Several PayPal users, mostly eBay buyers from the Philippines, recently complained that PayPal selectively limits certain accounts.
It was reported that this usually happens, after a user has logged in to the account. Worse, the account could be limited after an online purchase is almost complete — that is, the transaction has been debited from the credit card but the payment is frozen and not sent to the seller.
What happens, then, is that the user ends up with a limited PayPal account, charges against the credit card, and an unpaid seller who won’t send the product because payment is not received. What an unfortunate situation to be in, indeed.
Pending further account verification
A few users reported that they merely logged in to their account one day only to find a notice from PayPal that their account has been frozen pending additional verification.
Some said they tried paying for a product purchased online but payment is held by PayPal before the transaction is completed and the account has been limited.
Owners of accounts limited by PayPal normally see a message similar to this:
As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the PayPal system. During a recent screening, we noticed an issue regarding your account.
Our system requires further account verification.
Case ID Number: *****
For your protection, we have limited access to your account until additional security measures can be completed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
To review your account and some or all of the information that PayPal used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution Center. If, after reviewing your account information, you seek further clarification regarding your account access, please contact PayPal by visiting the Help Center and clicking “Contact Us”.
We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Department
Paypal’s message on how to address limited accounts
If you ask PayPal how you can restore access to your account, you will receive a message similar to this:
Thank you for inquiring as to how to restore access to your account.
PayPal is constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features will be limited.
To return your account to regular standing, please complete the checklist items indicated when you login to your account and click on the link provided on the ‘Account Overview’ page.
The link will appear as: Click to Resolve or Check Status.
Once you complete all of the checklist items, our Account Review team will review your case and send you an email with the outcome of the review. Cases are reviewed in the order they are received.
We apologize for the inconvenience, and we would like to restore your access as soon as possible. Please do not respond to this email, as responses to this message will not be answered.
Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Team
Documentary proof required to verify account
Normally you will be asked to fax them a copy of a utility bill that contains your name and address that correspond to the name and address in your PayPal account profile.
Once they have received the documents, PayPal will send you this message:
Dear *****,
This message confirms that we have received the documents you sent to PayPal. The documents have been successfully attached to your PayPal Account and will be reviewed shortly.
We review documents in the order in which they are received and generally require 3 to 5 business days to process these documents. Once we process your documents, we will contact you about the status of your PayPal Account.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
If you have any questions, please contact us using this link: *****
Sincerely,
PayPal
How many days before limited Paypal account is lifted
If after 5 business days PayPal still has not resolved your account, contact PayPal again and follow up your case. Once the limit imposed on the account is lifted, you will receive a message similar to the one below. Normal access to the PayPal account is then restored.
Dear *****,
Our review is complete and we have restored your account.
We appreciate your patience and thank you for your help in making PayPal the safest and most trusted online payment solution.
Sincerely,
PayPal
It sometimes takes PayPal several more days to resolve issues as opposed to the promised 3-5 business days. The key is to continue following up your case and to sometimes contact them by phone rather than email to personally inquire about the status of your case.
If there are no irregularities in your account and you sent the needed documents, you will again have access to your limited Paypal account in less than a week.
How do we know?
We’ve also had our Paypal account limited, and our sample email messages above were actual messages we got from Paypal when we resolved the issue.
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