Paypal has just closed my account

[Torsten]

it was only a matter of time, but I am not taking this lying down. So, for the next few days there will be no paypal payments. sorry

[Jesus On Peyote]

Why did they do it? i think i know why, fascist bastards. good luck T

[Evil Genius]

Hi Torsten,

I´ve heard this from a few other people too now. Mostly people and shops from the US! bye Eg

[folias]

this site is interesting...

http://www.paypalsucks.com

Did they close your account when you had money in your paypal account, thereby effectively stealing that money?

Julian.

[XipeTotec]

yes, why?

[Auxin]

Its my fault, I sent paypal a photo of CS kissing Torsten on the cheek. Turns out the account reviewer for paypal is Sinas cousin and hopelessly jealous because Torsten touched CS's pants during the kiss.

[Μορφέας]

why?

[shruman]

Aint it obvious?, Their fascist bastards.

They've done this to a few american EB vendors & as julian eludes to theyve even stolen their money.

Trying to take the moral highground I think, protecting us from ourselves, but hey u can still pay for booze with paypal.

[Torsten]

paypal is ebay and ebay is a 'family orientated' company. ie they will deem thigns as unacceptable even if they are legal - simply because they can.

Paypal objected to the fact that we sell pipes to USA. I was given the option to either restrict sales to USA or delete the items. The latter option was the easier one for the moment.

I argued with them, as my pipes are actually not classified as drug paraphernalia under their AUP or under the DEA paragraph they cite. These documents require that the context of the site is taken into account then this impacts on the purpose of the item. eg a tobacconist can sell any pipe he wants. I made the case that medicinal herbs need to be smoked in small pipes and that we offer a mere 2 pipes among 500 herbal items.

Essentially they said they don't care and that the 'context provision' in the AUP and DEA documents were irrelevant.

At least paypal discusses these matter with the customer. ebay usually does not and even if they do it is basically 'leave it or lump it'.

Paypal no longer shuts down accounts, but gives warnings and limits their usability. I think this was in response to being accused of stealing money from closed accounts.

Anyway, accounts are open again and I don't think there is anything else that should bother them.

[XipeTotec]

yeah... that is shitty. I was led to believe that ebay and paypal are now owned by the same mob, but that was just what a guy told me... it may not be true.

[Torsten]

paypal is an ebay company. it's no secret.

[XipeTotec]

yeah, unless u edited your post a couple of posts back, then I must have misread it... and not seen u draw a connection between the two entities...they r a bit of a plague now.... but paypal seems very handy for web business owners, unfortunately... I guess its a case of no real alternative.

Edited August 2, 2007 by XipeTotec

[Torsten]

we offer moneybookers and I also have an egold account, but I don't think I have this offered as an option yet. I am trying my best to provide non -paypal options and would always give preference to any non-paypal entity because of what paypal has done to so many ethnobot businesses even ebfore ebay bought them.

Most of my suppliers and overseas business friends have had their accounts closed.

[Jesus On Peyote]

What happened to good old fashioned direct deposit?

[Torsten]

most payments are via direct deposit because they cost the least and are secure. but we offer paypal mostly for overseas customers and those who prefer it. but yeah, direct deposit is the best option for aussie buyers in my opinion.

[Hagakure]

same company bought out stumbleupon and has shut down the "drugs" topic on it.

[XipeTotec]

same company bought out stumbleupon and has shut down the "drugs" topic on it.

maybe ignorance IS bliss

[occidentalis]

we offer moneybookers and I also have an egold account, but I don't think I have this offered as an option yet. I am trying my best to provide non -paypal options and would always give preference to any non-paypal entity because of what paypal has done to so many ethnobot businesses even ebfore ebay bought them.

Apparently Amazon.com is launching a new payment service to compete with paypal.

http://mashable.com/2007/08/03/amazon-payments/

Since amazon is the best source for ethnobotany and drug related books I would be surprised if they took any strong position against retailers selling similar items using this service. Apparently it offers much more flexibility from a web design perspective also.

[Torsten]

good to hear.

I should have mentioned that moneybookers are just as fucked when it comes to ethnobotanicals.

[botanika]

What I dislike about Ebay and Paypal is that often these 'decisions' are made by computers based on 'statistics' and if you try and ask further questions regarding a transaction, status of account or trade issues they usually cannot provide such details due to 'security' reasons.

Ebay and Paypal seem to have thousands of people working in customer support but hardly anyone in technical, financial or legal support.

[CyberCat]

Apparently Amazon.com is launching a new payment service to compete with paypal.

http://mashable.com/2007/08/03/amazon-payments/

Since amazon is the best source for ethnobotany and drug related books I would be surprised if they took any strong position against retailers selling similar items using this service. Apparently it offers much more flexibility from a web design perspective also.

Look at these sites...

http://www.epaycardcorp.com

http://www.securecashxpress.com/Main.aspx

[XipeTotec]

same company bought out stumbleupon and has shut down the "drugs" topic on it.

hmmm, i have it on my stumpleupon??

[Hagakure]

yeah just checked mine and its there now.

was shut down for a while at least straight after the takeover. were some posts on the forums.

not sure what the deal is

[ENtiTY]

EarthAlchemy was having the same issues when I tried to pay for some Loph seeds 6 months ago or so. Mighty self righteous as far as I'm concerned! What business is it of theirs if the transactions dealt through them are for goods with in the law? Picking and choosing which products a vendor can sell... WTF! Isn't that discrimination or something?

Paypal has been pissing me off for the last 12 months or so now, namely with their un-verified address shit! I got the shits and rang paypal after doing all the verifing available to Oz members and still no joy for US payment. Basically Paypal uses a electronic system to match up and verify financial details you have supplied, which is good. However... this security measure is not able to be carried out for finacial institutions within Australia which means the verified status is unavailable to Oz members. This means that US members that are "verified" will not accept payments from "non-verified" members as they will not be covered by fraudulent transactions blah blah blah. As far as I can see the only reason Oz members use paypal is so they CAN make international payments easily. The only reason I still use them is for payments to other countries outside the US.

Awesome to hear there maybe an alternative Won't be enough of us leaving to knock'em down to size but at least it'll feel good terminating the membership

Oh yeah, whats the name of the other thread you guys mentioned regarding the raid??

[platypii]

Is there any trouble with the PayPal service at the moment Torsten? I tried paying via that method for a nice order yesterday to no avail, and so have used the bank deposit option.