WARNING: PAYPAL STARTED MASSIVE ACCOUNT BAN ON ANYTHING BITCOIN RELATED

[aztecminer]

FYI, paypal has started a massive banning campaign on accounts selling anything bitcoin related, whether it's mining equipment, ebooks, or the currency itself.

This is a new action they started around mid Jan of this year.

You will be warned once, then your account will be perm banned from paypal, with all money inside frozen.  

I got called from paypal because i sold a few casascius coins (no issues with the transaction itself, buyers all happy).  But the lady said because i sold bitcoin my account is now under review for a perm ban. I stated i have been selling since early 2013 with no issues, and it's perfectly legal within ebay they even created a new category called virtual currency for it.

But she could careless just reading off a script, but I managed to get it out of her it's some new policy they are now implementing against bitcoin. She doesnt really even understand what it is, as long as the auction has the word bitcoin in it, over certain $ amount, and buyer paid with paypal, you are at risk getting the hammer.  If you check online many similar stories in the last month or so.

That's one way to try shut down the competition.  ,,!,, paypal

freezing your money ?? sounds like a scheme to me ..

[dmcl]

hmm.. interesting to know.. i have sold some GHS on cex recently. no words of warning yet and there are plenty of others doing the same.

good job i should have my bank account setup for adding payees soon so i can buy my BTC that way as have been using virwox up until i hit the deposit limit for the month.

[yayayo]

PayPal's policy since years:

1. Freeze account
2. Harass customer
3. Exploit interest


Recommendation: Don't do business with crooks. Use bitcoin.


ya.ya.yo!

[cloverme]

I'll concur in that paypalfroze my account when I was selling bitcoins on Ebay.  I had to sign a statement and get it notarized for my paypal account to get unlocked saying I would not buy or sell bitcoins or other cryptocurrency with Paypal.  I've been paypal verified since 2000 with no account limits.  I asked if I could buy and sell bitcoin hardware and they said "no problem".

That being said, I recently had a payment get "held" for 24 hours while buying a bitcoin miner on ebay last week.

-Chris

[mitty]

I recently talked to PayPal reps about this, more specifically regarding selling Bitcoin mining hardware on eBay.

They wouldn't give me a clear yes or no answer since I'm sure they would like to be able to ban problem accounts without going back on their word, but the rep I talked to said that you "will probably be okay" if you are selling physical, in-hand, mining hardware.  That most likely means no pre-orders, mining contracts, or anything else that you can't pick up, put into a box, and ship to someone.

The issue with Casascius coins is most likely that they are a method of selling private keys associated with Bitcoin balances, i.e., selling Bitcoins, i.e., the seller of the Casascius coin is acting as a currency exchange service since they are taking Dollars in exchange for Bitcoins.  PayPal probably makes this association even if the Bitcoin balance on the coin's address is zero or even if the address is somehow scrubbed off the coin.

PayPal is pretty annoying regarding their restrictions but they are only doing it because it costs them real time and money to deal with buyer disputes and because they need to comply with anti money laundering and other government regulations.  PayPal is a business and they don't want to engage in unprofitable activities.  Wasting all their time on disputes due to scammers, vaporware, and getting fined or slapped by federal regulators isn't profitable and could tarnish their reputation so PayPal prohibits certain transactions (like many Bitcoin related ones) for the overall good of all their users.

tldr: PayPal needs to cooperate with big banks and large government organizations and also not be overwhelmed with buyer protection cases due to scammers, etc. in order to offer its services and therefore has to sometimes make compromises on what is considered acceptable use to better serve their customers as a whole.

[aceking]

paypal sucks !!!!

[Mr. Socko]

I'd say the scammers brought this on themselves... too many people going to ebay or paypal claiming they did not get what they ordered and creating hassle for ebay/paypal. The buyer of a couple of ASIC block erupters did this to me and I got an email a week ago saying ebay fixed a buyer protection case that was filed against me by erasing it from my record, meaning for whatever reason they looked at the accounts and my good feedback and account that was created in 1999 and sided with me. Nice, but people here think it's some grand conspiracy when in reality bitcoin seems to be filled with more scammers than other areas where ebay gets sales. Honestly the dumbass ordered 2 block eruptors and claimed he only got one... a claim trying to scam 50 bucks out of me at the time... get a job.

[RitzGrandCasino]

Paypals concept is brilliant. However, the chargebacks and other issues that came when ebay bought them were ridiculous. Bitcoin is far better.
And thats why paypal hates it. It is a competitor that is growing at a rapid rate.
 

Long live bitcoin.

