Consumer complaint received 2015-05-16
Company: Paypal Holdings, Inc
State: WA
Product: Money transfers
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Fraud or scam

Complaint:
My name is XXXX I live at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX wa XXXX1 My phone number is XXXX, I recently moved and I 'm a struggling student. 2 months ago I spent all the money I had in my savings in purchasing XXXX new iPhone 's off XXXX for a good deal. These were valid legitimate phones -the serial numbers checked out with XXXX and XXXX - they werent blacklisted, or stolen, all XXXX phones were brand new, sealed, unopened and never used, so I decided to try to sell them on ebay. I 've never sold anything online before, but I 've seen advertisements and claims of protecting sellers, buyers, all kinds of promises were made to me before I signed up - so I felt safe initially in posting all XXXX phones. XXXX by XXXX they all sold, over the course of a week and a half - and when the XXXX phone sold, I got an email from paypal- telling me that my account was limited, and I needed to provide documentation to prove my identity. At XXXX paypal asked for a few things, but as I started uploading my information to their website - statements, bills, my identification, social security number, etc, every docment I uploaded to confirm my identity was met with a request for another XXXX DIFFERENT documents. Right when I uploaded XXXX of my last documents, a XXXX bill in my name with my address, they limited my account permanently - without appeal. They informed me they 're holding my funds for 180 days, and there 's nothing I can do about it. I 've been calling paypal XXXX a day now for a week straight, and every single person I 've talked to has given me different requirements. They all keep saying the same thing, that I agreed to their terms of service - and when I asked them why they were doing this, they said that they need to hold onto the money to protect themselves in case of chargebacks for 180 days. This is in spite of the fact that all XXXX items tracking numbers show delivered, all XXXX items received positive feedbacks and gratitude from their buyers, all XXXX items have been activated on their respective carriers without issue, and most importantly, at the time of the sale before i shipped, I was assured by paypal that I qualify for seller protection which would negate the ill effects of things such as chargebacks or item not received claims. The whole time leading up to this, i was reading stories of buyers abusing these systems to take advantage of sellers, and I was so scared at XXXX point I considered scrapping the remaining XXXX auctions and cancelling them as well as the XXXX XXXX before shipping the phone out and just selling them locally. I wish I had done that now, Paypal limited my account, not allowing me access to any of my funds for 180 days.This was all the money in the world I have to my name, and it 's locked up making interest for paypal for 6 months now. My ebay account got closed because I could n't pay the seller fees because paypal wouldnt release my money to ebay to cover the fees. The account was then sent to collections. I do n't have money to pay my rent, I 've tried calling paypal multiple times asking them why they are doing this, but keep getting canned responses. I followed their rules down to the t, I took all the precautions to protect myself, and now i 'm facing eviction. I 've provided the documentation they 've asked for, and they refuse to do anything until 180 days has passed, the last XXXX times I called on friday I was simply trying to add a bank account to my paypal account in preparation to receive my money into it, as far away as it may be ( they said XXXX XXXX ), and all XXXX attempts failed as their employees seemingly mocked and ridiculed me, telling me that im wasting my time and there 's no point in adding a bank account since I ca n't pull the money out anytime soon anyway. UNREAL ...

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief