Consumer complaint received 2018-04-26
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
I submitted a complaint about XXXX/PayPal and was informed that I had to file a separate complaint against each organization. So I elected to have that complaint ( XXXX ) for XXXX since they are hounding me for money that I dont own them. The following complaint, although the same as my original, is specifically for PayPal. 

I am having my money stolen by the XXXX/PayPal combine. While they are probably acting within the letter of the law, Im confident that the experience of the CFPB shows that that does not preclude dishonesty and theft. When you sell an item on XXXX and you are told that the buyer has paid, you appropriate out of pocket cash expenses for postage and packing materials, but they then withhold your funds for your own protection. After that period has passed purchases from the required linked PayPal account are easy, but getting them to send you your money is often impossible. They refused to send money to my regular XXXX XXXX address. I live in a rural area and do not have home delivery. The mail sent to my physical address goes to a group mailbox at the bottom of a hill, accessible only by car. That box has limited capacity, gets wet when it rains and is subject to theft. And since I am retired with some health problems and dont pick up my mail on a daily basis I maintain a XXXX XXXX which I consider rational behavior given these circumstances. My local post office has told me that I shouldnt maintain two addresses which I fully understand and have been changing addresses to my XXXX XXXX XXXX However, PayPal has refused to mail me my money to a XXXX XXXX without going through an elaborate procedure which included faxing them documents. I dont have a fax nor should I be required to have one to sell some old junk on XXXX. So I was forced to violate the post offices valid request and have maintained my non XXXX XXXX mailing address. And while I did get them to send me one check, they flat out refused to send me a second check to that same address! After about a wasted hour on hold and in conversation they still refused because I couldnt answer questions such as my ex-wifes birthday month. Candidly, that prior marriage was an unpleasant experience and I have understandably blocked out/forgotten such details. ( You certainly have no right to privacy with them ) So they have clearly stolen this money from me. 
To send you your own money they charge you {$1.00} per check. This is their incentive to coerce you into linking your PayPal account to your bank account which I have refused to do. But they have without my knowledge linked my PayPal account to my primary credit card and have been charging me various fees without any notice of any sort. They flatly and repeatedly refuse to tell me what these charges are for except to say that I owe them this money. Of course, I contacted the credit card company and objected to these charges. Then I went onto the PayPal website and removed that credit card. But the next time I went unto their website they had, without my knowledge, linked my PayPal account to my secondary credit card which I could not remove. This is also, like the funds withholding, another example of blatant theft. 
Along with the above cited abuses, XXXX/PayPal is structured as connivers, not service providers. When you list an item there is usually no fee, but when you relist it fees sometimes occur and sometimes dont. Their calculations of shipping charges are often inaccurate and sometimes they demand you state a shipping price with your listing and sometimes they dont. When questioned about these and other quagmires, they always refer you to their rules. These rules are voluminous and ever changing with long emails notifications of constant changes. Any attempt to master them requires time sufficient to abrogate any profit from sales. PayPals monthly account statements obscure an accurate picture. They are the strangest accounting format I have ever seen. XXXX software is often incomprehensible ; its goal appears to be obfuscation. A very zealous buyer emailed me about buying two items with one shipping charge. I spent a few hours on their site trying to structure this reasonable arrangement within their rules, found it impossible and lost the sale. But they were still making money by withholding my money and their unexplained charges to my credit cards. 
Since its apparent that they will keep stealing I tried to close these accounts but they wouldnt let me. Is there anything within your regularity power that can assist me here and also help others victimized by their abuse? 
Thank you for your attention to this matter, XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, CA XXXX, XXXX PS : I have a 100 % satisfaction rating from XXXX customers

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief