PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter • Hacker News Board

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#91

Post by kenniskrag » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:05 PM UTC

mpol wrote: post #61

So, what is the alternative for PayPal? I sell only small-time. I don't want to do Creditcard, no Stripe either (I don't have a registered company) and iDEAL is only working in the Netherlands. So what is the internet alternative for international selling. And, please, no crypto-currencies :) I am off to sleep, see you tomorrow.

why not a traditional bank? You can open the account on your name or the company (depends on the legal form). The advantage is, that you can reach them by phone or in an office. Cross country cash transfer are usually no problems and you can manage your account on an e-banking website or sometimes on an app.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#92

Post by bobthechef » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:16 PM UTC

You know this sort of thing is going to become more common, right? I guess we just have to accept it and obey. Anything else might make life less comfortable.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#93

Post by richardwhiuk » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:21 PM UTC

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #77

richardwhiuk wrote: post #28

My bet would be that he's done non-Tor stuff with his account, and that's why it's been shut.

Perhaps you should read the linked article which states that the EFF examined his paypal history and found nothing remotely suspicious.

From what he shared.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#94

Post by richardwhiuk » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:22 PM UTC

xvector wrote: post #69

teclordphrack2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing keeps an exchange from taking your money and running or not receiving the goods/service you pay for.

Businesses are legally obligated to deliver your goods, so they will do that anyways, just like if you pay in cash today and go back to the store asking for a refund.

Paypal are legally obligated to hand back the money after 180 days.

Nothing stops an exchange refusing to do business with you.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#95

Post by richardwhiuk » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:24 PM UTC

xvector wrote: post #49

danlugo92 wrote: post #22

#BitcoinFixesThis

I wonder where all the people that complain about cryptocurrency’s energy consumption went. It may be a problem, but it’s a hell of a lot better than situations like this. Cryptocurrency was created precisely for this reason - giving financial freedom back to the individual in a censorship-resistant manner, because it was obvious as day to the cypherpunks that created it, that governments and corporations would abuse…

This problem is utterly immaterial to crypto.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#96

Post by theknocker » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:25 PM UTC

I removed all of my payment information from paypal when I noticed they would readily engage in what amount to political sanctions.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#97

Post by adamcstephens » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:27 PM UTC

kenniskrag wrote: post #91

mpol wrote: post #61

So, what is the alternative for PayPal? I sell only small-time. I don't want to do Creditcard, no Stripe either (I don't have a registered company) and iDEAL is only working in the Netherlands. So what is the internet alternative for international selling. And, please, no crypto-currencies :) I am off to sleep, see you tomorrow.

why not a traditional bank? You can open the account on your name or the company (depends on the legal form). The advantage is, that you can reach them by phone or in an office. Cross country cash transfer are usually no problems and you can manage your account on an e-banking website or sometimes on an app.

I’d even say go one step better and join a credit union. Less to worry about when you’re a member-owner of an organization that is focused on its members and community over corporate shareholders.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#98

Post by exporectomy » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:38 PM UTC

convery wrote: post #20

Holding the money hostage for half a year on a 20 year old account? Not surprising. Paypal and their other entities like Ebay are pretty shit when it comes to nuance and their impact on others. Had a 15 year old Paypal business account (parent started it and I took it over ~7 years ago) and last year they shut it down because I, as the new owner, was not 18 when the account was created. Nothing from the support but "…

I know that's mean of them but is it possible the account still had your parent's identity attached to it? You certainly shouldn't be access an account as if you're someone else. For example, did you provided Paypal with all the identification documentation to prove you're your real self and not still your parent?

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#99

Post by toss1 » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:47 PM UTC

At least I'm not being held hostage, but PayPal has just had their last interaction with me.

After few sales of an un-marketed old product for most of the pandemic, someone tracked me down and wanted to purchase. Agreed on options and I said I'd have an invoice out in minutes.

Should be easy, right? Login to PayPal, fill out invoice info, hit [Send] . . . . Nope, something wrong, contact support. Phone w/half-hour+ wait times, support ppl 'cant hear' and line drops, repeat, send email, both put me off, took a bit of info and said a specialist would get back to me quickly. Yeah, right.

While I was waiting, I apologized to my customer and checked out alternatives. I'd worked with Stripe on a previous project, and they now have manual invoices (i.e., not only code-generated from website=>API).

Signed up, got authenticated, setup invoicing, sent invoice, got paid, and the money is in my account, and the product packaged and on the loading dock -- all within an hour or so.

More importantly, Stripe did a setup and execution from scratch in less time than I squandered even getting to initial PayPal help, and more than an order of magnitude faster than PayPal even began to send a useful answer my issue.

Done with PayPal - strongly recommend not using them -- and never store money there.

Re: PayPal shuts down long-time Tor supporter

#100

Post by tomjakubowski » Wed, Jun 02, 2021, 10:49 PM UTC

krisroadruck wrote: post #54

unethical_ban wrote: post #14

"We don't like what you are doing, and are going to hold your money for six months. I hope you don't subsist on it, or have any business obligations to attend to. We'll call you." This should be illegal for Paypal to do, period. Absolutely illegal. And if it is on behalf of a government or banking/fraud regulations, then the person should be referred to relevant agencies. Let's be clear and drop the pretense: They ar…

Way back in 2011 they did this to me. My marketing agency had been running most of our customer payments through PayPal for several months, and we were growing fast. At some point they took the $50K we had in the account and froze it for 180 days with no recourse, claiming it was to protect against charge backs (despite us never having a single chargeback). I explained to them that if they didn't release the funds th…

> a note was placed on my account to never withhold funds on that account ever again

Did PayPal just tell you this or did you find out another way?