Should I be worried?

[RichardCard82]

Okay here's the short version of my story.

I've had this Canadian Paypal for over a year now, Im in the US. I don't even use Canadian proxy I use American one (No nothing has ever happened, my account has never been limited)

I've received 95% of my payments in gift. Since having the account i've prob withdrawn over $40,000. Not one email from Paypal asking me to provide ID or SSN (whatever its called in Canada) nor have they ever asked about the money, I use a US Bank account. And no this hasn't been eBay money I dont even deal with ebay. This is all from direct buyers. My first dispute was back in Jan for $15 which the person just didn't recall sending me the money he apologized for the dispute and re sent the $15.

I got my second dispute on this account 3 days ago for $20. This was for a gift payment made on the 4th of this month. So I immediately refunded.

Tonight I get another dispute from a scammer who disputed transaction a few hours after his payment was sent (this time the payment was sent as goods) It was for $18.25. I again immediately refunded.

My worry is that i'll get limited or Paypal will ask questions. I feel like calling them and asking if I should be worried about a limitation but that may open Pandora's box. What should I do? How many disputes can you have in the course of the Paypal's account lifetime before its a problem? With tonight's dispute this will be the 3rd dispute i've had since owning the account for over a year now. But the fact that i've had 2 disputes in one week makes me nervous

(if you guys are wondering what I do, I sell is virtual items) I always have my buyers send it as gift with no comments.

Thanks for the input everyone.

EDIT: If you guys are also wondering why I went with a Canadian PayPal , its because they only require a bank account to be verified and no limits on how much you can withdraw. No CC required.

[plumsake2]

I would not call because there's quite a few things about your account that would throw up red flags.

Using a proxy is really not a good idea - there are much better types of IPs out there.

And $40,000 all, or mostly from gift payments? You should be prepared to explain why you received so many gifts from a large amount of people.

To answer your question, there is no set number as to how many disputes that would push things over the edge. So many factors come into play and it's really unique to everyone's account.

But, with selling virtual goods you should consider yourself lucky if you've only had three disputes in over a year. That's one of the riskiest things you can sell due to scammers and so it's really only a matter of time until things get worse.

I would seriously rethink your business plan. Are you relying on this account, or is it just a side thing? You should be prepared to lose the account at any time, so make sure you have backups in place. And ideally, you should also have other non-risky items that you can sell as well.

[miketyson]

He said he doesn't use a proxy.
Disputes are going to happen it's fine as long as you handle it and not paypal. Refunding right away for whatever reason is fine. It's the disputes you ignore and then paypal has to decide then they question you. Those are small amounts compared to the big picture amounts of payments. I wouldn't be worried but just have backups in case. Nothing you can do once they limit you.

[MM78]

The old "Virtual Items"....never fails.

[plumsake2]

Originally Posted by miketyson

He said he doesn't use a proxy.
Disputes are going to happen it's fine as long as you handle it and not paypal. Refunding right away for whatever reason is fine. It's the disputes you ignore and then paypal has to decide then they question you. Those are small amounts compared to the big picture amounts of payments. I wouldn't be worried but just have backups in case. Nothing you can do once they limit you.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, he stated that he doesn't use a Canadian proxy but he does use an American (proxy).

[RichardCard82]

Originally Posted by plumsake2

I would not call because there's quite a few things about your account that would throw up red flags.

Using a proxy is really not a good idea - there are much better types of IPs out there.

And $40,000 all, or mostly from gift payments? You should be prepared to explain why you received so many gifts from a large amount of people.

To answer your question, there is no set number as to how many disputes that would push things over the edge. So many factors come into play and it's really unique to everyone's account.

But, with selling virtual goods you should consider yourself lucky if you've only had three disputes in over a year. That's one of the riskiest things you can sell due to scammers and so it's really only a matter of time until things get worse.

I would seriously rethink your business plan. Are you relying on this account, or is it just a side thing? You should be prepared to lose the account at any time, so make sure you have backups in place. And ideally, you should also have other non-risky items that you can sell as well.

I use a private proxy that i pay monthly for. So its safe. And yes I have another Canadian paypal and and two business paypal's one of them is under my LLC (which i wouldn't dream of using for this)

Plus I use 2checkout.com (you can invoice your clients via the site and they can pay with paypal or credit card. They pay 2checkout not you directly so its even better)

I use this paypal just to have it and be able to use goold ole' fashioned paypal. Ill keep going till wheel's fall off this thing.

[jeffweico]

There is no set number of disputes than an account can withstand before PayPal wants more information or closes it down. I would take care NOT to leave too much money in the account, because if it is limited, you won't see that money for 180 days and you may NEVER see it unless you can prove the account is yours.

I would set up a few stealth PayPal accounts as backups. If you spread your payments over a few accounts, you lessen the risk of losing money, or not having a way to accept payments.

You MUST understand stealth to do this however. Everything needs to be different on these PayPals - the IP address, user accounts, bank accounts, credit cards, etc.

[RichardCard82]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

There is no set number of disputes than an account can withstand before PayPal wants more information or closes it down. I would take care NOT to leave too much money in the account, because if it is limited, you won't see that money for 180 days and you may NEVER see it unless you can prove the account is yours.

I would set up a few stealth PayPal accounts as backups. If you spread your payments over a few accounts, you lessen the risk of losing money, or not having a way to accept payments.

You MUST understand stealth to do this however. Everything needs to be different on these PayPals - the IP address, user accounts, bank accounts, credit cards, etc.

I understand stealth pretty well. I usually leave around $400 or so since im dealing with hundreds a day. I am amazed its been over a year and its still running strong. Im not saying its invisible but i know one day it will get limited , I have two spare backups which i don't really use. One of them is a year old and the other one is 4 months old. I switch between my 2checkout account and this paypal every 3rd day

[jeffweico]

Well, then all seems to be good. Just don't lave any more money in PayPal than you have to.

[ppthump]

A note on proxies:
There are several reasons why proxies are not suggested.

-Anonymous or "pooled" proxies are probably instant death (I know you use a paid for private, just listing this to be complete). Not only will you eventually get dirty ip's, you will be connecting from a different IP every time, which is sketchy. Plus, your connection is probably garbage that way.

-its very difficult to make sure nothing "leaks" with proxies

-Unless you are very tech savvy, you wont be able to verify how well your proxy is setup. While its easy to hide your IP with a proxy, its harder to hide that fact that you are using one at all. nearly all proxies Ive seen are setup poorly, and its trivial for a site to discover you are using one. Most proxy providers arent real motivated to put in the extra work, or are a high-school kid who just threw squid on a cloud for some beer money, and they dont know what they dont know.

It sounds like you either know how to do your homework or got lucky since its been going for a year, but in general its WAY easier to just get a VPN. If you're going to pay for it anyway, might as well have the peace of mind. Personally, Ive had a LOT of professional experience using proxies, so I feel comfortable I could use one safely, but I still dont screw around with it. Its risky and a time waster.

[dealagreeproceed]

this thread is golden