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How do I close my Paypal account?

I hate Paypal and have too many friends who have had their money frozen or accounts frozen, never then able to get their balance out. I want to just close mine up completely, but, predictably, they make it hard to figure out how to do so. Dave, how the heck do you close your Paypal account?


Dave's Answer:

I'm surprised to read of your intense dislike for Paypal, actually. I have always found it a superior way to transact online business and have completed hundreds of transactions without a glitch. Heck, I remember visiting their predecessor X.com years and years ago, being amazed at how much they all worked, and the delighted when X.com and Paypal.com merged and then were bought by behemoth eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY). But that's another story...

I didn't find it difficult at all to figure out how to close a Paypal account. In fact, if you're logged into your account, click on "Help" and type in "close account" you'll find concise instructions on exactly how to proceed.

To close your account, start by clicking on the My Account tab, then the Profile subtab:

Paypal / eBay: My Account : Profile

On the left side you'll see a list under the header "Account Information", the very last of which is Close Account. Click on that and it'll ask you to verify your account in some manner or other, probably by confirming the credit card number you used when you first signed up for the account.

Enter that correctly, confirm that's exactly what you want to do, and you've just canceled your account. The remaining balance will be mailed to you as a physical check to the address you have specified in the account.

Good luck to you!



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Comments

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.

Posted by: Bob at March 9, 2007 5:06 PM

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)

Posted by: Sam at March 12, 2007 8:24 AM

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. :-\

Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 12, 2007 12:37 PM

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

Posted by: shanX at July 7, 2007 12:56 AM

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

Posted by: kirby at November 25, 2007 5:47 PM

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

Just FIY.

Posted by: Looking Out at February 6, 2008 5:23 PM

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

Posted by: Looking Out at February 6, 2008 6:20 PM

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!

Posted by: dave at March 10, 2008 7:42 AM

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

Posted by: Darren at April 14, 2008 8:06 AM

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

Posted by: Sean at May 24, 2008 2:58 PM

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'....

Posted by: PayPayPay at May 29, 2008 5:53 PM

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.

Posted by: lam at June 21, 2008 4:31 PM

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

Posted by: Don L at July 25, 2008 7:52 AM

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!

Posted by: Craig at August 14, 2008 8:08 AM

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!

Posted by: T at September 13, 2008 1:13 PM

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.

Posted by: Michael Barter at February 12, 2009 4:31 AM

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

Posted by: Ronald Gauvreau at February 20, 2009 7:11 AM

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

Posted by: SULLY at April 29, 2009 12:12 PM

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

Posted by: James Laukhart at May 24, 2009 7:18 AM

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.

Posted by: susan at June 4, 2009 6:26 PM

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.

Posted by: simon at July 2, 2009 12:44 PM

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.

Posted by: Theresa Bowles at July 31, 2009 12:56 PM

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

Thank you...

Posted by: Tony A. Stroy at August 11, 2009 11:59 AM

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....

Posted by: BearUK at August 20, 2009 4:30 PM

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

Posted by: gareth at September 16, 2009 3:29 AM

I have a lot to say, but ...
Starbucks coffee cup I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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