Shutdown
I recently reported that Paypal shut me down. The main reason I posted that on the site was as a friendly warning to our readers that it may not be worth playing around with Paypal. Oddly, I had just made that decision myself (specifically in regard to Paypal MyCash cards), but I had $1500 worth of MyCash to deal with. I didn’t think small numbers would be a problem, and since I hadn’t been doing much MyCash action recently, I didn’t think it would be a big deal to unload that $1500 and then go cold-turkey from there.
I was wrong.
One thing I would note: I reported a while back on receiving a warning email from Paypal. Just recently, I received a second email from Paypal – Warning #2. I now think it’s possible that once you receive a second warning, you’re being watched. It’s not just a mass mailing like the first one. In general, I’m not sure if it’s worthwhile for someone to play around with Paypal (if having a Paypal account is important to you – see below), but I’d especially mention this to those who already received a second email.
When I tried calling in and seeing if there was anything to do, it was like talking to a stone wall. I just tried for a minute and I saw there’s no one to talk to. Â One thing the rep from the Paypal security team mentioned is that “you had been warned repeatedly”. Presumably, Â the second warning is the “repeated” warning, which is why I’d caution specifically those who were warned twice.
I’m not entirely positive that it was just the MyCash that caused the shutdown, see the comments to the previous post and you may be able to glean another Paypal sin I was committing. I honestly hadn’t realized that was an issue at all, but I’m now beginning to think it is. (Sorry for being so vague, but I’ll leave it at that.)
Paypal Shipping
Now…life without Paypal.
The first thing that hit me the next day is when I needed to print out a shipping label to send out a small package. I had an order of gift cards which I was shipping out to CardCash, and I had always used paypal.com/shipnow to print out shipping labels. It’s a great way of paying for shipping directly from your paypal account, and you have all your payment methods saved anyway in your  paypal account, so you don’t need to start pulling out your credit card.
Okay, not so terrible, I reasoned. I’ll head over to usps.com and print out a label there.
Turns out it’s not so simple. Usps.com only sells Priority mail online. You can’t buy the cheaper USPS First Class Package. Honestly, it was probably a difference of $2-$3, but it was starting to bug me.
I do realize that I could try opening another unconfirmed Paypal account, and I should be able to do something like printing shipping label, but I haven’t done so yet. I ended up just stopping by the post office, since it was on my way anyhow. Shipping labels are slightly more expensive at the post office, and they also charge $1.05 for tracking (which comes free when you purchase a Paypal label), but it wasn’t so terrible.
eBay Buy
The bigger issue is buying and selling on eBay.
As for buying, I learned that most items can be purchased without a Paypal account. When eBay directs us to Paypal to pay, you’ll see an option on the screen of “Don’t have a Paypal account?”, which allows you to process a payment through the Paypal system with your credit card, without an actual Paypal account.
One headache over here, at least for now, is that most of my credit cards are attached to one of my two Paypal accounts, and they probably won’t let me use a credit card that’s attached to a Paypal account. I have to try it out and see. If they don’t allow it, then I’ll have to use a spare credit card which isn’t attached to either Paypal account for eBay purchases. I would remove the card from my Paypal account, but they don’t allow removing a card on a frozen account (although I’m able to login and view all past transactions).
An interesting scenario arises with purchasing e-gift cards on eBay from Paypal Digital Gifts. When purchasing such e-gift cards, they don’t allow the option of purchase without a Paypal account. So I’d only be able to purchase these items if I opened a new Paypal account.
Additionally, I currently have a couple hundred dollars of eBay e-gift cards which probably will need to be used with a Paypal account, so I’d need to open a new Paypal account to use them up.
Luckily, none of my eBay e-gift cards are partly used. When you use up part of an eBay e-gift card, Paypal ties the gift card to that particular Paypal account and it can’t be used with another Paypal account. If I had a part used eBay gift card, then I’d be completely out of luck. Even opening a new Paypal account wouldn’t remedy that.
eBay Sell
Now for selling on eBay.
I haven’t been selling on eBay recently, but if I’d want to do so I’d need a Paypal account. Now, again, assuming I can open a non-confirmed Paypal account, I’d be okay with selling small amounts. But if I was pushing real numbers it wouldn’t work, since Paypal has a $500 monthly withdrawal limit for non-confirmed accounts. If I wanted to sell on eBay, I’d probably need to use the account of a friend or family member.
So, these are some reflections…from the morning after.
I tried to create a new PayPal account and was eventually caught. Apparently they trace by cookies as well. I thought a new IP was good enough to get back on but I was wrong.
I have been using this guide: https://www.slideshare.net/AuctionEssistance/ebay-incognitostealth to help me create a new account. I am just confused on what other IP sources to use since they do not list any.
So wait, does this have to with the unlimited point machine post you made? Or would I be fine if I used a paypal debit card to load to a serve/bluebird account? I’m specifically talking about this method of reloading serve pointed out by http://www.frugalhack.me/2014/03/18/debit-cards-can-load-bluebird/
No, nothing to do with the PPM.
Paypal is tricky. I think the key is to keep the amounts low (everything in the 100 or 200 range), but there’s no guarantees with PP.
I was wondering, if PayPal shuts down your PayPal account, how does that effect 1) your PayPal Extras MasterCard and 2) your PayPal credit? Are either of those lost as well?
As far as I can tell, my Ebay MC is still up and kicking, but it doesn’t have any way of cashing out rewards. I’m going to try calling in to get gift card rewards….We’ll see what happens.
