PayPal is great when it works. But when something happens out of the ordinary it turns into a huge nightmare. In reality they are a bunch of thugs. But just type PayPal sucks into Google and you will read about the thousands of people completely screwed by PayPal.

Basically PayPal has an attitude: Fx@# the customer. We are not regulated by any government, anywhere, so we can do what we want without repercussions. Remind me of doing business in Russia.

Paypal is a great service...I have been using it for years. Now could you be more specific on how PayPal can screw you up? (Not Vendor but PayPal, as you claim)

Sam, the issue that I'm aware of is if someone accuses you of having fraudulent transactions, the method of stating your case and trying to clear things up with Paypal is clumsy and since they often freeze accounts upon complaint, it's very much like "guilty until proven innocent" with a judge that's not paying attention. :-\

Couldnt close Paypal account, for updating country on address... I did it 5 times, still no use, It cycles, Close Account > Reason > Close Account :(

I had a fraudulent charge on my account and after searching all over for a phone # for them all I got was a recording that said leave a message we'll call you back..and they never did.when I tried to e-mail them they wanted me to give my credit card info,mothers maiden name and my ss number,just to dispute a charge?no way,after someone already hacked my account they want me to trust them with my ss number? I closed that account fast,thanks for your help

I hope nobody buys Dave a chai with a fraudulent PayPal account!

Just FIY.

Oooppps! I meant FYI. Oh well, I am sure these 2 comments will be well intentionally purged!

paypal have frozen my account because they have noticed some irregular activity.

So in light of this i feel the sensible thing to do is to remove all my bank details from paypal and close the account.

but because my account is frozen i cant close it, their phone service sucks and all my bank details are stuck on thei database waiting for ther next hacker to come along.

paypal sucks!

I recently had a meeting at Paypal's offices in Richmond...I work for a multi job poster and had to visit gumtree.com - thought Id get my account unfrozen whilst there. (Both owned by ebay). I found them to be very friendly people and a few hours after speaking with them all was sorted.

I like payal. I hate google checkout ;D

You can reach an agent by saying "agent" even though the automatic machine doesn't list agent.

PayPal take your money when it suits them. I have just had some whacko buy something from me on scumBay and claims it is faulty (more like he doesn't want it anymore) so PayPal take his money from my account BEFORE looking fully into the dispute. So, the whacko has my product and PayPal have my ca$h, how is that fair!? I just closed my scumBay account now my PayPal. This company has forgotten it's roots, we need a new player in this market without the extra affiliations with PayPal etc that can deliver the goods, and when that day comes I hope eBay share prices crash on Wall Street 'cos I will be smilin'....

Not Happy with paypal. Bought an items worth over hundreds of pounds andthey where all fake and paypal refused to refund my money. I need to close my account.

Hey Dave, wait until you experience your first problem with paypal... When they "lock" your account and YOUR money for weeks/months.

Then tell me how you like them. Paypal is the worst

Paypal stinks. Now Ebay is insisting that a person with less than a 100 feedback offer paypal on any items that person lists on ebay...with the possibility of the money being frozen for 21 days for 'verification' purposes. I've used Ebay for 9 years with a 100% positive 80 rating, but I'm not gonna use them any more - they just trying to drive more business to Paypal. Forget that!

Paypal isn't a bad service... it is an uncaring service run by a bunch of robotic procedures that 95% of the time work in the benefit of the consumer but 5% of the time don't.

When you run into someone who scams for a living and knows how the Paypal robots think, you will lose all your money and unless you can figure out how to file a suit, you won't get it back.

Out of 5288 transactions I had exactly 6 problems. 3 were decided in my favor (Yeah!) and 3 were resolved with an email stating that "your case is now closed". (booo!)

The total dollars I got screwed out of equaled approximately $3800 and the total dollars of transaction volume was approximately $1,200,000.

I think you can do the division and see that Paypal has some issues but it is mostly safe.

