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Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

Well, it looks like I've been stung by PayPal once again. Luckily, all information is stealth except the bank account (you can't ⊗⊗⊗⊗ that) and the mobile number. I am thankful that I managed to withdraw 99% of my profits before the thunder struck on the account.

Here's the email I received, it seems more serious than a usual limitation and they've mentioned the eBay ID used as well, which means its probably someone who's reported me to their team...

Dear xxxxxx xxxxx,

We are hereby notifying you that, after a recent review of your account
activity, it has been determined that you are in violation of PayPal's
Acceptable Use Policy regarding your sales / offers of unauthorized digital
goods on ebay.com, user ID: xxxxxx.

Therefore, your account has been permanently limited.

Per the User Agreement, when PayPal permanently limits an account due to an
Acceptable Use Policy violation, we may hold your funds up to 180 days. We
will review your account at 30 days from the date of this email, we will
calculate our exposure and will release any excess funds to you for
withdrawal. If there are any funds remaining in your account at this time,
we will review your account every 30 days until either all your funds have
been made available to you for withdrawal, or a period of 180 days from the
date your account was limited is reached. Please log in to your PayPal
account and verify that your account information is accurate, as PayPal
cannot be held responsible for incorrect information provided by the
account holder.

You will need to remove all references to PayPal from your website/s and/or
auction/s. This includes not only removing PayPal as a payment option, but
also the PayPal logo and/or shopping cart.

The PayPal User Agreement states that PayPal, at its sole discretion,
reserves the right to limit an account for any violation of the User
Agreement, including the Acceptable Use Policy.

Sales of digital goods are prohibited, if the virtual items or goods may
have been obtained through illegal activity including hacking, account take
overs, or items that were purchased or earned through the use of a stolen
financial instrument.

The complete Acceptable Use Policy can be found at the following URL:
https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mp...ptableuse-full

To learn more about the Acceptable Use Policy, please refer to our Help
Centre page here:
https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/helpweb?cmd=_help

We thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you have any questions,
please contact the PayPal Brand Risk Management Department at
euaup@paypal.co.uk.

Sincerely,
XXXX
PayPal, Brand Risk Management
--------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1999-2017 PayPal. All rights reserved.
PayPal (Europe) S.à r.l. & Cie, S.C.A.
Société en Commandite par Actions
Registered Office: 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449 Luxembourg
RCS Luxembourg B 118 349

Responses to this email address are not monitored. Please send any
additional questions that you may have to euaup@paypal.co.uk.


What's quite concerning about this email is their insinuations about the digital goods being fraudulent / illegitimate. None of them were, but I assume they've received a high amount of cases in this area and were spooked.

I won't bother appealing this to their executive offices, since my funds (except £20) have been withdrawn and the evidence regarding the sale of digital goods is written all over it. I always assumed that eBay were the people that dealt with sales violations, this is a first for me to receive an email from their brand risk team.

Has anyone received a hard limitation and email like this before, and if so, did they release your funds after 30 days, and did any further action follow-up on it?

Thanks!

Re: Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

If your selling digital items, it's usually eBay that limits you.

Digital items being sold via PayPal only is permitted (on your own website etc.), hence why they tend to be a lot more lenient with digital items being sold via eBay.

However - if there is any sign of what you are selling to be illegal, then PayPal will also take down your account.

Re: Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

I can't see why they would assume that, but perhaps the type of digital goods that I am selling is considered a high-risk to them.

In your experience, do PayPal ever act on such concerns after placing a limitation or do they simply keep your 'information' on file in case they're ever required to use it?

Re: Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

What exactly are you concerned about?

Whatever the item is, if you continue to sell it, you can expect to lose more accounts (not sure how many stealth accounts youve set up in the two days since you joined).

Re: Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

I did this before signing up, so I haven't opened a new PayPal account since. I have used the Stealth Book for eBay and it has worked a treat.

It's a real kick in the teeth when your bank account information is locked to the account, I think from now on, when selling digital items, I am better off receiving funds on one account, purely stealth, and then transferring the funds via Buy It Now purchases to another part-stealth account which can withdraw them.

Unfortunately the nature of my sales means that I can't have a PayPal or eBay account for too long, so I have to make the best of what I have, whether it means constantly being subjected to the 72 hour withdrawal hold; new seller holds etc.

The whole "stealth" thing still applies to me, except I can't build it up to something strong like people with tangible sales can.

Re: Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

You should consider spending a few days searching and reading around the forums. The stealth guide covers the basic principles of stealth. The forum is its flesh, and you have a lot to learn.

Not true. I sell both tangible and intangible goods/services. The latter doesn't last as long, but you can easily make it last for a year if not longer. Just make sure you do things right, and most importantly, sell legitimate services.

Re: Hardest Limitation for PayPal - eBay Digital Goods
 

I know the textbook rules of "never transfer from one account another" etc. but putting it into practice is a lot harder if you aren't a tangible seller. The services that I sell are not illegal, but they aren't authorized either by the brand and have been struck by the brand's VeRo account in the past. I remain ignorant of their requests to stop, but I see other people doing the same thing and take comfort that there's too much work involved in tracing each individual re-seller unless a buyer makes a special effort to report you further.

I don't like to keep opening new savings accounts etc. for PayPal because the bank can grow suspicious of what you're using it for, although I am yet to have them confront me, as I've stayed within unquestionable proportions at this time.

The best that I can do in my position currently is to open a new eBay when they become seller-banned, open a new PayPal when they're limited or start to age and be cautious of current trends of the item, since the more sellers there are of the same brand, the more inclined eBay are to take action.

I know there's a lot for everyone to learn, and I probably know less than half of what I could, but I'm a learner and have only been at this for a year, so I'll continue to develop / adapt my methods as new information related to my situations come to light.