Has you PayPal account been limited or closed? How to get PayPal your account back?
Note: This is a post based on a real-life experience with PayPal account, which got restricted without any illegal activity or failure to comply with terms of use.
PayPal often restricts access to its payment system if it notices any suspicious activity or transactions? Sometimes your PayPal account is closed or limited because of sudden increase in transactions or activities.
Question: Can I get my PayPal account back?
Answer: Yes, you can get you PayPal account back if you haven’t done anything against the terms and conditions of PayPal. If your PayPal account was deactivated or limited or closed by mistake, there’s a high chance of getting your account restored.
Question: Can I reopen a closed PayPal account?
You need to open a new PayPal account. If you closed your PayPal account, it cannot be reopened. Simply create a new account using your correct personal and bank information. This is possible only if you closed your own account yourself.
How I Got My PayPal Account Restored?
If you haven’t done anything wrong, how do you get your PayPal account restored?
PayPal is among the most popular payment systems on the Web, particularly for freelancers. It handles a huge number of transactions. Several online entrepreneurs and freelancers depend on PayPal for receiving money. If PayPal limits their account, it means sudden end of regular income.
According to PayPal terms and conditions, it can close any account at its discretion. So if PayPal decides to part ways with you, you cannot challenge it. However, you can connect with PayPal support and get your account back if you have not violated any laws or the terms of use of PayPal.
Recently (now, many years have passed), PayPal closed my account because I had been using pre-paid credit cards issued by my bank for single use. When I called the PayPal customer centre, the executive refused to reinstate my account. I had been using my PayPal account for 100% legal transactions and never have had any issue earlier. So, I knew that the decision to closed my account was an error on part of some PayPal executive(s). After a few days and several email exchanges, I had my PayPal account back.
How to Get Your PayPal Account Reactivated?
How did I manage to get my account back when everyone had been saying that a closed PayPal account is never restored?
Before listing the steps that I took to get my PayPal account back, I would like to list a few tips for avoiding issues with PayPal transactions.
- Always use your correct name, address and contact details for PayPal accounts.
- Do not abuse PayPal system to get business money through a personal account.
- Use PayPal Premier or Business account if you are a freelancer or online entrepreneur.
- If you sell online or provide services, always provide your clients an option to have their issues resolved by getting in touch with you.
- Try to have a clear ‘terms of use’ and ‘return policy’ for your online stores.
- Freelancers should draft an agreement with details of the project and payments. This will help solve issues that may arise later.
- Do not use pre-paid cards to ‘verify’ your PayPal account. Always use your original credit card or bank account for PayPal account verification.
- If PayPal has an option of adding a tax number or citizenship number for your country, do that to verify your identity.
- Do not open multiple accounts with PayPal in different names. It might be detected as a money laundering or other suspicious activity.
- Read the PayPal terms and conditions. Familiarise yourself with the list of prohibited activities or transactions. Do not use PayPal to flout any international or local laws on money transactions and forex deals.
How to Get PayPal Account Back?
PayPal accounts can be ‘limited’ or ‘closed’. If you account has been limited, you can provide the documents required by PayPal and get your account back.
Always try to call the PayPal customer centre as it makes them more comfortable about you identity and intentions. You must talk to the executives politely and try to explain your issue. Be honest and upfront. PayPal will remove the limitation on your account if you can provide them with details such as your credit card number and nature of transactions.
How to find PayPal contact phone number? You can find the customer support phone number on their Contact Customer Service or Contact US page. Scroll all the way down and you will find the “Message Us” option and the “Call Us” option. You may need to be logged in to find the “Call Us” option of their contact page.
Click on the Call Us link and log into your account if prompted. On the next page, PayPal will provide you with the phone numbers for reaching the customer support. You will also get a one-time code that you need to enter for identification purposes when you call them.
Here’s the URL to their support page for the US region: https://www.paypal.com/ us/ smarthelp/ contact-us (remove the spaces to get the correctly formatted URL). You can use this URL even if your Paypal account is from another country. PayPal will automatically show you the phones numbers along with their support hours to contact the regional support team.
When contacting PayPal, provide your correct identity and include a contact phone. Try to explain your issue in as much detail as possible. Be honest and upfront. PayPal will remove the limitation on your account if you can provide them with details such as your credit card number and nature of transactions.
Sometimes PayPal will close your account without any notice or its executive will close it after your appeal to remove restrictions on the PayPal account is denied. When you are thrown out of the PayPal system, it is very frustrating.
For freelancers and entrepreneurs, it is a major blow as there is no true alternative of PayPal. If you remain persistent, you can get your closed PayPal account back even after your appeal has been denied once.
Though it might sound like an uphill task to get your PayPal account reinstated, all that you need to do is communicate.
First, read the PayPal terms and conditions as well as the list of prohibited transactions to make sure that you had not been flouting any rules. Write to PayPal using their Web form on their ‘Contact Us’ page. It is easier to explain yourself clearly in writing as you can structure your ideas and present them more logically. You must explain everything honestly.
When you write to PayPal seeking review of its decision to close or limit your account, you should include the following in your mail:
- Reason for closure of you PayPal account
- Explaining your PayPal usage
- Why you think the decision is an error
- Mention that you are willing to provide necessary documents and information that PayPal might need to review your account
- Include your real name, address and contact number
PayPal must be getting hundreds of mails from aggrieved customers. It takes them a couple of days to respond to your mail. So you must be patient and wait for 2-3 days.
If you do not receive a response or get a template response with generic text which does not clear your issues, you must write to Executive Escalations Department. You can also write or call other departments that you think may review your account.
- PayPal Executive Office: executiveoffice [at] paypal.com
- PayPal Webform Email: webform [at] intl.paypal.com
When dealing with a limited or closed PayPal account, patience and persistence is important. Search for relevant PayPal email and contact details and write to all of them. Also, call the relevant numbers. With persistence, you can get your PayPal account reopened. All the best.