller that doesn't remove any money.

I just started selling this past weekend and sold jewelry from a company that I used to be a rep for. That was over two years ago. I sold 6 transactions. None of the transactions were over $30. For those of us who are trying to make ends meet, that measly $150 would have been a help, right? Wrong.

Yesterday (Mon.) I got the vague form letter, "your business exposes itself to too much risk," that I now see all over the internet! They gave me the proverbial list 9 miles long, and included in the list they want "Invoices for my supplier." Wow! I called and said I would definitely look, but my goodness, we are talking about costume jewelry that I purchased over 2 years ago. How many of you women have receipts for your costume jewelry? (If you haven't lost 1 of each pair like me, you may not even have the jewelry!)

But whatever, I will look through the boxes since we moved 6 months ago. They also wanted my ID. Now mind you, I have a "premier account," a "verified bank account," a "verified credit card complete with their address on file," and a "verified address." But once again, whatever it takes.

So today I got a letter that states "Appeal denied," and that they will try not to disrupt my "company" any more than necessary, but they might keep my measly $120 (by now, from all the eBay fees, etc.) for up to 180 days!!! What? You're kidding? Nope, they're not.

So I got hold of the jewelry company and got all the invoices, receipts, my ID, my SS card, my credit card info, and my HUD closing statement (just in case), everything but my first-born son (since he is already in Heaven, otherwise they might have asked...), and sent it in. Guess what I got?

You got it: another form letter stating they received my info and will review it and make a decision. I ask you, what decision? Whether my business of selling now 8 (2 more sold today) items of costume jewelry is a risk to our nation? Isn't it interesting how they will still continue to receive money in the account, just not release money? Oh yeah, this whole thing began because I transferred (or attempted to transfer) a whopping $50 to my (verified) checking account. They promptly cancelled the transfer. Funny, I thought it was my money.

I just decided to look at consumer complaints tonight, and what an education! How do these people get away with it? In one respect it is reassuring to know that I am not the only one being treated like Bonnie and Clyde, but geez, what a scam! I only wish I had looked them up on this site before I sold anything.

I sent an email to eBay tonight and gave them this whole scoop, but I don't expect much. There has got to be somebody out there who can stop these people from taking advantage of the little people. eBay advertises, "The average house has about $2,200 worth of 'stuff' around the house that they can sell." The only thing they don't say is that you had better have receipts or invoices for that 4 year old VCR/DVD player, or PayPal (which they encourage you to use and even pay an incentive for you to use) will freeze your account for "exposing them to too much risk"!

Doesn't this qualify for some kind of monopoly or coercion or just plain old rip-off laws? I was amazed at how many people there are out there having the same thing happen! Can we band together to get this stopped?

Company: PayPal
Country: USA
Phone: 4029357733
Site: paypal.com

  <     >