This holiday, massive dickbaggery brought to you by PayPal

[Cantih]

http://www.regretsy.com/2011/12/05/cats-1-kids-0/

As you know, we have been trying to buy Christmas presents for kids in the Regretsy community.
We took many applications, vetted them carefully and set about creating a giant gift exchange program, where you could buy a gift for the over 200 children we’re helping.
We raised so much money that we found ourselves in a position of not just being able to send toys, but to send a monetary gift to the families as well. We hoped it might help them make their holiday dinners more special, or maybe pay a pressing bill.
PAYPAL SHUT IT DOWN

Apparently we made the mistake of using the “Donate” button, which Paypal is now claiming is only for nonprofit organizations to use. They froze the account, which also includes Zazzle money that we use to make emergency gifts. That money isn’t in issue, but what the hell! Might as well keep everything!
So last night, I decided to go about this a different way. Since these toys are already purchased, I decided to offer them up for sale on this site, just like any other retailer would. You could buy them according to what you wanted to spend, and we would send them on to the recipient of your gift, just like any other retailer.
PAYPAL SHUT IT DOWN

After a very long and jaw-dropping conversation with an incredibly condescending representative, they have decided that I must refund all the donations and purchases that have not been processed. If you don’t get a refund, it’s because we got your money before they got smart and kept us from helping children at Christmas, which is really the best move any corporation can make.
Here are a few highlights from our conversation:


YOU CAN ONLY HELP CATS
PAYPAL: Only a nonprofit can use the Donate button.
ME: That’s false. It says right in the PDF of instructions for the Donate button that it can be used for “worthy causes.”
PAYPAL: I haven’t seen that PDF. And what you’re doing is not a worthy cause, it’s charity.
ME: What’s the difference?
PAYPAL: You can use the donate button to raise money for a sick cat, but not poor people.


YOU HAVE TO START A NEW WEBSITE
ME: The problem is I’ve already bought all of these toys, so now I’m really in a position like any other merchant – which is to say, I have inventory I need to sell. Why can’t I sell them as gifts, like any other retailer?
PAYPAL: Don’t you think it would look suspicious if the same people bought them again?
ME: Why? These are my customers!
PAYPAL: If you wanted to do that, you’d have to start a new website.
ME: What? Why would I start a new website?
PAYPAL: I’m not going to argue with you.


WE WILL TRACK YOUR SHIPMENTS
PAYPAL: The only way you’d be allowed to sell these as gifts is if you sent them directly to the person who bought them. And we will track your shipments and make sure it goes to the buyer.
ME: That’s discriminatory! You don’t make other retailers send purchases to the buyer only, especially not at Christmas.
PAYPAL: No one but a nonprofit would send gifts to someone else on buyer’s behalf.
ME: What about Amazon?
PAYPAL: We know what you’re doing and we’re through playing games with you.


YOU’LL NEVER GET AWAY WITH THIS
PAYPAL: You say you’re selling these as gifts but there is no information as to what the gift is.
ME: People sell mystery gifts and grab bags all the time. What about sites where they say, let us choose for you?”
PAYPAL: It doesn’t say that on your site.
ME: Is that the problem? If I say it’s a mystery gift would that be sufficient?
PAYPAL: You aren’t going to be able to get around this. It’s too late, we know what you’re trying to do and we’re not going to let you do it.
ME: But there are hundreds of toys! Do you think it’s reasonable to create a drop down menu for hundreds of gifts, all of them different, and create an inventory for each as “one?” So that every time one sells, it’s sold out, and the customer has to keep choosng options and going through check out to see if they can find a gift that’s still available?
PAYPAL: Yes, I think it’s reasonable.

Then my brain exploded.

At this point, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that “No one above me will talk to you. No one at my level ever makes phone calls. We’re only doing this to help you.”
When I asked how to close my account, he said I had to “refund everything, write a letter saying you understood what you did WAS WRONG AND YOU WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN, and then request permission to close your account.”

Then, for good measure, they froze my personal account, which has revenue from my book sales, e-books and all the other Finnish Folktales Swag. They’ll be holding that money for 6 months.

So to recap:
$ They allowed me to use a donate button, and got a portion of the donations
$ Then made me return the donations, and kept a portion of the fees on the donations
$ They allowed me to use a Buy Now button to sell gifts individually, and got a portion of those sales
$ Then made me return the sales, and kept a portion of the fees on the sales
$ They processed the toy purchases, and made fees on that
They have made a fortune for not doing anything but making me manually return thousands of $2 sales and contributions.

