Now I REALLY Hate PayPal!!

[LVSteve]

It's not bad enough that ebay forces you to have and use PayPal, now PayPal has decided my verified account did not have enough personal information to satisfy "government agencies" so they locked my payments.

PayPal required me to upload a scan of a government issued current photo I.D., a current utility bill showing the same name and address plus a birth certificate, Social Security Card, W-2 or other government form with my SSN less than six months old.

Wow, I provided much less personal information to get my first mortgage. Really don't understand why they need so much info since I don't have a home business plus, my total PayPal and ebay transactions are very far under the requirements for tax reporting.

Anybody else experience this lately?

You working through a gmail, yahoo or similar email account? Paypal and others are under pressure to minimize business with those with non-location specific IPs. You may guess why.

 

[oldRoger]

I receive one or two requests a week to up-date my PayPal account. This is usually followed by a notice that my account has been limited, suspended, or monitored.

These requests are usually in English but I have had many in French and a few in Russian, and one or two with the text in Chinese.

When I analyze the links and return addresses they are always foreign, Bulgaria and Russia are common, as is Belarus.

Of course it is easy for me to be calm about the situation since I don’t have a PayPal account.

Lately I have been getting a lot of requests to up-date the Apple Account which I don’t have.

 

[Kanewpadle]

I just closed my Paypal account. I can get by without them and the stupidity.

If I can't find it locally, Amazon is my go to place.

 

[s&wchad]

It is common for scammers to send fraudulent phishing emails and I NEVER reply to them, but PayPal is requesting personal information (including SS#'s) so they can comply with relatively new Gov't reporting requirements.

This is from the PP site:

Q: Will PayPal report my sales to the IRS? Will I receive a 1099-k?

A: Starting in 2011, PayPal is required by the IRS to report the sales of goods and services for customers who, in a single year receive:

More than $20,000, AND
200 or more payments.
The new IRS 6050W changes apply to all payment providers, including PayPal. This includes payments received after January 1, 2011, with the first reports sent to the IRS in early 2012.

You can find more information and FAQs about the new IRS 6050W requirements on the PayPal IRS 6050W website.

I ASSUME they don't require the information until you get close to the reporting threshold. They probably jumped the gun in the OP's case.

 

[steamloco76]

I made a bunch of transactions in March when selling off all my old film and first generation digital camera equipment, then buying newer stuff. I then basically disappeared from activity, so that my have red flagged me. I only found the problem when I tried to use my account to buy online. Once I logged in, I found the locked account and request for I.D. verification.

The I.D. I gave PayPal only contained a partial SSN with several digits redacted.

I would have closed the account, however I have some stuff to sell and PP is the only way to go on fleabay.

 

[vito]

I find Paypal a useful tool for buying things on the internet, especially when it is from a vendor that I have not dealt with in the past. My PayPal account always has a zero balance, because anything I buy gets charged to my credit card, no money ever goes into the account. But it does allow me to buy things without directly divulging my credit card information to the vendor. Maybe because I only use it to buy things, I have never been asked for additional information since I started using PayPal years ago.