2013-09-06 - PayPal freezes $45,000 of Mailpile’s crowdfunded dollars

[Rodyland]

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/09/paypal-freezes-45000-of-mailpiles-crowdfunded-dollars/?update

For those that keep asking why we need Bitcoin.

[murraypaul]

Update: PayPal has notified Ars Technica via phone and e-mail that it has released Mailpile's crowdsourced funding, and it is working on modifying its oversight procedures to better cope with crowdfunding. Here is the company's full statement:

We have reached out to MailPile and the limitation has been lifted. Supporting crowd funding campaigns is an exciting new part of our business.We are working closely with industry-leaders like IndieGoGo and adapting our processes and policies to better serve the innovative companies that are relying on PayPal and crowd funding campaigns to grow their businesses. We never want to get in the way of innovation, but as a global payments company we must ensure the payments flowing through our system around the world are in compliance with laws and regulations. We understand that the way in which we are complying to these rules can be frustrating in some cases and we've made significant changes in North America to adapt to the unique needs of crowd funding campaigns. We are currently working to roll these improvements out around the world.

[StarfishPrime]

Paypal is well known to freeze funds (and hold them for weeks) with little or no cause. A simple google search will turn up all kinds of horror stories where companies have been unable to meet payroll etc etc on account of over-reliance on Paypal.

You should *never* keep any funds in Paypal that you can't afford to have frozen for 2-3 weeks. A single "questionable" payment from a customer or even inquiring about unusual activity can be enough to lock down an account for weeks while an "investigation" takes place. Transactions can also be reversed after several months - for all sorts of dubious reasons with little or no explanation given.

 

[dave111223]

Paypal is well known to freeze funds (and hold them for weeks) with little or no cause. A simple google search will turn up all kinds of horror stories where companies have been unable to meet payroll etc etc on account of over-reliance on Paypal.

You should *never* keep any funds in Paypal that you can't afford to have frozen for 2-3 weeks. A single "questionable" payment from a customer or even inquiring about unusual activity can be enough to lock down an account for weeks while an "investigation" takes place. Transactions can also be reversed after several months - for all sorts of dubious reasons with little or no explanation given.

 

I recently had a payment reversed after 7 months...that's one hell of a long block interval

[Mike Hearn]

The issue here is chargebacks. They're afraid that if the company doesn't deliver, people will chargeback the pledges on their credit cards and PayPal will be left with the fines and losses from the card networks.

Bitcoin can be an excellent platform for crowdfunding because the features you need for assurance contracts are built in to the protocol. However it requires some development work to be done before it's easy to use.

[LiteCoinGuy]

Paypal is well known to freeze funds (and hold them for weeks) with little or no cause. A simple google search will turn up all kinds of horror stories where companies have been unable to meet payroll etc etc on account of over-reliance on Paypal.

You should *never* keep any funds in Paypal that you can't afford to have frozen for 2-3 weeks. A single "questionable" payment from a customer or even inquiring about unusual activity can be enough to lock down an account for weeks while an "investigation" takes place. Transactions can also be reversed after several months - for all sorts of dubious reasons with little or no explanation given.

+1
+1
+1

for bitcoin crowdfunding visit:

https://bitcoinstarter.com/

[Gabi]

Lol at the fact that they released the funding AFTER the story hit the news websites, ridicolous

[prophetx]

i avoid feeding the paypal troll at all costs, that company employs some of the most poorly educated, poorly trained people in financial operations.  we are talking bottom of the barrel.

once when i had a consulting client who wanted to buy some Oracle database licenses through my company i thought it would be easier and more expedient to use paypal. instead i spend hours on the phone with some dimwit manager attempting in vain to explain to her how VARs work and that no I am not willing to send her tons of paperwork to prove that a software license exists.  i made them return the money to my client, signed up for Google Checkout (which btw had a lower fee and completed the transactions in a couple days.

i literally thought they had hired some white trash from the trailer park who couldn't manage a GED, i couldn't believe the hours paypal wasted of my time.