Aged Paypal account asking for SSN

[peter piper]

I have have a Paypal account for over 10 years, hooked into eBay, and selling successfully for 10 years.

Suddenly, today, Paypal wants SSN and ID.

Message is:
"Account limited: a combination of your name and taxpayer ID does not match IRS records. You must submit W-9 and ID."

This message also appeared in the eBay account.

My name and ID do not match Paypals Name and ID.

Account has about $800 in it.

Funny thing is - I am Canadian!
Years ago, eBay account was opened as 'US' because I sell to 90% US.

How can I solve this?
Can anyone verify the account for me?

Also, is the eBay account also crap now, if Paypal is not verified?

Any help is appreciated.

[agent006140]

Ebay-
if you are in Canada,you should open a Canadian Ebay account,you can sell on Ebay USA,many Canadian sellers do so.
How do you manage to open an Ebay USA account,what addresses did you provide?
Paypal-
It sounds like you have a US Paypal account,it wants your SSN so it could send you a 1099K.
Is your US Paypal linked to a bank account?how do you withdraw your fund?

[peter piper]

Yes, US ebay account was opened from Canada over 10 years ago.
At the time, I thought to sell on ebay.com, you needed a US account, like Amazon does it.
Not true any more.

All sales are from Canada to US, so there should really be no IRS involvement at all. All items physically cross the border from Canada.

I have a US address and US phone, and US bank account for an old business.
Paypal is linked to this.

There should be no need for a 1099K for Canadian sellers.

Called Paypal and they said that as a Canadian, you must open a Canadian paypal account. They said for the existing US paypal, you need to send in US ID and SSN.
They don't understand (those dumb students that answer these calls), that Canadians don't have SSN and US ID.

So it appears to chalk up another 'theft' to the mighty Paypal, and nothing we can do. Plus close a 10 year seasoned account making 3K a month.

Had many other Stealth Paypal account closed over the years also, that were set up 'for emergency' but are also locked.

[agent006140]

You should close your US accounts and open Canadian accounts-both Ebay and Paypal.
This is misrepresentation,pretending you are in one country while you are not.
BTW,since you claim to be in USA and sell to US buyers,did you collect sales tax?
Until recently Ebay is doing it for us,what about past years?
you could try calling Paypal and tell them you are a Canadian citizen and would like to close your US account and open a Canadian one and see if they could help you

[agent006140]

alled Paypal and they said that as a Canadian, you must open a Canadian paypal account. They said for the existing US paypal, you need to send in US ID and SSN.
They don't understand (those dumb students that answer these calls), that Canadians don't have SSN and US ID.
------------------------------
It is YOU who do not understand,you have no business pretending to be US citizen or resident when you are not .

[peter piper]

Originally Posted by agent006140

You should close your US accounts and open Canadian accounts-both Ebay and Paypal.

- Close US Account with 6,000+ positive feedbacks, and open new one with 0 feedback, and limited for 6 months, and paypal limited for 6 months?
Makes no sense!

Originally Posted by agent006140

This is misrepresentation,pretending you are in one country while you are not.

- 'pretending you are in one country while you are not' - Where did I state this? did you not read the post?
- No misrepresentation at all. Each listing clearly states we are Canadian shipping from Canada.
- This is true 'Stealth'.

Originally Posted by agent006140

BTW,since you claim to be in USA and sell to US buyers,did you collect sales tax?

- 'claim to be in USA and sell to US buyers' - Where did I state this? did you not read the post?
- Never claimed to be in the US, eBay profile clearly states we are Canadian sellers, shipping from Canada
- No sales tax to collect at all! no sales tax charged. We ship from Canada, cross border to US. No obligation for us to charge sales tax to US customers for products shipping from Canada. Please read the tax code if you are not sure.
- There is no requirement for Canadians to collect any sales tax for US.
Sales tax is usually collected at the border, if any, and paid for by the customer, if any. Currently $100 or less, no sales tax is collected for international shipments to US.

Originally Posted by agent006140

you could try calling Paypal and tell them you are a Canadian citizen and would like to close your US account and open a Canadian one and see if they could help you

- Did you not read the post?
- I already explained that I called Paypal. The still want SSN for US, but I am not US citizen.
The new Canadian would then still need personal ID.
Remember this is a Stealth thread.

Originally Posted by agent006140

It is YOU who do not understand,you have no business pretending to be US citizen or resident when you are not .

- 'claim to be in USA and sell to US buyers' - Where did I state this? did you not read the post?
Never claimed to be 'US citizen'. Did not state this anywhere. Clearly states on ebay 'Seller is Canadian, ships from Canada'.
Even if I was US citizen, still shipping from Canada there is no sales tax for us to collect.

agent006140 - for a senior member, you should be more careful of what you read, and what you interpert from it.
We are honest sellers, this is why we have 100% feedback, 10 years, no complaints.

Paypal and eBay, like ALL other corporations, are ONLY compliment with what the Government tells them to do. If their selling model, which was successful for 20 years, does not fit what the model required is, then you have these issues.

Only for the last couple orders did eBaystart to collect sales tax.
eBay should accommodate Canadian items sent to US, and not collect sales tax. It is illegal to collect sales tax when none is due.
May US citizens do drop-ship from Canada, and eBay is illigally colelcting sales tax from US customers that are not required to pay it.

3 other friends of mine have had paypal accounts limited (US and Canada).
Its all about the money.