I have been able to guarantee purchase and shipment of the toys, so that part is happening, as are the letters from Santa (most have already been delivered).
However, I am very sorry to say that at this point, I am not able to make a monetary gift to the families. They have frozen everything that was not already spent or donated, and I have no more funds to make a gift of that size.
MERRY CHRISTMAS

[Anton]

Exciting jobs await you in paypal customer service.

http://chzgifs.files.wordpress.com/2...d-headdesk.gif

[Omnipotent]

It sounds way like way too much douchebaggery to be true.

[Apelila]

This right here is why I don't use paypal personally, only when someone requires it. Only banks are bigger douchbags when it comes to money, but even they dont generate the 'haha we took your money because we felt like it' stories that paypal does.

[Byrthnoth]

It sounds way like way too much douchebaggery to be true.

I disagree. It's probably true.

He should have said they were sending payments instead of giving money away.

[Pikarya]

Working as intended.

Paypal~

[Ezek]

I honestly would not surprised at all if Paypal actually did do it. They've had countless consumer complaints, even whole websites set up that bashes Paypal for their fucktarderry over the last decade. This, combined with my own horrible experiences with them (sell a $40 PS3 game on eBay? Well fuck you, we're holding your money for 2 months for no reason whatsoever) has made me stop using their services entirely.

[Orden]

Didn't you guys see that reddit post about how paypal operates outside of state laws routinely? Nothing is getting left out. Paypal is mismanaged and poorly managed on an epic scale. All of its employees have been promoted to their level of incompetence. This is a typical case when it comes to issues with Paypal; either things run swimmingly, or you run into problems due to fuckery that makes no sense.

Edit: By operating outside of state law I mean having a license in Iowa as a E-commerce broker, yet keeping peoples money for over 21 days (which is EXPRESSLY illegal and a power held only by a bank). It's fucked up and I am wondering why there is not a mounting class action lawsuit to take them down.

[Kohan]

It sounds way like way too much douchebaggery to be true.

No, it isn't.

I went through something similarly painful. The consequences were not nearly as important (as I wasn't helping needy children), but the sequence of events played out almost identically. I had been doing business with PayPal since their service started, and my account was permanently shut down. Several snail mail letters of protest and photocopied proof in my favor did nothing.

I have every reason to believe this happened to them, as it happened to me.

[Yugl]

SO... do I change the method for paying SE?

[Orden]

Paypal only dry-fucks merchants and sucessful people. You're okay.

[Cantih]

SO... do I change the method for paying SE?

New Option Available for Adding Square Enix Crysta (24/11/2011)

You are now able to add any amount of Crysta to your Square Enix account, between a minimum of 500 and a maximum of 10,000 Crysta. This means you no longer need to choose from the incremental amounts – although you may still do so if you wish.

In addition, we are currently working hard to add direct credit card payment to the billing options as promised in our previous announcement, and we expect to have it available for you very soon. We sincerely apologise for the prolonged waiting time, but a follow up announcement will be provided as soon as full details (including the implementation date) are confirmed.

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding regarding this matter.

Until we see new options, no.
It's dickbag paypal/ultimatepay(though as far as I've seen, UP is ok), or the skeezy clickandbuy, for at least the next few more months.

[kuronosan]

I use PayPal only to donate money to BG now. Haven't used it for anything else since they started taking a cut of fees for no reason.

Pointless service is pointless.

[Uzor]

I loathe PayPal, and I've always hated sites that require PayPal to make a purchase.

[Viq]

I use PayPal only to donate money to BG now.

PAYPAL: Only a nonprofit can use the Donate button.
ME: That’s false. It says right in the PDF of instructions for the Donate button that it can be used for “worthy causes.”
PAYPAL: I haven’t seen that PDF. And what you’re doing is not a worthy cause

BG = worthy cause.
Donating toys and money to needy families at Christmas = not a worthy cause.

[Uzor]

BG = worthy cause.
Donating toys and money to needy families at Christmas = not a worthy cause.

Who cares about starving poor kids? They could work if they wanted to! China has a good solution to the problem. Just throw them in to sweat shops and they, too, can live! It's useless to donate money to poor people. Only sick cats matter, because they can't work.

[Olo401]

Coming from a company founded by Meg Whitman, this doesn't surprise me.

[Not Kuno]

I thought it was common knowledge that Paypal was a flaming sack of shit that does whatever they want for little to no reason.

[bechyni]

Fuck the kids feed the cats!

[Seanr]

wow, glad I've only used Paypal once, that was when I was like in middle school/high school i think