I can only tell everyone here to steer far clear of anything involving manufactured spend and Paypal. It will only bring a ton of grief. Even what worked in the past does not matter today. Any use of these products in any way beyond what they think is normal, will cause issues.
Yeah, I’d have to agree with you on this.
Recently I’ve been having a tough time with paypal on a different issue: chargebacks. Apparently once a chargeback is filed I have a specific amount of time to reply or else I lose the case. Now, I’m fine with paying back the original amount of the purchase but its the $20 chargeback fee paypal charges the seller. I was fortunate to contact paypal and remove the chargeback fee on a couple of times after being transferred to different reps 3-4 times. I kind of fed up with paypal and I wish there is some alternate method to accepts payments other than paypal when selling at eBay. It seems you stuck with paypal when doing business at eBay. I’ve also learned a lesson about not to sell gift cards at eBay.
Yeah, I wish they’d change the ebay/Paypal connection now that Paypal is spinning off on their own. But I’m not holding my breath.
Sorry to go off on a tangent here but my wife and I both have separate active ebay/Paypal accounts. We recently purchased the discounted Sears GC’s 100/80 limit two. then a week later purchased the 200/175 cards limit one. Today we both received a warning from eBay stating abuse due to the use of multiple account use. The purchases were within the stated limits…am I wrong ? I plan to call tomorrow and complain…any thoughts would be appreciated
Years ago when ebay had the 30% microsoft live banner discounts on select items, my husband and I bought gold coins separately using our own accounts. There was a $2500 cap discount for each account so we maxed out $5K. We were questioned by ebay but when I called them to ask where it stated that there was limit per HH instead of per account, they agreed with me that we were within terms of the offer. We got all our discounts.
I’d think you’re okay. As far as I know, spouses can have separate ebay accounts and order one for each. But I do find it interesting to know that they really track this stuff and make sure that people don’t use 2 accounts. Good to keep in mind.
Let us know what ebay says when you call.
After half an hour on the phone with Ebay and speaking with a supervisor the bottom line is it doesn’t say so in the terms and conditions but their made up rule is the accounts are conjoined because we live in the same household. Interestingly I also bought one with my brothers account that lives in another state and the issued him the same warning and canceled his order, so apparently they are tracking the IP address and that is what triggered the warning
Wow, that is fascinating that they’re coming down on 2 people in the same household, and on 2 from the same IP address.
Thanks for sharing.
To replace Paypal shipping, if you’re selling on eBay, signup for the free stamps.com account. Download their software and you can print many different kinds of shipping labels, including First Class and Priority. We used to use Paypal/eBay to print shipping labels, but once we got stamps.com, we only use it. I think it is much better and more powerful.
The good news is that you can then use this software to print non-eBay shipping labels by entering the information manually.
If you do a lot of shipping label printing, you can buy special self-adhesive shipping labels and print 4 to a page. Look for stamps.com 4600 or 4650.
How do you get around the ~$15 a month required for the stamps . com account? Doesn’t sound free to me…
It’s free for eBay sellers. But you can also print out non-ebay shipping labels manually.
http://www.stamps.com/shipping/ebay-plan-features/
Thanks for the info, but I’m not seeing the same as you are. I went to that link, and they’re saying that it will be $15 per month after the 4 week free trial.
As AEG asked: how do you get around the monthly fee?
Thanks
I think this link will work better. It looks like there is a code for the free eBay account. But you will have to link it up with an eBay account to use it.
http://www.stamps.com/welcome/ebay/?source=si10731218
Thanks, looks like it’s only for shipping ebay stuff. But I guess you’re saying that this isn’t actually enforced.
I have about $2,000 on my paypal debit card, loaded with My Cash cards. I have received my 2nd warning so I’m swearing off more My Cash cards. I’m also swearing off my usual cash out methods since both of them seem to be red flags.
I was thinking of just buying VanillaGCs at CVS to exit this position. Any danger here? – it would be a big transaction, but it would go through as credit so Paypal gets paid (and I’d get 1% back, basically paying the GC costs). When you say “small normal purchases” do you have any reason to think my plan here would possibly lead to a shutdown? I do prefer to avoid the aggravations of not having a paypal account.
IMO, you’ll take a huge risk here but if you don’t care about losing your account, your plan is a good way to cash out. One thing though, if your account gets shutdown, how can you collect the 1% CB from your pp debit card?
You can buy 3 $500 and 1 $480.20 VGCs plus 19.80 fees to use up the balance. Hopefully, you don’t get shutdown immediately before the first week of March when CBs from pp debit posts. OTOH, you’ll be doing a signature purchase that pp likes, that might be your saving grace.
Thanks.
If making a large purchase still has shut-down risk, I might be better off just withdrawing the funds to my bank account. I assume that would just about guarantee a shutdown so was just trying to think of other ways options to get the funds out without burning bridges. I’m not going to buy My Cash cards anymore – I just need an exit strategy for the funds already there.
I’d consider buying $500 at a time but I think that leaves me more vulnerable to having funds frozen in the account (if indeed $500 retail purchases are somehow considered a nonconforming act).
If I were you I’d try doing small, ordinary retail purchase and unload it slowly that way. Let us know how it goes.
I agree that once someone gets the second warning notice (or even the first warning notice) they should stop using My Cash cards altogether. That’s why I posted how to cash in PayPal My Cash cards via a refund. If you’re stuck with the My Cash cards, it’s better to request a refund than chance getting shut down.
Yeah, either request a refund, or just use on small, normal retail purchases.
If those attached cards are something you need for ebay transactions regularly you can always have the card reissued with new numbers. Not convenient but its an option.
Ahhh, good idea. Maybe I’ll do that. Thanks!