apopheniaandeisegesis:

gutgemacht:

ATTENTION ZINE CREATORS, ARTISTS, AND ANYONE WHOSE BUSINESS UTILIZES PRE-ORDERS AND PAYPAL

As of June 15th, 2018, PayPal has changed their user policy with little to no fanfare at all in ways that could literally destroy your business. I’m going to say this as plainly as possible:

DO NOT USE PAYPAL AT ALL IF POSSIBLE.

I know this is a lot to ask, especially since PayPal is the most globally accepted digital tender, but unless you want to lose access to your funds for six months and PayPal possibly forever, you need to read this.

PayPal Business accounts are now being flagged, locked, and completely shut down if:

1. If you haven’t shipping anything within 21 days of your first transaction

2. You’ve received more than 200 orders

and/or

3. You’ve made an excess of $20,000 (USD)

If this happens to you, you will not be able to access your money for up to six months. PayPal is NOT willing to work with you, all they will say is there’s nothing they can do, they’re cutting business ties, and offer you the MAILING address of their legal department. That’s right, you can’t even get a direct line to these people, they’re just going to tank your business by dicking around with your money for six months. Your only options are to:

1. Wait six months and frustrate customers, and by-proxy tarnish your reputation.

2. Refund everyone, possibly lose their business, and tarnish your reputation.

3. Pursue the matter legally, which will likely take longer than six months anyway, not to mention cost money out of pocket.

IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY USING A PAYPAL ACCOUNT FOR PRE-ORDERS, GET OUT NOW. Deposit your funds and part ways with PayPal as a tender, this is not a battle they’re willing to let you win.

Here’s a source for you. https://stonemaiergames.com/the-danger-of-accepting-pre-orders-via-paypal/

I don’t know what “June 15th 2018″ has to do with it, but this has been their policy for a long time. Maybe they adjusted it recently, but probably not a lot.

It’s an issue specifically with pre-orders. Paypal doesn’t want to be Kickstarter. They don’t want the possibility that your business, whatever it is, is going to fall through because you spent the money elsewhere, and now they have all your customers demanding their money back. Paypal just doesn’t want that kind of business. At all. If they detect that something like that is going on in your account, they’ll freeze your funds until you actually deliver your product. If you’re dependent on those funds to create your product, you’re going to be out of luck. Paypal would rather just see you fail, and give all the money back to your customers, especially considering that their other option is to be your insurance company for the six months they’re obligated to refund people’s money.

TLDR : Don’t use Paypal for pre-orders, or anything else that carries a significant risk that you’ll have to refund.