Ways to get screwed by Paypal:
1. Receive a box with a brick in it and try to charge back the merchandise. If UPS says they delivered it, you will lose your case.
2. Ship an item to a country outside the USA. A charge back from the card holder FOR ANY REASON will result in your money getting held for months.
3. Call customer service. They are useless.

Ways to get ahead with Paypal:
1. Don't leave your money in a Paypal account - have it linked to a bank account that you use ONLY for paypal. Transfer the money from this account to your real account after the deposit from paypal hits.
2. Ship bricks
3. Use the paypal credit card - this is your only way to get your fees reduced (they credit back 1% of your purchase price as cash). Since you will pay 3.6% on average with their virtual terminal, the 1% back potentially gets you to 2.6%. In reality, it probably winds up being 3% but it's still a help.
4. When you start selling more than $5k/month get a real merchant account (Total Merchant Services or Heartland seem to have great rates)

That's all!

I opened an account with pay pal a long while ago but didnt use it, I have chanced banks and therefor credit cards, When I went to use my paypal acct they couldnt use the new credit card number and I can not acess the paypal account as I can not remember my oil dcredit card number, How thw hell am i coing to close my old account and ope a new one without my old credit card number, # Thanks Micklefix.

i cannot access my acc i forgot my password and i do belive that my acc was hacked

How the heck do I close my acct. with paypal?

I didn't ask for an account and don't want one. Close my account.

3rd. party spoof e mail to, got a hold of my credit card numbers. Notified paypal. My account is frozen. Unable to close account and receive my money. I had to cancel my credit card, now they want a credit card number so i can get my money. This is a viscious cycle. They make it impossible to get your money for items you sold on e bay. I don't want to give them antmore credit card numbers, thats how i got in this situation to begin with. This is not a secure web site like they say it is.

Utterly useless. If your account's frozen, they don't let you access your account in the first place. I'm going to report them to the FSA.

I want to close the account but I want to open another because I forgot my password.I tried everything to retreive my password and couldnt.

My name is Tony A. Stroy,
I need my routing number and my Direct deposit number.

Thank you...

I closed my paypal account after financial loss problems. First problem, an ebay seller claiming to be in the USA. They shipped from Thailand and sent my item to the wrong country! I raised a dispute with paypal but because they had proof of shipping paypal decided in favor of the seller!

The second problem was the same. The US seller on ebay was in fact from India or Pakistan, and once again sent the item to the wrong country, and paypal decided in favour of the seller.

But when you want to leave paypal, how many times do you have so say 'I want to close my account'? Something like five or six times. Are you sure? Really sure? Would you like to talk to us about it (I guess you must need therapy if you want to leave paypal), you realize if you leave paypal (blah blah)...

Lets not talk about customer service....

i would like to close my paypal account because i signed into it one time and it refused to let me in my account considering the password and my email adress was right

your regards gareth kelton

one time my paypal was hacked and the hacker changed all the information. Before I tried to talk to them $200 were already stolen. After I called them and talked about that issue, they froze my account. Well then resolving of the issue took forever. Then when I got my account back after faxing my credit card, house address and all I got my account back. But the money which the hacker used to buy a hosting service from hostgator, I did not get it even though I tired it so much.

Atlast I was tired of their service but helpless and still using the same account after changing every thing on the site. I am right now waiting for a service which will atleast gives a competition to them so that I can shift everything.

This procedure to close a pay pal account is no longer valid. This is what I get when trying to close the account:

Before you may withdraw funds by check you must confirm a non-P.O. Box address. You can confirm your address and request a check immediately by adding a confirmed address. Alternately, you can have funds directly transferred to you by adding a bank account.

Your account cannot be closed at this time.

The whole reason I want to close my account is that Pay Pal won't let me spend or withdraw MY money. I don't have a bank account or credit card and even if I did, I would not trust Pay Pal with that info because of past experiences with them plus hundreds of thousands of other people with similar complaints.
Four calls to Pay Pal offshore call centers asking for help closing the account, in all four cases the Pay Pal operator HUNG UP ON ME.
Maybe I'll contact law enforcement and report a theft.

In the meantime can you please update this procedure so that it is current?