[dmcl]

so do they issue a warning first or straight to a ban? dont think ill be keeping any wothwhile amount of money in my account if this is the kind of shit theyre up to now.

[keithers]

You were selling a physical item that was perfectly allowed and they froze your money because they didn't like it...  How is that not illegal?

exactly, i explained very clearly everything i sold was physical - casascius coins and some asic mining equipment, nothing virtual.  But she doesnt care or even understand, to be fair i dont think it's her fault she's just a drone.

i have been with paypal for over 10 years with a business account and paypal credit card, do about $10k transaction with them each month. And they would just ban me because i listed a few bitcoin auction is insane

I wondering if i should withdraw money from paypal now, got about $6k in there, but if i do i think it will worsen my chance of not getting perm ban.

what a nightmare, becareful guys.

edit:  i dont think buyers are affected, they are only targeting sellers.

That is outrageous.   Given your history with them, I would think that they would see how much business you bring them before threatening to ban you over something so small

[Maidak]

I went through this not once but twice, I operate a mmorpg gold exchange they thought I was selling bitcoins. They said it was ok for me to sell game gold but not btc make sense? Rs3 gold was the bitcoin before bitcoin was invented.

[p2pbucks]

sue paypal 

[newguy05]

hmm.. interesting to know.. i have sold some GHS on cex recently. no words of warning yet and there are plenty of others doing the same.

good job i should have my bank account setup for adding payees soon so i can buy my BTC that way as have been using virwox up until i hit the deposit limit for the month.

Keep in mind the dollar amount matters, I think anything over $1000 (but no one really knows the exact amount)triggers an account review followed by a phone call reading the script then a ban or account limit.

I called them again after my account was limited, the rep kept on and on about against policy selling virtual currency, I then asked is physical collectible coins allowed, he said yes, I then asked him to bring up the auction of the casascius coin that caused my account limit and it had a photo of the physical coin. At that point he has no idea what to do next you can tell he went off script, repeated  "yes sir I can see it's a real coin" 3 times, was pretty hilarious.

Of course he couldn't do anything even though he and I both know it was physical collectible coins, which are sold all over ebay.

[LostDutchman]

You were selling a physical item that was perfectly allowed and they froze your money because they didn't like it...  How is that not illegal?

exactly, i explained very clearly everything i sold was physical - casascius coins and some asic mining equipment, nothing virtual.  But she doesnt care or even understand, to be fair i dont think it's her fault she's just a drone.

i have been with paypal for over 10 years with a business account and paypal credit card, do about $10k transaction with them each month. And they would just ban me because i listed a few bitcoin auction is insane

I wondering if i should withdraw money from paypal now, got about $6k in there, but if i do i think it will worsen my chance of not getting perm ban.

what a nightmare, becareful guys.

edit:  i dont think buyers are affected, they are only targeting sellers.

GET YOUR MONEY OUT OF PAYPAL RIGHT NOW!

My $.02.

[MicroGuy]

Ebay owns PayPal. They wouldn't start banning accounts for bitcoin use AND be introducing a "Virtual Currency" category at the same time.

[newguy05]

Too late my account was already limited....

Regarding bitcoin mining hardware ban policy with paypal, it's a clusterfuck mess right now no one knows, but they definitely banned many accounts selling hardware only.

Check out the below article, basically paypal banned many accounts for selling hardware, after a revolt, CEO retracts and says you can sell mining hardware just not bitcoins....now no one really knows.

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/2014/01/13/paypal/

[newguy05]

Ebay owns PayPal. They wouldn't start banning accounts for bitcoin use AND be introducing a "Virtual Currency" category at the same time.

That's EXACTLY what they did, and just so you know they still operate almost as two separate entity not one.

[altoz]

I went through this whole thing. Paypal and eBay are supposedly two different entities. Paypal's CEO has been trying to reform their image as a seller-unfriendly service who closes accounts for no reason.

I'd say the best vector of getting things changed is flooding his twitter account asking why he's doing this. If there's a sustained outcry, I'm sure something will get done. My impression is that it's some mid-level guy that instituted the policy.

Here's his twitter account:

https://twitter.com/davidmarcus

#afraidofbitcoin?

[EvilPanda]

I went through this not once but twice, I operate a mmorpg gold exchange they thought I was selling bitcoins. They said it was ok for me to sell game gold but not btc make sense? Rs3 gold was the bitcoin before bitcoin was invented.

Haha been there. My local online marketplace decided to ban bitcoin starting next month. They allowed the trade of game currencies for years and will continue even after the comming btc ban. They are just stupid 

[R0yalAir]

I remember a guy from this forum who was ready to call this kinda thread a FUD
anyway it's better to avoid PP