PayPal, PayPal Never Changes

[DarkUnderlord]

This is what happens when you raise $11,000 and send it off:

At PayPal, we regularly review the accounts of our customers to monitor their account activities. This helps us ensure a safer environment for our customers to transact online and enables us to provide more proactive customer service.

In a recent review, the following activities were observed on your PayPal Account:
■ Your payment volume has shown significant increase.
■ We don't have enough information about the payments that you're receiving.

We need to know more about your business. Your account is now temporarily limited for further review. Please take the following actions to complete the review:

■ Provide more information about your business.
- Explain your business model in more detail.
- If you are selling online, please provide the URL of your website and descriptions of your merchandise.
- If you are not selling online, please explain how you promote and sell your merchandise.

■ Submit copies of your business license as well as any other documents or forms approved and issued by the government in the location where your business operates.

■ Explain why your payment volume has changed significantly recently.

■ Estimate the monthly sales volume for the next 6 months.

■ Provide copies of the original bills of sale or sales invoices referencing your purchase or acquisition of the items you are selling.

■ Provide the following contact information of your supplier(s):
- Company Name
- Company Phone Number
- Contact Person's Name and Contact information
- Company's address and website

You can submit either a copy of your supplier's name card or upload a screenshot of a text file that displays this information on your screen.

■ Provide tracking information for following transaction(s) as proof that the buyer received your items.
Transaction ID:
Transaction ID:
Transaction ID:

You can find this information in the 'Transaction Details' page of your PayPal Account.

If you can't obtain a tracking number, please provide proof that the item was shipped. A Proof of Shipping document can be obtained from the post office or company that shipped your item.

■ Provide a written statement detailing your refund policy.

■ Provide a written statement detailing your customer service policy.

Please do not reply to this email. We are unable to respond to inquiries sent to this address. If you have any questions, click "Help" at the bottom of any PayPal page.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

​

 

[Lady_Error]

Fuck Paypal. Even the shittiest bank has better buyer protection when you do a chargeback, for example.

 

[Metro]

Money laundering.

 

[Ismaul]

I guess next time we'll just have to donate to your Patreon.

 

[Morkar Left]

That's one of the mainreasons why I refuse to do anything with paypal.

Can you still use the money on the account? Otherwise have fun waiting several months (without getting any interests ofc) till you have access again to the money.

 

[Jaedar]

But you have done this several times before right? Why would the 6th time be the one that triggers MONEY LAUNDERING ALERT!!! ?

I can't wait to find out how (un)reasonable paypal customer support is.

 

[Morkar Left]

There's no support. Usually you have to wait and pray.

 

[laclongquan]

I suspect a new hire eager to prove him(her)self by going after a small fry, because going after real big ones might just get egg on face~

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

I look forward to them trying to understand the concept of "potato" that Codexers purchase

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Probably pointing them at the Codex and attempting to explain where the money has come from would not improve the situation.

 

[Anthedon]

Time to start using Bitcoins, nothing ever goes wrong with that.

 

[Aenra]

Just the thing to find in your email on a Saturday morning. Splendid

Best of luck DU, you will probably need it.
(bit of a tip, they cannot much into English. Partly the glorious New Age, partly their actual occupation. Use common wording, in short sentences, and only when bulletpoints are no longer sufficient to make a point)

edit: Am assuming this is due to the 11k intended for Larian? Have they been informed? If the Watch gets first dibs because Paypal..

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Probably pointing them at the Codex and attempting to explain where the money has come from would not improve the situation.

Can you confirm what customers receive in return for these payments?

Yes... er.... they get potato.

Ah, OK. So these potatoes are then delivered to them?

No, they're virtual potato.

Sigh. Virtual potato. That's a new one. Thought I'd heard it all in this job. Unfortunately our compliance with money laundering regulations requires us to regretfully...

It's just an in-joke. You know, potato. People can exchange potato for useful stuff on our site.

Ah, I see. Like gold in World of Tanks!

Let's keep this civil, no need to compare us to whatever the fuck Obsidian has turned into. No, people use it to purchase witty custom titles, ad-free browsing... newfags get patron status which allows them to access Prosperland and Retardoland. And brofist.

Oh, that's better. So parts of the website have premium content which can be subscribed to, like on FT.com? Do you pay professional writers and content providers for those areas?

I wouldn't call them professional, actually, that's a bit of a stretch. Retardoland is where we dump all the retarded stuff we don't want on the regular forums. And legendary threads like the ones about trannies and train tickets. Prosperland is our asylum for the most disturbed and annoying posters.

Well.... this is a bit confusing to be honest. People pay to get virtual potato and get access to the asylum for annoying posters?

Hey, I just run the place. I forgot to mention politics and stuff like that. And the Grimoire thread. Quality content.

And what is the nature of your website again?

We discuss computer role playing games. We're becoming rather famous for our refined tastes, just check our twitter feed.

I see. I think that's all the information we require. Don't call us, we'll call you.

 

[DavidBVal]

I suppose you remember this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103385-PayPal-Freezes-750K-in-MineCraft-Devs-Account

The creator of MineCraft has run into a bit of a snag with PayPal, which has frozen his account with over $763,000 in it and refuses to let him touch it.

After raising over $30,000 in nine hours to aid Red Cross efforts following Hurricane Katrina, SA's PayPal account was frozen for suspicious activity, ultimately resulting in all donated funds, minus service fees, being returned to donators.

 

[Infinitron]

DU's post seems to imply that he received this mail after successfully sending the money, but that might be wrong.

 

[Aenra]

Yeah, was a dumb thing to ask anyway, my mind was elsewhere. He's already pasted a screenshot of the D:OS 2 funds being successfully sent.

 

[DavidBVal]

DU's post seems to imply that he received this mail after successfully sending the money, but that might be wrong.

I hope the sending out wasn't blocked.

Paypal is unbelievable. Their only job is to charge an absurdly high fee over transactions, so one would think problems like this should have a "special team" solving them in a matter of a few hours, including contacting you by phone if needed. But no, they just block you and give you a day's worth of bureau-crazy, then take several days to read through it and unlock your funds, without any apology or compensation.

I won't even go into the fact they're likely a money-laundering criminal organization doing rather unethical tax engineering, since in 2007 they "moved" to Luxembourg and Singapore.

Yes, I hate them for reasons.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I think this is bankspeak for "we suspect RPG Codex is connected to organized crime and terrorism."

 

[Koschey]

or upload a screenshot of a text file that displays this information on your screen.

Why not just ask for the text file?

 

[Taluntain]

Basically, they need to update their .txt on DU.

 

[Cadmus]

good luck, UD
I wonder if it would be worth it to you to get a better service than the corrupt PayPal but I don't know of any. Can't you just use a bank account for this stuff?

 

[titus]

If you can't obtain a tracking number, please provide proof that the item was shipped. A Proof of Shipping document can be obtained from the post office or company that shipped your item.​

Thankfully Larian has the sensible habit of shipping their kickstarter games

 

[Zarniwoop]

atriot:

Isn't there a similar service based somewhere less stupid? Like the Isle of Man or Switzerland or something?

 

[GhostBadger]

Time to start using Bitcoins, nothing ever goes wrong with that.

Oh things can go wrong with it, but they're mostly self-inflicted. As in, keeping too much btc in one relatively unsafe place and cannot into securing your box.

For the record, I would use Bitcoin for any disbursements to the dex. Say the word.

 

[evdk]

We should crowdsource the reply e-mail. Can't make it any worse.

Can't you just use a bank account for this stuff?

International bank transfers are a bitch.