PayPal Account Abruptly Limited, Can't Supply Documentation

October 8, 2020 3:02 PM

Paypal just abruptly limited my account due to "significant changes in account activity" and is asking me to upload proof of supplier info. This is not possible as I have no suppliers -- I use PayPal to buy things and send money to friends. What do I do? I cannot see evidence of any fraudulent activity in my account history, just my usual Doordash orders.
posted by Kitchen Witch to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Maybe it's some kind of generic pre-written notice that doesn't apply to your situation. If I had a PayPal account and received such a message I would interpret it as PayPal seeing the transactions, erroneously interpreting the transactions as buying or selling goods, and they were suspicious that it might be criminal activity in some manner. If your only recent PayPal transactions are Doordash orders I'd suggest you access your Doordash receipts and send them to PayPal along with the explanation that you have no suppliers and are only using your account to place orders with DoorDash.
posted by RichardP at 3:15 PM on October 8, 2020

If this came as an email, check the address of the sender. I occasionally get scam "notices" which wind up seeking account access information. Or call Paypal.
posted by uncaken at 3:21 PM on October 8, 2020

Response by poster: Alas, it is 100% real. :(
posted by Kitchen Witch at 3:27 PM on October 8, 2020

Sending money to friends does not incur transaction fees, is that right?

PayPal wants its fees, and I doubt they'll budge or offer any plausible explanation because they won't want to admit the real reason they're shutting you down.
posted by jamjam at 4:26 PM on October 8, 2020

It's very unlikely the DoorDash triggered their detection. If you're sending money to friends often (more than once a week I'd say) so that's probably what makes them suspicious, so in that case you would just need to provide some indication of why you sent them money so it's clear that it's not a disguised purchase. One of my friend's accounts got flagged because they were using jokey comments when sending money that activated PayPal's filter
posted by JZig at 5:01 PM on October 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

You're not the only one who's account was limited today. I've also received the same message from PayPal today after I was billed for my monthly subscription for Discord. It appears to be something that's going on Paypal's end.
posted by QueenHawkeye at 5:19 PM on October 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah this isn't just you and appears to be a glitch: https://www.ecommercebytes.com/C/abblog/blog.pl?/pl/2020/10/1602211973.html
posted by Cozybee at 9:08 PM on October 8, 2020

Response by poster: Good lord, what a lousy glitch. Thanks for the info -- this was a real point of stress for me today (though it did shed a big bright light on how often I order delivery 😬)
posted by Kitchen Witch at 1:30 AM on October 9, 2020

I recently received two similar emails, which I forwarded to [e-mail]. Paypal confirmed they were spam.
posted by elphaba at 5:59 AM on October 9, 2020

Response by poster: My account has been restored! More French Toast via Doordash to celebrate! 🙌
posted by Kitchen Witch at 6:22 AM on October 9, 2020 [4 favorites]