After permanent appeal denials and more than a dozen documents submitted, I was finally able to persuade PayPal to left my limitation this morning. I would like to share my story as it may help others. Please keep in mind that it may not apply to stealth account.
After being with PayPal / eBay for over 10 years, my PP account was limited due high risk items sold on eBay. I run a legitimate business of selling brand name dietary supplements and skin care products.
One day, I came across a local private party who want to sell me $10k Apple electronics at a discount. He said he bought those with the intention of exporting them to Asia but later change minded due to a revision in their foreign custom policy. I checked his purchase receipt / serial numbers and everything seems legit.
2 weeks after I sold theses items on eBay, my PP account was suddenly suspended. Right before my account was suspended, I was using a foreign
VPN for my offshore bank account and forgot to turn it off before log into my account.
Initially, PP asked me to provide identification and change password, which I have been asked before. However, the minute I successfully log in with new password and US ip, the account became limited immediately.
Now, they ask me to provide vendor / invoices but didn't say for which transaction. I called the PP rep and was asked to provide vendor / invoice for some random transactions (all dietary supplement sales). But my appeal was denied after submitting those information. I called again and was given another 5 random transactions (4 dietary supplements and 1 electronics).
After the third round, I was finally asked by the rep to provide vendor / information for the Apple electronics I sold over two weeks ago. At this time, I have already provided them over a dozen documents and used up all my resolution upload space. So I faxed them the purchase receipt (from Apple Store) of those Apple electronics around 11pm PST. Around 7am next day, I got an email acknowledge receiving of those documents and another email informing me my case was permanently closed without the possibility of future appeal.
The timeline shows they didn't even bother to call the vendor to verify the legitimacy of the purchase!
At this time, I figured my account is probably gone for good. I did called them again but the rep simply said there is nothing she can do for me. So what I did next is to have my employee using her PP as payment account for our business's eBay account. I was using the same ip & registration address but different checking, SSN and computer. It all went fine for 2 weeks until one day I forgot to switch computer
.... Her PP is limited for associating with our previous account.
Now, I have no other option but using ProPay with my eBay account. Our eBay sales dropped 85%. The truth is that half of the people don't feel comfortable using ProPay and within the half that do, 70% will get stuck at eBay's processing page. Not to mention, you will be slapped with a chargeback fee of $15 even it is not your fault.
I told myself I better find a strategy to get my account back because there is currently no comparable substitute for PayPal. From what I figured is that Paypal review team don't really verify the document you sent them. Both the detection and appeal denial is systematic. They are probably got buried with tons of cases each day due their "flag" algorithm.
So how did I get my account back?
1.
Never call on Monday or Weekend. Your goal is convince a entry level rep to hear and believe your side of the story so he/she can contact review team and appeal on your behalf. Review team is not working on weekend so there is no point of calling. Monday is usually their busiest day of week due to all the backlogs so don't expect them to spend time on you.
2. Call PayPal and try to
find a rep that sounds like he/she is in a good mood. If the person sounds cocky, don't bother to tell them about your appeal. Just ask some random question, hang up and call again in a few hours.
3. The key is
to get the entry rep sympathise your situation. Threat and Yell are not going to work! Don't admit any wrong doing or fault, but be apologetic. I simply told them what ever caused their alert, you won't do it again. Use your account history and identity as reference.
4. Thank them ahead for taking the time to help you. Telling them how other reps just systematic deny your request. I also said she
deserve a letter of approval from me personally even if my limit is not left at the end.
5. If it still doesn't work. Write them a threatening letter about 45 days after initial limitation will probably get you most money released. Don't just make it a generic lawsuit letter. If you outside CA, they probably just going to throw it into the trash. In your letter, make sure you point out that
PayPal is systematically denial account holder's appeal without investigation. They are using their collaboration with eBay to unfairly squeeze out competition by make payment process difficult for other processor. They exploit legal loop holes to act like a financial institution but without the necessary regulation. Tell them that they have no right to hold your $$ for 180 days. If they don't release your money immediately, you will call law maker / lawyer / organizer to draft new laws and impose more regulation on them.
Hope some of you will find my story helpful
Paypal finally removed my account limitation 
