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Paypal limited for SSN or EIN. What worked last year isn't working this year.
 

So, in a nutshell, my Paypal is limited from receiving payment or me closing the account. Last year, I was able to call in around the same time (August) and talk to reps and give the song and dance that "I'm getting an EIN, it's just I did it through the mail and it would take 10 weeks to receive", etc, etc. They would "unlimit" the account so I could receive payments and make withdrawals, just not be able to close the account. (Who cares?) Anyways, I did this till November/December, then just let my accounts sit till they "reset" in January/February.

Well, I just got off the phone and tried the above with a rep, she denied me, then I asked for a supervisor and was denied by her too. They insisted that it is out of their hands and even if they override it, the first payment I receive, the limitation will kick in again.

So, the question is...was I incredibly lucky getting away with that last year on 6 different accounts? Have they closed that loophole? Have they completely revised the system? Did I just get two nitwits on the line that don't know the policy?! Or....?

It's only happened on one of my accounts so far, but I am worried now for September-December! This account only has 152 transactions and $4800 in sales!! ***Forgot to include the roughly 9k I received in Paypal "off" ebay so, actual total received in Paypal was around $13,800. But the point of posting is the inability to "sweet talk" your way into leaving the account open to accept payments while you're "waiting for your ein".

Any input is appreciated and if the thread needs to be moved, move away. Thanks!

The law kicked in for 2013 , the started doing soft inforcement or warnings last year , but this year it's in full affect

Just out of curiosity were all your sales this year spread out over the last 7 months or did u do the majority of those sales in one month

Spread out. First item sold was in February. Insane. I think what probably kicked in the limitation was receiving payments outside of Ebay. I'm going back through my records to see what the total amount received for 2013 is. Either way, it's a bummer, because this was one account I could CRUSH in December. Oh well, onto the other accounts till 2014.

ALWAYS have backups!

:cheer:

Those are the lowest numbers I have heard this happening this early in the year. Would have figured you where in the $12-14K range to have that happen now. I had mine limited to the point I couldn't close or receive payments mid December 2012. It was was between 18-19k.

i went back and in addition to the $4800 in Ebay sales, I also had roughly $9,000 in "off" Ebay sales, but even still $13,800? Seems a bit soon, but that wasn't my point. The point was, last year, you could sweet talk and bs your way into letting your account slide along without ssn or ein. Now, nope. Bummer.

If anyone knows a way around and would like to pass it along to me in private, I'd LOVE to hear.

DMshark, I thought 2011 was the "soft" start and 2012 was the year in full effect?

Yea from what I understand it is in full effect now. I have a friend who got limited earlier in the year for selling too much. He called them up and they said the same thing. They also told him he would not get the account back next January like most of us did early this year that got the cant close can't receive funds limitation in 2012. It will be interesting to see what happens.

That I highly doubt. If you don't go over either of the limits one year, they can't penalize you for something you DIDN'T do the next year. But as it usually goes, I guess we'll find out...

Is there a reason you cannot obtain an EIN? Many times, that is enough to satisfy them and they don't require an SSN. Of course, they CAN require an SSN at any time, but that usually does not happen.

I know that Amazon requires this after 50 sales on an account. PayPal has stated they are using an algorithm to predict yearly sales on an account and when it flags your account, the information is required.

EIN's are easy to obtain, however there IS some paperwork that would need to be filed and you might have to set up a business. But you can do it yourself if you don't mind investing some time into reading the requirements on the IRS' website. If that seems like a daunting task, you can turn to a tax professional for help. They usually don't charge too much for this and it will ensure that your setup is done correctly to avoid any potential problems in the future.

Yea, I hope so. When I got dinged in 2012 they didn't release my PayPal from being limited until they mailed out the 1099ks at the end of January. So I will be interested to see what happens..

Oh ok so OP your at 13,800 and maybe over 200 transactions total, I know it's the gross that comes thru Paypal not just the ebay sales.

I'm at about 120/$5800 so far, I do have a tax ID ready , but now that my other accounts holds are lifted and limit raised I'm starting to back off this account

Was using it more to keep cash flow steady , hopefully I won't get asked but I'm prepared , all my other accounts I have spread sales out pretty thin

You should be cool for a while Dmshark25

Look at the Math, its the 8th month of the year and he was at $13,8000

13800/8 = $1725 AVG per month

$1725 x 12 months = $20,700 projection for the year (would be even more considering it is just the start of August)

You should be cool if your sales are spread out and you average about about $1250 a month

Yea now my other accounts are flowing I'm backing off this one but prepared just in case , the account is over 7 months old, but I'd rather wait to add tax ID until I have to, I like just giving necessary info and no more to ebay/ paypal

Yeah, I totally forgot about the non-Ebay sales. MOST were sent as "gifts" thus don't count against the 20k, but I have one customer that spends $1000+ each time and uses a credit card, so it can't be done as a gift, so...BUMMER.

Obviously this account is done for 2013 and look forward to see what happens in 2014. The big question now is, ironically enough, about 2 hours after I got off the phone, I got an e-mail from Ebay reminding me to pay my seller fees to "keep selling on the worlds largest marketplace". Hmmmm, yeah, you just saved me $300, in 2014 when/if the account "resets", no problemo, if it's NOT reinstated, well....I guess I'll be getting a couple of NICE kegs for the Super Bowl party this year, courtesy of Ebay! ;)

Thanks for the advice/suggestion Jeff, I sent you a PM. I always forget how helpful everyone here is. I'm so used to message boards filled with trolls bashing people or posting irrelevant rambling posts (Sometimes I boarder on that, but it's because of the Adderall :P)

Well I just got the same limitation. Can't close or receive funds. At about $9,200 for the year.

This is the first time I have even seen this limitation for below $10k

Could have limited you based on PROJECTED SALES RATE - pp does that :( it sucks

It could be because I sold pretty heavy the first 4 months then tried to back it off. But it is still definitely different than the past few years.

Because I had that annoying reminder for the Tax ID on nearly all my PayPals last year for like half the year or more and only the one I got the can't close and receive funds limitations.

has anyone tried adding a new verified paypal account to your ebay? and just stop accepting from the old one

Adding a new Paypal to an old Ebay account is not recommended.

Just curious as to what would happen? I mean, this account is pretty much worthless to me till 2014, so if I added a new paypal to the account.....?

It would be linked , because ebay and Paypal need to be same info , u may get couple days and than u will get limited