Paypal sucks they froze my account for some reason and now I cant acceess my money. Tried to ring customer service but its automated.
The worst company on earth.
Imagine this is how the future will be, you wont be able to trade unless you belong to an organasation like this!!

How do i close my paypall account when they wont even let me in i got ripped by them a while back i sold an item on ebay i kept it for the buyer six weeks after he paid through paypall when i asked him not too he come to pick item up and he said its bigger than i thought i dont want it now i will get my money back i said no you cant i held it for six weeks he said i will get a reversal refund through paypall which he did i sent paypall 8 emails telling the truth he just lied so much not one return email from paypall i emailed him and he said why do you think i pay through paypall so i can look at item if i dont like it i just get a reversal refund now paypall are chasing me for the money there is no way iam handing over any money to those crooks paypall need to be closed down for good

well i just sold something on ebay a few days ago and i have over 230 feed back i put on my description i dont use paypall after a few days ebay takes my item off i already had 23 watchers i get an email saying that i haved to use paypall as a payment option i emailed them back and said the law states i do not have to use paypall to sell on ebay i only have to use them as a payment option i can put direct deposit cash on pick up or money order they emailed back and said they would suspend my account with ebay if i said the wrong thing again ebay are crooks like paypall

Hi I can give you some word of advice my cousin is one of the best iT people in the country he has been in to computers for 30 years or more he said there would be no way in the world would he give bank details to paypall as there are hundreds of hackers waiting to get in to paypall and take your bank details beware you could lose everything.

hey i put in the wrong email adress an i orgot my pin how can i retriev my pin put in xtatique@mwed instead of xtatique@mweb what should i do

to much fraud from some sites and i want the last transaction canceled that was made today on2/9/2010

yes i want to close my paypal know it no help i forgot my password but it no help with paypal

We have to go out and protest against paypal,especially in this next general election,we need protection from paypal,they think they are above the law.they either put things right or they will be out of our country. go fish somewhere else where there is no law.
good luck paypal.
we sell cofee but sorry we dont accept paypal as way of payment.

Paypal provides a subscription number not accepted by USA businesses. I am unable to close the account and start from scratch

The only drawback with paypal for me which was the last time I had decided to use paypal or ebay for that matter was an item I had bought.

The item in itself wasn't the problem but rather either the seller or paypal itself (I'd put my money on paypal), is that it took two weeks after getting the item before they decided to take the money from my account and to which that was when my problem started with paypal and my bank.

As I thought it was weird that they hadn't taken the money yet, I decided to use the pay now button but by the looks of things it looked like there system had cocked up as the money was already taken and payed, there automated system thought it would be fun in trying to take the money for the second time and that's when my problem started.

Anyway all in all, I'll never use paypal or ebay again as there are far better ways to obtain items, without the likes of having to use such a shitty service like paypal or a site that forces you to use paypal.

@ Farmer

Why on earth would you hold an item for 6 weeks? Mate that sounds like a situation which was entirely your own fault. Yeah the guy was dodgy but anyone with common sense would get to the 1-2 week mark, realise the sale is no good and issue the refund themselves. That way ebay refunds your listing fees and you simply relist the item.

@ Everyone else

I went to this site looking for some info about paypal issues. Thank you all for reassuring me, most of your complaints refer to "forgetting your password" or are just plain silly: take some responsibility for your own actions, online commerce is not face to face commerce, of necessity most of the process is automated, try taking responsbility for your own actions, following the guidelines (not hard) and stop blaming a useful service provider for issues of your own making.

Paypal is by far the worst company ever i too remember when they were x.com however those 'happily ever after' days have come and gone with paypal.

Paypal is one of the largest online scams the world has yet to discover. They have closed my account for no reason other than I was making $500 per day, then I was sent a notice that said that activity on my account was potentially high risk? WTF I had all the ebay statements 100% positive feedbacks and no issues up until i had nearly $23,000.00 in my account. My situations similar to the hurricane katrina fund that paypal stole if any of you remember that. Turns out I had to close my business because of these scumbags.