[agent006140]

it makes no difference if you are in USA or overseas,if you sell on US SOIL,you collect sales tax.
You can argue all you want,Paypal wants your SSN.
let us know how you resolve this

[agent006140]

Close US Account with 6,000+ positive feedbacks, and open new one with 0 feedback, and limited for 6 months, and paypal limited for 6 months?
Makes no sense!
------------------------------
You can ask if Ebay will transfer your feedbacks to your Canadian Ebay account.
NEVER HURT TO ASK,

[peter piper]

We actually only sell from Canadian soil.
eBay is virtual. The products are physical.
Sales taxes are collected on entry to a country.
eBay mistakenly is collecting sales tax on products going from Canada to US.
When the product enters US, the customer may be charged sales tax again!

You can ask if Ebay will transfer your feedbacks to your Canadian Ebay account.
NEVER HURT TO ASK

Yes, will ask after Christmas, and let you all know.
I suspect then they will still want the SSN for the US account, and then also want the SIN on the Canadian account.
Obliviously, there exists no person that has both!

I probably will have to walk away from this seasoned account, and start new, as suggested.

[yankee]

The crazy thing is, everyone wants Canadian accounts around the world and nobody wants USA accounts anymore.

See if you can get switched to Managed payments, forget Paypal altogether. Im not sure if there is an Managed payments in Canada yet though but it is a good option if you can.

[agent006140]

I think managed payment will come to UK first before Canada?
But as far as collecting sales tax is concerned,since you have an Ebay USA account,Ebay will collect state sales tax from your buyers and remit them to their states,the key is they are buying from a US Ebay seller,if the item is coming from outside US,the buyers could face US customs duty .
You face the risk of some buyers would refuse the shipment if they have to pay customs duty!

[rmasif86]

Originally Posted by peter piper

I have have a Paypal account for over 10 years, hooked into eBay, and selling successfully for 10 years.

Suddenly, today, Paypal wants SSN and ID.

Message is:
"Account limited: a combination of your name and taxpayer ID does not match IRS records. You must submit W-9 and ID."

This message also appeared in the eBay account.

My name and ID do not match Paypals Name and ID.

Account has about $800 in it.

Funny thing is - I am Canadian!
Years ago, eBay account was opened as 'US' because I sell to 90% US.

How can I solve this?
Can anyone verify the account for me?

Also, is the eBay account also crap now, if Paypal is not verified?

Any help is appreciated.

tell me the paypal name i know some websites

[peter piper]

But as far as collecting sales tax is concerned,since you have an Ebay USA account,Ebay will collect state sales tax from your buyers and remit them to their states,the key is they are buying from a US Ebay seller,if the item is coming from outside US,the buyers could face US customs duty .
You face the risk of some buyers would refuse the shipment if they have to pay customs duty!

Yes, this is the problem now.
Before eBay collected sales tax, there was no issue, and also, shipping from Canada there was a $100 import exemption of sales tax, so you could order stuff up to $100 and not have to pay any sales tax (most time even over a $100 they never collected).

Now, sales tax is collected on a $1 purchase.

Yes, US buyers may not want to pay the duties, and the taxes again.
Maybe I have to use the Pitney Bowes import service, but this is also expensive, and buyser wait double time for shipping.

Need to resolve the Paypal thing first.

I am thinking to have Paypal setup in Europe, with a Europe address/phone, etc. Then link to US eBay. Would that work? anyone tried?

[peter piper]

I think managed payment will come to UK first before Canada?

Another reason to sell on eBay.com, instead of eBay.ca.

Also, listings are prioritized by country listed, so searching on ebay.com will find my items at the top of the list. Then, after all ebay.com listings are shown, then ebay.ca listings will show. With ebay.ca listings, I would be very low on the totem pole!

Also, 10 times the number of buyers on ebay.com, than ebay.ca.

My sales are actually 10 to 1 US.

[agent006140]

When a US citizen/resident move to a foreign country,they just remove the US bank account and cc from their US Paypal account and open a new Paypal account of that country they have moved to,link it with that bank account and cc ,add their foreign address,and now they have 2 Paypal accounts.
YOU COUld try it yourself,open a Canadian Paypal account and if you want to use the same bank and cards,you have to remove them from your US account first.
Same with Ebay.
people do move.

[peter piper]

I have actually done that already.

I had a Canadian PP account, and since the US PP is locked, I added this seasoned (4 years) pp account.

eBay sales go to the new PP ok, but when you try to remove it - bang! - account limited - needs ID.

So not a good idea to add a good PP account to a limited eBay account.

I have one more solution I will try, and let all know if it works.

[degsey69]

Why dont you give Canadian ID to PayPal for the Canadian PayPal account as that is the only ID you can give for that account.

[peter piper]

Yes, can do that, there are 3 issues:
1) The eBay account has been stealth for over 10 years. The account now no longer becomes stealth
2) Adding ID to the new Canadian Paypal, will may cause awareness to the 1,000 of items sold
3) The $1,000 or so, in the US Paypal, is still lost

Time to re-evaluate eBay, and move to Amazon.

[agent006140]

Plenty of UK and Candian sellers list their items on Ebay USA,DEPENDS ON the categories,they show up quickly,as few US sellers have the same items or lower price.
You dont have to worry about collecting state sales tax and remitting them to the states,as Ebay will do it for you.
if you list them on Ebay Canada or Ebay UK,then your visibility is going to be lower on Ebay USA/
dITTO with Aussie sellers.