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We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

blog.niteo.co

451–460 of 536 posts

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#451
post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you read the actual blogpost, it was more likely an administrative mistake earlier in the process that was then difficult to undo, and no one really giving a fuck on paypal's side. Attribute things to incompetence before malice and all that, especially when attributing it to malice requires thinking they made a fairly odd decision to outright lie to customers about why you are ceasing doing business with them.

Sufficiently prolonged incompetence, when the resources are available to easily correct it, is malice.

It isn't a

> (poorly) made up excuse to ban undesirable users.

I suppose I'm not interested in debating the definition of malice as it relates to actions by a large corporation...

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#452
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ooof, PBNs are literal spam. They're designed to game Google by producing a deluge of low quality content with backlinks on whatever search terms you're hoping to squat on. I'm utterly sick of this kind of junk.

True, but as long as there are rules, somebody is going to find a loophole or a way to game the system. I'd personally be more concerned with Google improving their product or with society's increasing reliance on a single company's service and our unwillingness to consume information critically. PBNs are garbagey, but trying to put them all down is unrealistic. And even if they could be stopped, it would only be a b…

Seems like limiting their payment processing was a pretty effective step.

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#453
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! After reading the story I headed to the comments to look for this exact comment! This story was super, super sketchy! The tell was it didn't at all mention the products or services they sell. Since any normal person would mention the products/services they sell front-and-center as key information to the story, I went ahead and assumed the problem was the products or services they offer were illegal/sketchy…

I am truly disgusted by this comment and those with a similar sentiment below. Selling PBNs is not against Paypal’s TOS, regardless of whether or not you happen to dislike them. The point is that PayPal falsely asserted that a business violated its TOS, and that means that it could happen to anyone else - instantly and without explanation. That is the problem here.

Here is PayPal's TOS (although they may have multiple for different aspects of the service, and definitely for different jurisdictions), in case anyone else wanted to take a look: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/ua/acceptableuse-full

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#454
post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody disagrees that this is what you have to do in PayPal's current state. The debate is to whether you should have to do it, or whether, given that it walks and talks like a bank, PayPal should nationally and globally be treated as a bank.

A bank that suspected money laundering or suspicious activity would be expected to behave in exactly the same way. Any regulated entity would.

From what I know, a bank will report suspicious transactions to the authorities, and obey whatever the authorities tell them to do about it. They will not assume the role of the authorities for themselves.

At least, that's how I understand the banking situation in Netherland, which seems about as reasonable as you can get. American companies do seem to be much more likely to play police.

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#455
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the second comment in two days I've seen along the lines of "You can't risk pissing off Uber because they might ban you." What a sad codependent relationship to be [ADDED: or feel you are] so locked into some uncaring tech service that you feel you basically have to just put up with whatever mistreatment they dish out.

What about Amazon?

What about it? I use Amazon and I would be loathe to drop it but I don’t really feel I have no choice but to use Amazon.

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#456
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! After reading the story I headed to the comments to look for this exact comment! This story was super, super sketchy! The tell was it didn't at all mention the products or services they sell. Since any normal person would mention the products/services they sell front-and-center as key information to the story, I went ahead and assumed the problem was the products or services they offer were illegal/sketchy…

I am truly disgusted by this comment and those with a similar sentiment below. Selling PBNs is not against Paypal’s TOS, regardless of whether or not you happen to dislike them. The point is that PayPal falsely asserted that a business violated its TOS, and that means that it could happen to anyone else - instantly and without explanation. That is the problem here.

I just googled PBN. It looks like it is a black-hat, completely inauthentic SEO tactic that has no legitimate value. Why on Earth or you defending them? Am I missing something?

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#457
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ooof, PBNs are literal spam. They're designed to game Google by producing a deluge of low quality content with backlinks on whatever search terms you're hoping to squat on. I'm utterly sick of this kind of junk.

True, but as long as there are rules, somebody is going to find a loophole or a way to game the system. I'd personally be more concerned with Google improving their product or with society's increasing reliance on a single company's service and our unwillingness to consume information critically. PBNs are garbagey, but trying to put them all down is unrealistic. And even if they could be stopped, it would only be a b…

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#458

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am truly disgusted by this comment and those with a similar sentiment below. Selling PBNs is not against Paypal’s TOS, regardless of whether or not you happen to dislike them. The point is that PayPal falsely asserted that a business violated its TOS, and that means that it could happen to anyone else - instantly and without explanation. That is the problem here.

I just googled PBN. It looks like it is a black-hat, completely inauthentic SEO tactic that has no legitimate value. Why on Earth or you defending them? Am I missing something?

Because if what they are selling does not break any laws PayPal should not ban it. Or do you don't want PayPal to treat the world as their app store and pick and choose which software or service they find ok to sell.

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#459
post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bank that suspected money laundering or suspicious activity would be expected to behave in exactly the same way. Any regulated entity would.

From what I know, a bank will report suspicious transactions to the authorities, and obey whatever the authorities tell them to do about it. They will not assume the role of the authorities for themselves. At least, that's how I understand the banking situation in Netherland, which seems about as reasonable as you can get. American companies do seem to be much more likely to play police.

> From what I know, a bank will report suspicious transactions to the authorities, and obey whatever the authorities tell them to do about it. They will not assume the role of the authorities for themselves.

Not the case. They're obliged to freeze the account when they suspect suspicious activity, and then submit a SAR if it is proven to be suspicioue. Freezing the acct is part of the investigation, and they usually now use automated tools to do so.

They're obliged to work every alert generated and unfreeze if the activity is proved to be legitimate.

Re: We got banned from PayPal after 12 years of business

#460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber charged $1500 to my debut card a few months ago. There's literally nobody you can call about it. Your bank. You dispute the charge. Uber can deal with your bank. It doesn't matter it was a debit card. It means you're missing the money immediately, but doesn't stop you from disputing.

You get banned from Uber if you do that, no?

That's when you start shopping your story around to local news agencies.
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