Losing 5K of Sales / Day!

[bigdb]

Since 2016 I have built quite a big business selling accounts, social media services and other digital goods which was no problem a few years back, I even won disputes by providing screenshots of emails / screenshots of clients’ accounts as evidence. However, as I did not realize that PayPal was getting much stricter and had updated their terms, fighting a dispute resulted in me losing my main business PayPal account.

Unable to accept payments I needed to quickly open a new PayPal account. I decided to open an international account so I could link a US Transferwise and avoid PayPal’s USD > GBP conversion rate. Anxious that I had invested so much of my time and energy into this business I really needed a way to receive money from my customers! I tried to link the Transferwise account and it was rejected. Out of frustration I clicked a few more times and it looked like the site glitched for a second before linking the account. That moment was a real blessing for me as I had no other way to accept payments and no other revenue streams! This account got limited after a few days, but luckily after submitting the requested documents the account was reinstated.
I managed to put $800K through this account in 1 year, withdrawing up to 10K in one day and receiving payments of up to 15K with no issues! One day last month, a customer accidently sent me 10,000 instead of 100. This caused their account to go overdrawn, which is when they started to freak out. Although I instantly refunded their payment, it was taking days to return to their account. They must have contacted their bank / made a complaint to PayPal as my account was perma limited the following week. PayPal has since taken an extra $10K from my balance while they are looking into the dispute (even though I had already returned the $10K to the customer). During the last week of my account’s life, it was taking longer to withdraw funds from the account (24 hour delays etc). I managed to take everything out apart from $9000 + the $10,000 PayPal is holding on to. I am not overly worried about the money as the account is in my name with my Transferwise account I will most likely be able to withdraw the money after 180 days.

I decided to use my oldest 2008 PayPal account to accept payments, which lasted for 2 weeks before getting double limited (with 0 disputes / chargebacks). After I provided the requested documents, they decided to perma limit the account. (Another $10K stuck for 180 days as I decided to keep accepting payments during the review period).

I have not had much luck creating new accounts, different country / devices / ips and the accounts are getting limited after receiving 1-10 payments. I am now trying to figure out what the issue is by changing one variable each time until I can make an account survive for long enough to accept some payments. I am also looking into writing a script that will alternate the PayPal account linked on my site to split the payments between multiple accounts as the volume is too much for 1 account to handle. It is extremely frustrating as I have finally managed to build a lucrative business, which is unable to accept payments! Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

[HurricaneHuntr]

Jesus christ. 800k in a year? Please tell me your secret.

[bytor3k]

$800k a year, all through eBay or do you run your own site also?

[bigdb]

Partly luck and a lot of hard work / automating tasks. I never outsourced when I was younger and wanted to learn everything so I am a jack of all trades. This has helped as whenever I have an idea I am able to bring it to life. Started 20+ sites waiting for something to take off, once something showed potential I maximized it while it lasted.

I was unable to use eBay for the last 10 years as I have been living in a third world country that does not have eBay (never tried drop shipping). I moved here initially as I was making a small amount working online and I knew that I would be able to stretch the money further abroad. That is partly what pushed me to work hard online as I had no other way of making money (the average salary here is $300 / month).

[bytor3k]

If you're running your own sites and not using eBay, why not set up your own merchant account instead of screwing around with PP?

[bigdb]

Thank you for your suggestion. From what i have read it would not be possible with our business model, although I will look into it further and try to find a solution.

[martyjump]

800k in a year on a stealth paypal account (even an aged one) sounds risky.

Trying to start a new paypal account and instantly start taking large payments is going to result in problems for sure as well.

If you HAVE to do it through Paypal your best bet is to start selling low-cost, low-risk items and age the account. Once it's aged you can try to resume business but Jesus, 800k in a year is crazy for a stealth account. Maybe spread out sales using multiple stealth PP's?

[james_112233]

The best part about your business is you're not selling on ebay ...

Plenty of other options available to you, surely ?

All the best, sounds amazing. Do you drive a Ferrari ?

[aspkin]

Originally Posted by bigdb

Since 2016 I have built quite a big business selling accounts, social media services and other digital goods which was no problem a few years back, I even won disputes by providing screenshots of emails / screenshots of clients’ accounts as evidence. However, as I did not realize that PayPal was getting much stricter and had updated their terms, fighting a dispute resulted in me losing my main business PayPal account.