Paypal and eBay are both doomed in my book if they keep screwing people like they do. More people talk when they dislike a service then when they like a service and at this rate paypal and ebay are going to meet an end.

Aboutpaypal.com, paypalsucks.com, paypalwarning.com

I cant be the only one thats been had by the likes of paypal.

Hi
Re closing a Paypal account, Dave writes "The remaining balance will be mailed to you as a physical check to the address you have specified in the account."
Well, I've just closed my account, and been told, by PayPal, that the remaining balance (MY money!) will be "donated to a leading European charity"
Did someone say 'its like doing business in Russia'? Why insult the Russians?

cn you please this paypal acount lora.rapio@yahoo.com? thnk you

I want to close my account and cannot remember my password. E-mail with password not recieved as promised. Automated "help" is totally inadequate.
No way to call or send e-mail to a real person. The experience has been a nightmare. PayPal will not let me pay direct so venders are loosing business. PayPal takes absolut control of every site where they are an "optional" pay method. Don't join!

Hahaha Dave Taylor! You are so provocative. It is so absurdly difficult to close an account! Ok, I follow your """"guide"""". But I don't have my former credit card number - I was told by my bank to deliver it to them! ok, maybe I can change it to the new card number and the delete it? No way! I can't remove a credit card because my acount has been limited! moahahaha ahahahh :o/

hallo everybody.i sale nice amplifier on ebay and buyer pay it with pay-pal."pis-pal" so i go for it.now he say "amp is not working like it should"??? i made movie on youtube so people can see all function running on the amp! and as i smell problem,i close fast pay-pal acaunt before claim.few days later i get mail "pay-pal will hold 199e from your acaunt until problem resolved"?? i called fast my bank and block my visa card that was connected to pay-pal to make shure they cant take nothing.. but,can thay take money now?? i dont know?? i have proof that amp was recived by tracking number..HELP!!!

Thanks Dave! Saved me many steps and time. Cheers!

Well I can go one further, my credit card a/c paid Paypal , there was no credit shown on my account balance, there were also no sales credits shown either, I wrote to them 4-5 times in 48 hrs,I received no response except a message saying my e-mail was not verified, when I sent them their receipt twice, to show that it was. I have since tried to find a way to contact them by e-mail and when you do try to send a message to them, conveniently I get a "TIMED OUT" MESSAGE HMMMM.I had to remove my credit card details as a security measure because apparently according to my daughter, her bank informed her that there are other items to be debited again this month when infact I have purchased nothing and infact made a couple of sales which still don't show either on my a/c balance as such - so...... my advice is get out of Paypal faster than you can run.....

Have you visited the PayPal site recently? I followed your instructions and the instructions on PayPal...there is NO "close account" listed under PayPal or under more options...there are "close acct" instructions when this is entered into search...there is no way to contact this site other than automation...they have my bank account number AND my credit card number and I have no way of communicating except via automation. This is illegal? I have never been more frustrate and frightened.
Six tabs= My acct Send Money Request Money
Merchant services Product & services
and community
six minor tabs = Overview, Add funds, Withdraw
History, Resolution Cneter
Under profile/setting
Add or edit email
Add or edit bank account
Add or edit credit card
Add or edit street address
Add or edit phone number
More options including
account type
checkout settings
mobile devices and push notifications
notifications
customer service
security key
Preferred site
preferred language
security zone

Patricia, check out this link (when you're logged in to Paypal):

https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/main.jsp?cmd=_help&solutionId=11935&t=solutionTab&bn_r=m

Should help you see the path to canceling your account.

my credit card number is already assigned to another account for security purrposes, each may only be assigned to 1 paypal accout so i really need to close it how's that done

Until 2 days ago I told everyone how great PayPal are. Then I got an email to say they have limited my account and in 4 days (four!) funds will be frozen for 180 days. My site is by donation..I offer advice about a specific subject and for a fast response I suggest people donate a small amount. I use PP to buy things on the internet..I consider it my nest egg. Not any more it's not. PP want me to upload photo id and a letter with my current add. They also want me to provide an exemption from tax certificate and a an official document to show I'm a registered charity. They didn't ask for these things when I signed up. There's no way to communicate iwth them (I live in Australia). I'm so distressed about this because the 8,000 $s in PP is my nestegg I use to buy things on the internet. I'm retired and this amount is not peanuts to me. Did someone mention Russian mafia, because this is what it feels like.

