Paypal has limited my account!

[cougar1]

Realistically I don't think amazon cant exactly compete one to one with paypal, as you say the reason why they PP have so much proliferation is tied to the ebay setup. But it would be interesting if they could just provide a basic money transfer alternative. I often wonder why approaches like google payments didn't really take off, I would assume people just saw it as a chore to sign up to a new service when with paypal it was almost a necessity if you wanted to transact on ebay. The favourable thing for amazon will be that many people will already have an amazon account at this stage so in a way, while it won't cover the expanse ebay/paypal has, it would still have fairly large spread with amazon buyers. I also agree with you that amazon have an excellent business model, probably one of the better if not the best 'big' players on the internet in this regard.

Also PP seem to be doing some strange things lately in regards to complying with these IRS requirements etc, such as requiring these identification details long before the actual limits are reached, often when people have only hit 30% of the income requirements needed to flag these ID checks. Also outside the US they seem to have similar woolly justifications for the requests, even from low level PP users. Conspiracy theories aside there is just too many things 'off' about paypal and their whole model for many people to be able to fully trust them, sometimes I actually loath having all my account details with them but needs must. I'd have serious issues about giving this 'financial institution' a history of my bank transactions/ssn/dna/retina scan etc unless absolutely necessary.

[Watchmeister]

Guys - thought I'd she'd a bit of knowledge here.

As a technical "banking institution" Paypal (almost certainly) does this to ck form to US guidelines surrounding the BSA (bank secrecy act) which most specifically focuses on transactions of cash over $10k.

Keep in mind that a lot of people on this world go through a lot of trouble to launder money to make fraudulent transactions look plausible.

I know a bit about this

Exactly. But I agree. Always start with your PayPal account log-in and work from there.

[danielv2000]

It's all legit. I logged on to PayPal and started answering some questions! Still iffy about giving drivers license info...

Maybe there were too many gifts to my RWG friends recently!!

[cougar1]

It's all legit. I logged on to PayPal and started answering some questions! Still iffy about giving drivers license info...

Maybe there were too many gifts to my RWG friends recently!!

Good stuff, glad you got it sorted in the end.

Give them a couple of years, until they have the anal scanners in place, then it should be real fun!

[panerai153]

I bet all this started from a few big "iffy" transactions that got through Paypal and raised the antenna of the IRS/DEA/FBI/homeland Security,etc. All it would take is a couple of transactions that those guys were tracking to go through Paypal as part of the laundry/terrorist pathway, and the next day Paypal headquarters looked like a Lawman's convention!! It probably scared the bejezzus out of them and they complied 100%.It's getting harder and harder to move big sums of money around these days. Unless you have the money in a bank account already and are known to the bank, it's difficult. I wire money overseas to my wife when she's visiting family and friends every summer. It's not big money by any stretch, but this past summer when I went to my local branch bank, the form I had to fill out had a lot more questions than before. They too asked for my SSN, date of birth, place of birth, home address and phone number.IN the past they were more concerned about the recipient, recipient bank and that' bank's SWIFT code. All they had from me was my name and account number the money was coming out of. Of course the bank already had all that info in my account information, but this was part of the wire transfer paperwork, and was sent to the correspondent bank in NY where the actual wire transaction took place.Never had to do that before, but i suppose the Feds are really looking at any money going out the country.

[Tooth.Doc]

its normal. its per EU regulations. it happened to me once when i was sending and receiving over a certain amount of money... and they asked me for my ID and bank statement showing my address and also asked me what the "nature of my business" was.... and after that, no more problems!

they ask for scanned documents and you are required to upload them from their website

[panerai153]

I believe that once you establish your creds, that you are who you say you are and that you are a legitimate business or individual who is moving money honestly, they should be satisfied. They probably are trying to head off someone sending 10k to a someone in South Texas, NM or Arizona to buy guns and ammunition to smuggle across the border to Mexico.

Here is another reason to be careful with your identity info. The latest scam is fake IRS tax returns. Seems like South Florida around Tampa is the epicenter. The thieves steal your SSN,name and address, change the address, file a fake return with a big refund, and wait for the money, which incidently is usually a debit card with a PIN. The police are saying that the drug dealers are quitting the drug racket and are having parties where everyone sits down with a laptop and files fake returns from a list of names, usually bought off someone who works at a bank, hospital, retirement center or department store.They are seeing these guys riding around in Bentley's and Lambourginis, and they don't have to be worried about getting shot by a rival drug gang either. Amazing what the thieves will think of next.

Here is the link to the story in todays New York Times online http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/us/id-thieves-loot-tax-checks-filing-early-and-often.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120527

[woof*]

"I believe that once you establish your creds, that you are who you say you are and that you are a legitimate business or individual who is moving money honestly, they should be satisfied. They probably are trying to head off someone sending 10k to a someone in South Texas, NM or Arizona to buy guns and ammunition to smuggle across the border to Mexico."

Our Fast and Furious government has already got that covered.

[PhilFree]

For all its problems, Paypal is still the safest way to complete a transaction. Believe me, i know. I've had to change one of my AMEX cards three times in the past few years, because of someone stealing my information from online transactions. One time they charged over 5k in Stereo equipment and an airline ticket! They also tried to book a first class ticket from USA to London on British Airways, but when the BA agent said they would need to call AMEX because it was a large amount (over 6k!!) The thief immediately logged off the website. I've never had any problems with Paypal, except for a bunch of those "phishing" emails which I promptly delete without even opening.

As several have said above, anything that Paypal wants from you will be on your Paypal page. I'm sure they are under pretty close scrutiny by the Feds, as it would be an ideal way to move money around. I do know for a fact that any cash transaction over 10K requires the bank or institution initiating the transfer fill out an IRS form with all your information, Address, SSN,etc. Paypal operates under the same rules.

With Drug money flowing South and terrorists trying to get money into the USA, banks and money transfer operations like WU are very closely scrutinized.

I'm anxiously awaiting news of Amazon's money transfer operation. I'm pretty impressed with Amazon's business model. They are very fast, totally stand behind what they sell, and returns are hassle free. Hopefully they will follow that same business model with their "bank".

Ebay pretty well forced most of us into using Paypal initially, and since they are part of Ebay, they are the "800 pound Gorilla" in the room. If you are an Ebay seller or buyer, you cannot get around Paypal. Amazon won't chnge that,but it could give us and alternative for all other transactions. My only concern is how readily will businesses sign up for and Amazon program, especially since Amazon is competing directly with a whole lot of businesses.

I also have never had a problem with PayPal. It's the only way I will do business online. My transactions on PayPal total over 50K yearly. One of the things I like about PayPal is the VIP hotline. When ever you call you will always receive a person on the line and not a automated attendant, they are also quick to side with you in any dispute. I believe the VIP is offered to anyone with over 5k in payments in a calendar year. I am more than willing to pay with PayPal than to give out my credit card information online. Even though most credit cards have anti-theft mechanisms in place it's still a pain in the [censored]. Especially when they have to close out your card and send you a new one. I had that happen the one time a seller wouldn't except PayPal, their network was hacked and they didn't encrypt payment data. Now if a seller doesn't accept PayPal I move on and find another.

[GarrettP1]

PayPal did this to me was well. While building my new home we were ordering quite a few things (especially from China) and exceed the 10K per month threshold.

Just speak to customer service on the phone and they will confirm if legit. They throttle back your account otherwise.

[tode1640]

they are also quick to side with you in any dispute.

When it comes down to a "he said... she said" type of dispute, they almost always side with the buyer - and this can leave sellers open to being scammed. There was a horror story over on Repgeek (RIP) recently, where someone sold a gen - payment was made, and the watch delivered. The buyer then filed a dispute claiming that he had been fraudulantly sold a rep in place of the gen. According to the seller this was absolutely not the case, and he demanded that the watch be given to an independent expert to verify. However, PayPal "investigated", sided with the buyer and refunded his money - without getting the watch evaluated. They then stuck the seller with the bill, even though he didn't have his watch back, and it was looking unlikely that he would ever get it.

[Tucker]

Yeha...

First i made the call to my Columbina friends, told them "the bird flys high tonight"

But it was ALL OK!

Pretty funny Zeleni

[cougar1]

Even though most credit cards have anti-theft mechanisms in place it's still a pain in the [censored].

Honestly Phil, I'm no big fan of banks either, but banks make it difficult because that is how it should be. It is to make absolutely sure that they are on the right side and the case makes sense. Paypal are a little too trigger happy in this regard. In the "he said....she said" type scenario that tode mentions above you won't get too far with a bank.

We all have to be wary that with the nature of this rep game it is so easy for a buyer to file a dispute with PP based on the PP 'not as described' rule and use of the word 'fake'. They then have the whole situation open up to their advantage. Imagine someone buying your watch and wearing it for a month and deciding 'nah, not for me'....well they are as good as refunded if they want to take advantage of the PP system. In fairness the rep community is reasonably trustworthy, but still the risk exists.

Also this 'it's normal' stuff in relation to checks for receiving or sending money, yes it's normal, the odd thing is (well in the EU) anyway I would've broke all flag points for checks with my banking transfers out/in and my betting/trading accounts in the past few years and still never triggered a shakedown? Whereas plenty of comments from the Eu (not just the Us) also about someone selling random item on ebay like a piece of garden furniture and suddenly triggering a full ID check because the had an accumulated £1200 for the year. It doesn't really make sense, PP are a little trigger happy in this regard also methinks.

The standard £/$/EU 10K check on a transaction of this amount or over is fairly accepted at this stage, after all we would be flagged carrying this amount while passing trough an airport so I can understand it also while doing a banking transaction. It's this cumulative amount over time stuff is a little obscure, especially as there is different rules and regs for different regions. Are paypal policing this worldwide now?

[cougar1]

When it comes down to a "he said... she said" type of dispute, they almost always side with the buyer - and this can leave sellers open to being scammed. There was a horror story over on Repgeek (RIP) recently, where someone sold a gen - payment was made, and the watch delivered. The buyer then filed a dispute claiming that he had been fraudulantly sold a rep in place of the gen. According to the seller this was absolutely not the case, and he demanded that the watch be given to an independent expert to verify. However, PayPal "investigated", sided with the buyer and refunded his money - without getting the watch evaluated. They then stuck the seller with the bill, even though he didn't have his watch back, and it was looking unlikely that he would ever get it.

I heard all about this, and even the payment was made as a 'gift' and they still went with the dispute and sided with the buyer! Or was that another case I am thinking of?..Another case where someone requested a custom build and even asked the builder to source gen parts (sub) and supplied some of his own. Then decided mid way through the build they didn't want the watch, but had paid 50% deposit paid to secure the watch and now wanted a refund on this. The seller refused as he was then left with the sourced parts. He offered to forward the parts to buyer and subtract the cost of the parts from the deposit.

The buyer said 'no' filed a dispute requesting a refund on the 'gift' stating 'not as described' 'fake' etc. Immediate refund to buyer, seller left in the shi**t.

[Watchmeister]

My observation was always that Paypal is really better organized to protect the buyer rather than the seller and the seller is generally presumed guilty while it is the opposite for buyers. As a buyer I like Paypal with a better nom-paypal credit card linked - you have two levels of protection. As a seller I simply restrict my transactions to people I know - or at least know where they and their families live.

[cougar1]

... As a seller I simply restrict my transactions to people I know - or at least know where they and their families live.

Lol