Unable to accept payments I needed to quickly open a new PayPal account. I decided to open an international account so I could link a US Transferwise and avoid PayPal’s USD > GBP conversion rate. Anxious that I had invested so much of my time and energy into this business I really needed a way to receive money from my customers! I tried to link the Transferwise account and it was rejected. Out of frustration I clicked a few more times and it looked like the site glitched for a second before linking the account. That moment was a real blessing for me as I had no other way to accept payments and no other revenue streams! This account got limited after a few days, but luckily after submitting the requested documents the account was reinstated.
I managed to put $800K through this account in 1 year, withdrawing up to 10K in one day and receiving payments of up to 15K with no issues! One day last month, a customer accidently sent me 10,000 instead of 100. This caused their account to go overdrawn, which is when they started to freak out. Although I instantly refunded their payment, it was taking days to return to their account. They must have contacted their bank / made a complaint to PayPal as my account was perma limited the following week. PayPal has since taken an extra $10K from my balance while they are looking into the dispute (even though I had already returned the $10K to the customer). During the last week of my account’s life, it was taking longer to withdraw funds from the account (24 hour delays etc). I managed to take everything out apart from $9000 + the $10,000 PayPal is holding on to. I am not overly worried about the money as the account is in my name with my Transferwise account I will most likely be able to withdraw the money after 180 days.

I decided to use my oldest 2008 PayPal account to accept payments, which lasted for 2 weeks before getting double limited (with 0 disputes / chargebacks). After I provided the requested documents, they decided to perma limit the account. (Another $10K stuck for 180 days as I decided to keep accepting payments during the review period).

I have not had much luck creating new accounts, different country / devices / ips and the accounts are getting limited after receiving 1-10 payments. I am now trying to figure out what the issue is by changing one variable each time until I can make an account survive for long enough to accept some payments. I am also looking into writing a script that will alternate the PayPal account linked on my site to split the payments between multiple accounts as the volume is too much for 1 account to handle. It is extremely frustrating as I have finally managed to build a lucrative business, which is unable to accept payments! Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

As others have mentioned it sounds like you're too reliant on PayPal.

You need a merchant account (find one that does accept your business model, I'm sure it's out there aka high risk merchant account); start accepting bitcoin, maybe use Paddle which accepts PayPal on your behalf.

Sure you can create more PayPal accounts and rotate them through 3rd parties when accepting funds but that is just a big hassle.

Either create a real solid one, use a 3rd party and or accept other payment options.

Stealth PayPals take awhile to build up to the level you want and eventually documents will be required, so you have to setup account with that in mind.

[bigdb]

Thanks, yeah, I will try to start a few new PayPal's and warm them up selling low risk low cost items, while experimenting with building a network of stealth accounts.

Yes, I have tried some other options, struggle to keep the fraud rate below 1% so I lost a few payment processors. Currently only enabled other payment methods for trusted members. PayPal was quite good surprisingly as people rarely used stolen cards to pay, where it is quite common for other payment processors I have tested.

Thank you, and no I do not drive a Ferrari as 800k is gross profit and most of the net profit is stuck in my company account as I can’t pay myself much without getting taxed to death. I will most likely get an electric car through the company though.

I accept crypto but a tiny percentage of people will use it currently, although I am doing some tutorials and hope that more people will use it in the near future.

Appreciate the other suggestions / advice aspkin!

[HurricaneHuntr]

Originally Posted by bigdb

Thanks, yeah, I will try to start a few new PayPal's and warm them up selling low risk low cost items, while experimenting with building a network of stealth accounts.

Yes, I have tried some other options, struggle to keep the fraud rate below 1% so I lost a few payment processors. Currently only enabled other payment methods for trusted members. PayPal was quite good surprisingly as people rarely used stolen cards to pay, where it is quite common for other payment processors I have tested.

Thank you, and no I do not drive a Ferrari as 800k is gross profit and most of the net profit is stuck in my company account as I can’t pay myself much without getting taxed to death. I will most likely get an electric car through the company though.

I accept crypto but a tiny percentage of people will use it currently, although I am doing some tutorials and hope that more people will use it in the near future.

Appreciate the other suggestions / advice aspkin!

As we discussed in PM, i recommend merchant account as Aspkin said, there are high risk merchant accounts. My CBD business used one, until the fees just got too outrageous, combined with the inability to advertise, i was doomed.

[Pandoras_box]

Originally Posted by bigdb

Thank you, and no I do not drive a Ferrari as 800k is gross profit and most of the net profit is stuck in my company account as I can’t pay myself much without getting taxed to death.

Dead giveaway