PayPal became useless when purchased by eBay when they quickly lost all accountability. Sorry Dave the new PayPal is not what it used to be.

My account was hacked for a tremendous amount not only wiping out my ability to pay my bills but "when" this is resolved I have been informed the money will be returned to - you guesed it - my PayPal account - where it will take yet another week to get it back to my own bank where I can pay my bills.

Needless to say I will be closing my account although from these posts that will be yet another challenge.

Just last week over 29 unauthorised transactions were made on my bank/paypal account. They had took deposits of money from my bank account and transferred them to multiple email addresses through paypal.

I only found out when I got an email from paypal saying they were processing a transaction for over £1,500.

I phoned paypal and in that respect they were helpful and got my refunds back... sort of.

I phone my bank straight after and got a them to cancel my card, this morning I received a letter from my bank saying I was over £200 overdrawn. Because of my bank declining these payments to paypal, paypal disabled my bank details.

I have £2 paypal balance with no bank account or correct bank card (other was disable and I'm to be sent a new one) to put it into.

Paypal won't close my account because apparently a refund is still pending, yet my transactions say they're all complete.

I don't give a toss about that £2 either. I JUST WANT TO CLOSE MY ACCOUNT. I'm terrified it's going to happen again, I'm in debit too because of this.

Hello,

I want to close my paypal account but I wonder if I can use my credit card information for the new paypal account in the future?

ebay stealth. beat their stupid system. paypal and ebay rob people so offen that forums are made on how to get back on ebay and sell using tactics which trick their automated system.

all in all paypal pulled my account wth over 300 quid in, lost it all. how is their money? it isnt. they closed my account and havent helped me. making intrest off of MY money. absoloute scumbags. they demand ALL of ur documents, includin passport etc. they arent a government body, they are a shitty payment gateway, pumped up over the years, over rated, legalised robbing dogs.

i suggest either using ebay stealth, and following the guide, and having hope... or... dont even deal with paypal, trust me, they know that they are robbin you, and they dont care.

buyer/seller protection my eye.

J

You really think Paypal's all that great? Try changing countries.
We were living in the UK, then moved to Australia. Paypal doesn't know there is more than one country in the world, so we had to cancel the old account and setup a new one.
AT least we tried to cancel the old one; like a zombie, it keeps reappearing, determined to make our online existence like a bad movie.
Still trying, two years later.
Paypal SUCKS.

Here is one example of why one might hate PayPal: http://thegreengeeks.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/why-paypal-is-wrong-regarding-regretsy-according-to-their-own-policies/. This is absolutely egregious behavior on the part of a company.

Paypal its JUST PROBLEM

I opened a paypal account. I gave my bank account details and PAN card number. But after seeing reviews in net, i got afraid and deleted my paypal account immediately on the day of account opening itself. Now after 3 days i have recieved two small deposits in my bank account for verification. What should i do? Will paypal take money from my bank account without my permission? Pls help me. When I tried to access paypal account again to delete my bank details, i was unsuccessful. pls reply at the earliest.

PayPal are great if you are not a seller in the USA or Canada, or a seller from another country selling into the USA or Canada. If you are however, then be prepared for PayPal holding your funds for a month before releasing them to you and outrageously high fees. I recommend Skrill / Moneybookers.com as an alternative. After a recent experience with PayPal hold my funds. I will not accept PayPal payments from the US or Canada ever again.

