Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 298 posts

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#71

Post by anigbrowl »

packetslave wrote: post #43
javajosh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, that's just...mind-numbingly awful. If that's true, the Emmanuel just forfeits all that money? I suspect that a good lawyer will be able to recover most of it for him, especially since his presence in the US was not material to the earning of that income .

IANAL (which is why the OP should definitely talk to one). If the work that generated the income was done while he was physically in the US, then the immigration folks will definitely have an opinion on if it was legal under his visa terms. This may or may not have an impact on any potential legal remedies that are available wrt Paypal.

IANAL either, but there's no law against making income, there's a alw against accepting employment. If OP can show he created and sold his own product then that should not violate his visa constraints in any way. In any case, I've never heard of anyone having their income confiscated even if they were a candidate for deportation (though not a lawyer I follow immigration law very closely, it's a pet issue of mine).

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#72

Post by dangrossman »

donnfelker wrote: post #41

Use PayPal - get screwed. Rinse, wash, repeat.

If you open US payment processing accounts without US citizenship or a Visa that allows it, take 6 figures in payments while out of the country, then try to move it into an anonymous payment account across international borders, someone's going to investigate it. The tax code ensures that investigation begins within a year, since that kind of money moving has to be reported on a 1099-K. That's not PayPal screwing anyone, Donn.

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#74

Post by omfg »

anigbrowl wrote: post #13

You have $200k sitting in your paypal account? Don't you have a bank account? What country are you in? What exactly did they say to you? How you mean you 'don't know how' you made $200k - you didn't expect to sell so much, or you sold $200k in one go with no idea who gave it to you? This seriously needs more information.

It's always a shame stories like this get so much attention. Lots of 'PayPal is evil' comments. A completely one sided 'I'm so innocent I didn't understand' perspective. All companies have issues once in awhile. I get that people are especially sensitive with PayPal because they deal with money and are huge. But come on. If you at all expect to be making more than even a few hundred dollars a month there's an onus on the 'victim' to read up on what they're doing and set things up in an appropriate manner. This situation sucks but it'd be nice if there was a balanced view on it and more helpful dialogue than 'Never use them! Go to court!'

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#75

Post by richardjordan »

Contact one of the Silicon Valley law firms that's used to dealing with these things. Don't go to some cheapo ambulance chasing lawyer who doesn't know what to do. Even if you cough up $20k in fees to a law firm it's worth doing. They'll help you set up a company for your product and steer everything through that to unlock your funds. A lot of advice on here is overly negative and misinformed. As someone who has had to deal with changes of legal status, setting up companies as a foreigner, and has dealt with the hell of PayPal account freezing, I can assure you this is fixable if you work with a reputable experienced law firm.

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#76

Post by pbreit »

rafaelm wrote: post #68
pbreit wrote: post #51

Do 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

PayPal is multi-currency so perhaps it's possible to convert to a currency that will work.

I guess the point is, moving money around is not that easy, country borders make it significantly more difficult, PayPal freezes typically make sense (such as in this case) but PayPal is made up of people, many of whom might be willing and able to help you out.

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#78

Post by punkbit »

hippich wrote: post #60
eli wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An International Student is unlikely to have a visa that allows them to start a company in the US.

You do not have to have a visa to start a company in US. Actually, you can start one without even being in US. Opening bank account for such company - is what tricky without being physically in US.

He didn't started a company anyway. Selling old clothes and old toys in ebay doesn't make us a company, does it ?! What if we sold $200k worth in old toys ?! Paypal would take our money anyway...

Re: I made $200K and PayPal locked my account

#79

Post by punkbit »

ricardobeat wrote: post #69
nlh wrote: post #23

Sorry 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.

There's actually a good alternative in Europe and so on: https://www.paymill.com/ it's basically like stripe.
Post reply on HN