It is every freelancer's nightmare. Paypal decides to limit access to your account for virtually any reason, as long as they smell something fishy. In other cases, there is absolutely nothing wrong with your account and Paypal decides to limit access just the same. Having this status put on your account can be the death knell that heralds the fall of many a website. For one, a lot of online merchants buy and sell using Paypal. In my case, the company I work for only works with Paypal when it comes to sending out my weekly pay. So imagine my horror when I found the dreaded red banner splayed over my Paypal homepage. At first I didn't know what it meant. Then I scrolled downward and saw the things that you can and cannot do when your account is limited, and my jaw dropped. It was equivalent to having your account frozen-- you can keep receiving money but you cannot withdraw or send. I almost burst into tears then and there, before I realized that I needed to comfort myself in order to look back at this moment and say that I was no crybaby.
So I took a deep breath and started searching for posts on this sort of thing, hoping to find forums where someone successfully lifted the limit. But the more I read, the more I got discouraged. People all over the world were swearing off Paypal after the site limited their accounts. Some even advised grief-stricken online entreps to close off their accounts since it usually takes Paypal 180 days to lift the limitations, especially if withdrawals were involved! The really unlucky ones may even have to accept the fact that they may never get to open their accounts ever again.
MY prospects looked bleak. I didn't know what to do. I contemplated going to the bank and opening a new acount, but that would not do me any good, since Paypal only allows one account per person. I contemplated contacting my editor to tell her that I needed my account frozen so that no money will be sent to Paypal, but I wasnt likely to get any response right away.
I did rermember reading in the forums that you get a better chance of having someone from Paypal look into lifting your limited access status if you call them. This was a problem for me, since I live in the Philppines and long-distance calls can cost you an arm and leg.
My next option was my boyfriend's Skype, since he had free credits and could make overseas calls. When he told me that the credits expired, my heart sank. Again. I was ready to bawl. I was ready to rip my hair out, and that is saying something because lately, I've been taking great care of my hair since they got a severe beating with a recent hair relaxation adventure that we had a few months back.
Then I saw this post. In it the posted details on how you can call Paypal through Skype. For Free! I followed her instructions, and sure enough I got Paypal, but it ws the answering machine. Turns out office hours starts at 6 AM Central Time, and it was thirthy minutes past 5:30 in the morning back in the States. I waited patiently, biting my fingers, crossing and uncrossing them, and generally feeling like I was grasping at straws. Two minutes after 6, I rang Paypa through Skype again. The automated voice, after asking me to say my phone number, connected me to a real person. At last! A real, breathing, live person! A Paypal person! A person who answers phones for PAYPAL! I was never happier to hear from someone who answered the phones, but this was a PERSON!!!! A PAYPAL person! Not a Paypal email address, not a Paypal forum, not a Paypal notification. A PERSON!
Paypal actually had a voice. It was a guy's voice, and he actually sounded very sincere and friendly. I was half-expecting a grumpy voice with an Indian accent, but it wasn't. The guy asked about my Paypal info so he could pull my account off the database, so I provided my email, my phone number, and account number. Then he asked if I could send him a photo of any valid ID, and call back once I'm done. I scrambled to have my PRC ID scanned. Thankfully my brother was there to do the scanning for me. A second call later, I was talking to a woman. She was equally sweet and chirpy, which I attributed to the early hours of the morning... I was guessing the later the day, the more irate customers they talk to, the more irate THEY get. The lady asked me a few questions about my proxy server, and then told me to log in to PAYPAL using a connection from the Philippines. Since Globe was still down at home, I raced over to my cousin's house and connected to their internet there. I changed my PAypal password and security questions, as the lady had ordered, and made the third call.
A third call later, this time I was talking to a young guy. It seems like he already knew what my problem was, and two minutes into the call, he told me that he had already restored full access to my account. (MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR sigh of relief!) I couldn't believe it at first, so I asked him to repeat what he just said, and he did. I thanked him profusely, and not quite believing my lucky stars. And that's how I got Paypal to lift my limited access status. In five hours, no less!!! :D
( this post is in no way an ad for Paypal, haha!)
Why My Account Got Frozen
Although Paypal did not verify why they placed my account on limited access, I think I have an idea. My home internet connection was down (again, thanks to Globe) so I was using Globe tattoo and going online using a proxy. While on this connection I accessed my Paypal and transferred money to my brother's account. I think the transactio triggered Paypal's alarms, hence the red banner.
So I took a deep breath and started searching for posts on this sort of thing, hoping to find forums where someone successfully lifted the limit. But the more I read, the more I got discouraged. People all over the world were swearing off Paypal after the site limited their accounts. Some even advised grief-stricken online entreps to close off their accounts since it usually takes Paypal 180 days to lift the limitations, especially if withdrawals were involved! The really unlucky ones may even have to accept the fact that they may never get to open their accounts ever again.
MY prospects looked bleak. I didn't know what to do. I contemplated going to the bank and opening a new acount, but that would not do me any good, since Paypal only allows one account per person. I contemplated contacting my editor to tell her that I needed my account frozen so that no money will be sent to Paypal, but I wasnt likely to get any response right away.
I did rermember reading in the forums that you get a better chance of having someone from Paypal look into lifting your limited access status if you call them. This was a problem for me, since I live in the Philppines and long-distance calls can cost you an arm and leg.
My next option was my boyfriend's Skype, since he had free credits and could make overseas calls. When he told me that the credits expired, my heart sank. Again. I was ready to bawl. I was ready to rip my hair out, and that is saying something because lately, I've been taking great care of my hair since they got a severe beating with a recent hair relaxation adventure that we had a few months back.
Then I saw this post. In it the posted details on how you can call Paypal through Skype. For Free! I followed her instructions, and sure enough I got Paypal, but it ws the answering machine. Turns out office hours starts at 6 AM Central Time, and it was thirthy minutes past 5:30 in the morning back in the States. I waited patiently, biting my fingers, crossing and uncrossing them, and generally feeling like I was grasping at straws. Two minutes after 6, I rang Paypa through Skype again. The automated voice, after asking me to say my phone number, connected me to a real person. At last! A real, breathing, live person! A Paypal person! A person who answers phones for PAYPAL! I was never happier to hear from someone who answered the phones, but this was a PERSON!!!! A PAYPAL person! Not a Paypal email address, not a Paypal forum, not a Paypal notification. A PERSON!
Paypal actually had a voice. It was a guy's voice, and he actually sounded very sincere and friendly. I was half-expecting a grumpy voice with an Indian accent, but it wasn't. The guy asked about my Paypal info so he could pull my account off the database, so I provided my email, my phone number, and account number. Then he asked if I could send him a photo of any valid ID, and call back once I'm done. I scrambled to have my PRC ID scanned. Thankfully my brother was there to do the scanning for me. A second call later, I was talking to a woman. She was equally sweet and chirpy, which I attributed to the early hours of the morning... I was guessing the later the day, the more irate customers they talk to, the more irate THEY get. The lady asked me a few questions about my proxy server, and then told me to log in to PAYPAL using a connection from the Philippines. Since Globe was still down at home, I raced over to my cousin's house and connected to their internet there. I changed my PAypal password and security questions, as the lady had ordered, and made the third call.
A third call later, this time I was talking to a young guy. It seems like he already knew what my problem was, and two minutes into the call, he told me that he had already restored full access to my account. (MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR sigh of relief!) I couldn't believe it at first, so I asked him to repeat what he just said, and he did. I thanked him profusely, and not quite believing my lucky stars. And that's how I got Paypal to lift my limited access status. In five hours, no less!!! :D
( this post is in no way an ad for Paypal, haha!)