I had a Paypal and an Ebay account and they both got shut down. I guess it was my fault for selling a bunch of ipads even though i actually have connections to a large wholesaler.
To unlock my accounts i have to send documentation proving where i bought everything which is on the way to me now but i still dont think they will release my account.
(FYI) been Paypal/Ebay customer 7 years!!!
They tried to freeze 3grand in funds but i just refunded the last 10 people i sold to now they have only 200.
HAHA how do you like me now.
I dont care about ebay, but do want a paypal account for occasional purchases.
Any suggestions about finding a way to open a new Paypal account just to buy a few items when i need to without them knowing it is me would be appreciated.

as for me folks i could never sign in and do you think you ever could find someone to speak to you if you lost your pass ward or sign in name . I never received a dime from pay pal in payments from any thing i tried panda or other surfeys . but pay pal sure took money out of my account and i never have found out what for .

just try to speak with anyone from pay pal it ant gonna happen folks never. that why I have asked them to close my account and to this day I have no idea if they ever have . it would be nice to know . as fare as i'm conserned they can have what ever they left in there after what they stole from my account. what I do not like is when they get in my personal credit card accont with asking first so I do not to have anything to do with them.. if you need it pay cash in person.

I want to close this account because I have not been paid for a book sold 3 months ago....I've filed complaints etc.....still no money.

please tell me what should i do about this:

i want to buy an item outside in the Philippines, so the price is in a dollar form, but i only have Philippine money in my paypal account, should i have to convert it into dollar or it will be automatically converted into dollar???

please someone help me with this problem

Well, the only reason you like Paypal is because you never had to deal with their "lack of customer service", 45 minutes on hold and counting.

These guys are worse than trying to service your lifetime warranty with Ray Padula products.

Paypal does not protect buyers from crooks who take your money and dont deliver your goods.
This is the second time since I ve used Paypal and Ebay. Now Im out over 2600 dollars.
Unfortunately, we are denying your claim because your purchase was for a
virtual, digital, or intangible item, which is not covered under PayPal
Purchase Protection. We only cover claims involving physical items that
can be shipped and tracked.
oh yeah up yours Paypal and Ebay

I too tried a dozen tips on how to close my account. None worked. I just found this phone number 1-888-221-1161 and it worked. I finally got my paypal account closed.

I no longer requir PayPal Services.

Please close out my PayPal Account as I no longer require the service.

I have been trying to close my Paypal account and when i get to the page and enter my bank account number associated with the Paypal account it says there is some missing information...i only have the bank account number so i don't undrstand what the problem is...i just want the damn thing closed!

Pay! Pay! pay! Pay! You are gonna PAY PAL! because PAYPAL CRIME SHARKS are waiting around in the waters to screw you when they want to. It's just a matter of time when they take a bite out of your wallet PAL!

lol @ you Dave, i just clicked on "Buy dave a chai" and it uses google wallet! Why don't you use your own advice?

Dude, it also offers Paypal as an option. You should try it out. By buying me something. :-)

what can i do, if I bought a motorcycle at at bid from e-bay. Paid for it, selected a carrier enlisted in pay-pal. and this guy picked up the motorcycle but never gave it to me., I have sent all kinds of e- mails to e bay and pay pal and have not had any response. Its almost a year since I made the transaction

I wanted to close my account but it's like being held hostage! I have a .98 balance in my account so they won't let me close it.I can't transfer the funds anywhere either--as if I give a rat's butt about 98 cents. They've screwed me out of so much cash over the years, why not give them the last of it? I got new bank info but there is no way in hell I'm giving this internet mafia my information. I guess I'm stuck.I don't use it anymore anyway because their fees are worse than a freaking payday loan operation. How either ebay or paypal are still in existence is a complete mystery to me. Isn't there some government agency that protects consumers against fraud on the Internet?! I would stab myself in the eye with an ice pick before I would EVER use either of those companies again.

Seriously, Dave? You haven't ready *anything* negative about PayPal? Literally *everything* I read about Paypal is negative. I've had trouble with them on and off and am on the verge of closing my account. I'm going to explore Dwolla.com to see if they're any better.

-dougl

Hi Dave, Iam been have trouble with my paypal account that I had since December.Everytime when I delete it said have outstaning authorizations and can't deactive it. I just wanted to know if i can still delete?