Apply for a TIN. That's equivalent to a SSN for tax purposes.
I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
61–70 of 298 posts
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#62Disclaimer: I have a love hate relationship with Paypal. My organization runs most of our payment processes through Paypal.
With that said, some questions:
1) How were you able to process 30k/month through Paypal out of the gate without providing a government ID?
2) How much of the 200K were you able to withdrawal? If any? Do you have any of it in cash?
3) Did you experience an abnormal amount of chargebacks?
I'd love to hear your thoughts.....
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#63Hi, I'm not a expert on US laws, but given how it mostly works, yeah you are in the wrong, if they say so. But all is not lost I suppose.
You must find a lawyer in any case, a good one! though there is no guarantee it will work, but if something would work, it would be this or a clear provision/flaw you may find on your own (I take it that you won't be able to)
Three legal courses might work on broader terms, leave the actual litigation to the lawyer.
1. The lawyer may prove that someone, who is a US citizen, a family member preferably, or a family friend, is the real owner of the product, and you mis-stated your facts. (meaning, you didn't say under oath, that the said service/product was your and yours ALONE)
The lawyer would take his cut in all cases, and if anything, you should give your family member a cut as well, in this case. Its better than nothing out of 200k$!
2. You may establish a US company, preferably in a state where tax is low and norms are lax, based on strong advice of your lawyer, with preferably the same name as your product. The lawyer in this case would prove (or try to) that the company would receive the money (being a separate legal identity), and a friend of yours who is a US citizen, would be the trustee of the company.
Similarly to above, lawyer will get his cut, your friend would do as well (unless he is the nicest guy on the planet, if he does not take any money, do PM about it on reddit@rikacomet).
3. The lawyer, may establish, that there was an error in your understanding of the US laws (which is clearly so), and since paypal allows for you to be a member of any country, you shall recieve it upon changing the credentials of yours, to your native one's. The lawyer, shall argue, that the payment made by your customers, would hold true, despite you changing ONLY your address details.
Alternatively, if all your payments were made by credit card (which might be the case), you may contact, all your customers, to initiate a cash back (where they will legally call back money from their bank, after stating that a huge flaw was made, and the original deal holds untrue) the bank would know its way with paypal, so no worries there, but what you need to worry about is bank making a case against you. So you would need a lawyer again over here.
Disclaimer: Always, talk to a professional lawyer about legal matters, mine is only mildly suggestive in nature based on laws existing in my country.
NOTE: Please be very careful, while finding a good lawyer, while you do, make sure to make it clear to him, that the payment, would be only a cut out of the 200k in question here, and not out of your pocket.
Take this on a legal document in WRITING, with his signature and official stamp heads, in presence of 2-4 witnesses etc. You really don't want to lose 200k, and then also pay a American lawyer out of your pocket!
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#64Maybe they have issue with the fact that you are from Venezuela? I've sen multiple venezuelan PayPal accounts being blocked because they know sometimes they are used for getting around CADIVI (currency exchange restrictions). Maybe your nationality and the fact that you made that much money triggered some flags.
From a fellow venezuelan, hope you get your money back. And congratulations on your success even in this unpleasant situation.
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#65Sorry to hear about the troubles :( If this wasn't the umpteenth time I've heard this story, I wouldn't say this so pesteringly: To everyone: Stop stop stop stop stop using PayPal. This happens over and over again. For once, thankfully, there are viable alternatives out there -- Stripe & WePay to name two (both of which I've had excellent experiences with). Not saying they're panaceas or that there won't be security/…
I think the lesson learned in all of these cases is don't leave tons of money sitting in your PayPal account. Link it to a bank account, turn on auto-sweep, and don't amass a huge balance that ultimately seems rather suspicious (whether it is or not doesn't matter).
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#66Why do people keep using Paypal ? Paypal is always taking money from people. Always! It's interesting what's going to happen here. If he can't get his money, is Paypal going to have it ? Why is there the assumption this guy is in the US ? Even if this guy was not legally in the US, this is still his money. If you are young and don't have a national insurance number yet, ask them to change your account holder to one o…
Like, we couldn't use a chunk of that 200K here in the US to fix our bulging deficit. This is why we have it.
Paypal is nowadays, what IE6 is for browsers!
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#67Sorry to hear about the troubles :( If this wasn't the umpteenth time I've heard this story, I wouldn't say this so pesteringly: To everyone: Stop stop stop stop stop using PayPal. This happens over and over again. For once, thankfully, there are viable alternatives out there -- Stripe & WePay to name two (both of which I've had excellent experiences with). Not saying they're panaceas or that there won't be security/…
If you have to use PayPal: regularly transfer any money to an actual bank with actual responsibilities, not some fake holding bank registered in Ireland or whatever PayPal is using today to evade tax and consumer laws.
You are not getting interest by letting that money sit with PayPal.
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#68Do you or your parents have bank accounts in the US or in your home country? I would suggest working with PayPal to switch your account to your original country and seeing if you can then get the funds withdrawn.
Unfortunately we are not allowed to have dollars in Venezuela. Look CADIVI up in Wikipedia
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#69Sorry to hear about the troubles :( If this wasn't the umpteenth time I've heard this story, I wouldn't say this so pesteringly: To everyone: Stop stop stop stop stop using PayPal. This happens over and over again. For once, thankfully, there are viable alternatives out there -- Stripe & WePay to name two (both of which I've had excellent experiences with). Not saying they're panaceas or that there won't be security/…
As another foreign business owner taking payments from the US, I really wish I could. There is practically no alternative to it outside of US/Europe, and wire transfers are too much hassle, take too long and end up costing the same.
I do take my money out of PayPal as fast as I can.
Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account
#70Wish these companies could make Terms and Conditions Human Readable