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> And yes, their decision is always final. Perhaps their decision to close your account is always final, but don't lose all hope after having your funds frozen
by 55555 7y ago
> And yes, their decision is always final.
Perhaps their decision to close your account is always final, but don't lose all hope after having your funds frozen. I had 25-100k frozen (can't remember how much), and picked up the phone and called them and it was unfrozen within 48 hours.
Paypal is god-awful though and should be used as little as possible.
- dTal 7y agoWhy do we call it "frozen"? It sounds more like "stolen" to me.
- jdironman 7y agoRight, if someone says alright, put your money in this box. But then they take the box and close it and say no, you can't open it, Sorry. What does that sound more like? Frozen, or stolen?
- vntok 7y agoFrozen, as long as they don't take the money either.
- teddyh 7y agoBut with PayPal, that’s not the case. Your “money” in your account at PayPal is just a number in a table. The actual money, however, is in PayPal’s bank account where it is earning PayPal interest and investment opportunities.
- drc500free 7y agoTo be fair, anything other than M0 (physical cash) is just a number in a table. Banking regulations that ensure ease of access are the only reason other "numbers in tables" are considered part of the money supply.
- megous 7y agoYou probably want it to be in a table that earns you interest, not PayPal, though.
- Aunche 7y agoI may be wrong like this, but I think only banks are allowed to earn interest on your cash, and Paypal isn't a bank.
- pdonis 7y agoThe "money" in your Paypal account isn't "your cash". As you say, Paypal isn't a bank. Your Paypal balance is Paypal's cash, which it allows you to use for purchasing things with Paypal, or to transfer to your own bank account. But in the meantime, it's Paypal's money, which Paypal keeps in its own bank or investment vehicle, earning interest for Paypal.
- dTal 7y agoThe already have the money. The notion that it's somehow "in your account" is just PayPal fiction - especially if they deny you access to "your account" indefinitely. (Supposedly they don't operate fractional reserve, which means that Peter Thiel pinky-promises not to touch the principle. But it's still in PayPal commercial investment vehicles, earning away.)
- icebraining 7y agoPeter Thiel hasn't been CEO of PayPal for almost 20 years...
- mindslight 7y agoWhich just goes to show how insanely difficult it is to find good pinky swear talent. It's like the voice-over of Silicon Valley.
- gumby 7y agoSo if a crook steals your money and buries it in the back yard instead of spending it it's not theft?
- dTal 7y ago"...It's not about making money, it's about taking money. Destroying the status quo because the status is not quo." -- Dr. Horrible
- TeMPOraL 7y agoIt was a bad analogy. A better one would be, you send a friend to pick up some money for you, and when the friend returns, they suddenly refuse to give you the money.
- ricardobeat 7y agoI would call that theft, no question.
- welly 7y agoPayPal are not your friend.
- ShinTakuya 7y agoPayPal has no obligation to keep your money in a secure trust, so essentially your balance is just a recorded number. The actual money is being invested. They keep a small pool of money in reserve and in easily liquifiable investments to cover withdrawals of course.
- dd36 7y agoYes they do. They’re a licensed money transmitter.
- scohesc 7y agoI can bet my absolute bottom dollar that the money is frozen, but they're still making interest on it. Stolen is more appropriate here.
- mcherm 7y agoPayPay calls it "frozen" because that is the term that actual regulated banks use when they temporarily deny access to an account because of a government order or a fraud investigation. It is to PayPal's benefit to use terminology that makes them look like a bank.
- ru999gol 7y agoThere are lots of horror stories about Paypal, but there is an obvious problem, nobody is going out of their way to write a blog post about how Paypal always worked for them. You can find pretty much the same horror stories about any Bank or credit card company.
- H1Supreme 7y agoI used to sell some automotive accessories on eBay. Approx 20-30 items a month. Every time I had to call or email Paypal's customer service, I had a good experience. Much, MUCH better than dealing with eBay's. Even though the complaint review process didn't always go my way, it seemed thorough and fair.
- mrosett 7y agoCan you point me towards examples of a bank (not the government - a bank) confiscating a company’s account balance?
- jonnycomputer 7y agowere assets frozen? I didn't read that.
- blueadept111 7y agoQuadriga
- corbet 7y agoEarly in LWN's history our credit card acquirer decided that our transactions were "suspicious". They not only cut us off...they reached into our bank account and pulled back $30,000 from there. That was a lot of money to us back then, and very nearly killed the entire operation. Ironically, the thing that saved us was that the PayPal revenue stream still worked just fine.
- luckylion 7y ago> You can find pretty much the same horror stories about any Bank or credit card company. I don't know if you can in the US, but not in my country. A bank working like paypal would be in trouble, and quickly. Closing accounts without prior notice? Deciding unilaterally to freeze assets? A bank can't do that unless ordered by a judge. If they would, they'll be on the receiving end of a court order and will get a call from the regulator's office that they really don't like to hear from. Paypal is shady, and there's a reason they run their operation from Luxembourg, one of the top places to do shady financial business in Europe.
- wdb 7y agoCan you call them for me? They still have $10k frozen and been so for the last 16 months
- colejohnson66 7y agoIf it’s that much, I’d recommend a lawyer
- djsumdog 7y agoI think you got really lucky. The majority of people would probably need to contact a lawyer.