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PayPal leaves phone ON hook (i catch them discussing me)
 

Ok, long story short. Payment for 500$, got my account limited, i ring paypal discuss in detail what the payment was for, the persron over the phone seemed nice everyone was cool. She says it will be reviewed and i will get an answer within the next 72 hours. When we say our goodbyes, she forgets to hang up the phone. I then hear her speaking to an irish lad (might of been her manager) discussing what i said over the phone.

As she was discussing it, he was counting up numbers which he said are "Risk Factors". The guy then says "His business model sucks, give me his id number and emailand i'll just ban him".

JUST LIKE THAT!

Morale of the story, It takes paypal 1 minute to decide that they dont want you. The transaction was actually legitimate for server space. I rang back and gave the guy a earful, telling him i heard exactly what the guy said, and to prove it, i even quoted his name.

See what happens from here, as i still havent actually been officially banned yet.

Dunno if it helps, but the woman was also counting 'Risk Points' as if you hit a certain load, your account is ****ed.

Hope you have a nice follow-up on this - sucks to hear but yeah, I figure pp can be like this.

Maybe it's time for something like this

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CGYQ8wIwAg

interesting story...do want to know more

@OP, Please keep us in the loop, this is an extremely important thing you just found. Hope your situation goes from bad to good.

Good Luck.

If you had recorded him on the phone, oh boy...o :laugh:

Exactly! If you could of got this recorded you would probably be in great shape "If my account is ever banned or limited I will go to the media with this" Game, set, match!!"

Na but really this isn't surprising at all to me. they don't care about us seller. sad thing is sellers are the only reason ebay is still alive, Amazon is kicking them

I will do. The phone operator who i rang for the 3rd time was really shocked, and stuttering his words.

Although i admit to selling vero items on other accounts, this account was relatively new, and the transaction was 100% legit.

It took them 10 seconds to decide my 'business' model wasn't right.

If you have a "real" business stay away from Paypal and use a merchants account.

Ditto.

Could be interesting.

My account has been unlimited!. Strange that the guy was sure i was banned, then when i rang up and put it on them that i knew what they had discussed, and that they took know time into the matter they had overturned there decision


:clap:

Interesting. Wonder if catching them in the act played a big role. Or if account was just on the fence. I always assumed whatever point system they use to label you as a risk is pretty much a done deal if it crosses whatever barrier they have, right or wrong... I dont see them spending any time if they are in the mindset that there is a risk. Interesting

amazing story... not surprising to know the way they ban people in a matter of minutes, but still must be bizarre and shocking to hear it actually happen to you off record there and then in seconds.... ^^ i agree would be so interesting to know just to what extent the catching them out changed your fortunes... i have a funny feeling if you had left it after the inital phone call in the OP, they would have done what they said almost immediately and just banned the whole acct.

Thanks for sharing, this IS important.

However, it is not complete (I am not complaining, don't take it the wrong way).

In order for all of us to benefit, we would need to know what the risk factors are, how many points are assigned to each risk factor, and what the total number of points needed for a limitation or ban are.

Most business decisioning systems operate the same way. And there can be hundreds of factors involved, depending on how complicated they want to make it.

Pretty much why I posted the book above, that way you can at least get a basic understanding of risk factors and business modeling then use that to run some tests on paypal.

Beyond the ability of some to comprehend.:violin:
they think 'their' business has no risks.

Very sensible to have a business plan paying attention to 'risk' factors.

Sorry, I agree with nothing of the above regarding risk factors etc.

Roughly about 2 years ago, my original PP that I had from 2006 before I knew about this site I was selling lots of vero items (wrongly I admit). I sold £8500 worth of clothing in 7 days!!
Now yes you are right in thinking that I got limited. However, I must of built up LOADS of risk points to the point where my account should NEVER be unlimited.

Guess what!?

Wrote a letter explaining I was new etc and didnt know that I couldnt process that many transactions on a personal account etcetc was told it would never be reinstated due to 'RISK'.

I had a call about 12 weeks later saying HI, Mr.... we have looked into your account and we feel that we can reinstate your account.

Selling that much VERO in such a short amount of time must of taken me over the barrier for risk points beyond repair... so theres my story!

How do you not agree with it if you don't know what they are :P.

My personal opinion is that i think the factors are based around common sense. Yours probably wasn't limited because like you said you had been around since 2006. If i sold 8500 on a brand new acc, no doubt it would be suspended indefinitely

Nobody does. We follow a shopping list of rules that help. But they are just a mere fraction of whats factored in. They lose an insane amount of money from fraud so you can bet your ass the system they use is crazy complex and incredibly detailed. They almost certainly track 100s of various factors to decide whats good or bad

Its very interesting post though.... Major credit card companies take HUGE hits from fraud, yet they do not treat everyone like a criminal....

Just reading through this..
What exactly is a merchant account?