For those who have had Paypal freeze your account

Tackdriver VillenTactical

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I was thinking of buying a gun related item and paying via paypal. My impression is that they will freeze one's account for participating in most gun transactions. If you have had the occasion to have your account frozen by them please share with me the details of your experience. Something you have first hand knowledge of, not "I know of a guy" type stuff. Also does both the seller's and buyer's accounts get frozen?

Regards, Dave
 
During the early days of the panic, I bough some gun stuff through ebay/paypal. Now I didn't actually buy guns but I did buy magazines and other firearm accessories, like mag pouches for my m1 carbines.

My paypal account is still alive and well.
 
I've paid for components, including stripped lowers, uppers, magazines, BCG's, parts kits via paypal. Usually the seller asks that I make no reference to the firearms components or where I made the purchase (gunraper.com) when I make payment. I always assumed that was because Paypal is owned eBay and run by some liberal douchebags out of the People's Republic of California.
 
Anecdotal evidence suggests PayPal only freezes your account when you put something they don't like in the "comments" box when sending someone money, not paying on eBay/using the debit card/etc.

They froze my friend's account because his buddy sent him $100 with the comment "for some stripper pussy, bruh" and he had to call to get it unfrozen.

I imagine if I sent you $10 with the comment "Assault Rifle Magazines" they'd freeze both our accounts.

I must be slacking at work, because this was sent using Tapatalk
 
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No issues gun related here.

I have used my PayPal debit card to do group buys here and pay for things from: Code Red Firearms, Detroit Gun Works, LRB Arms, etc. There has never been an issue.
 
I closed out the purchase of an LMT MWS for $3200 off of gunbroker.com with a discrete Paypal...no mention of what it was and boom right through...then used a Paypal debit card to pay for a gunbroker.com auction where the payee was Northern Firearms for a Benelli Super Nova Tactical shotgun.......as long as you don't put something dumb in the comments you should be ok.
 
I just sold off a ton of bullets and brass and guys were putting comments in which included; bullets, brass, winchester, remington, gunbroker; different cartridge designations, all kinds of crap. No issues.
 
I sold a 75 round drum for an AK-47 on Gunbroker. The idiot who won sent me paypal and under the description he put 75 round AK-47 Drum. I received an email from PayPal telling me my account has been closed indefinitely. I tried numerous times to get it reinstated and I have been told NO. When I moved I had a new bank account and a new address so I opened up a new PayPal account. About 3 months later I got an email saying they closed my new account since I have been banned from there. So **** PayPal!
 
Tons of folks on GB complain about their Paypal being locked and to never mention anything gun related in a Paypal comment when paying.
 
I did this to someone on here once.... buying magazines. At the time I wasn't aware they did this crap. I mentioned "AR-15 magazines" in the description. They instantly shut him down. Made me feel like crap knowing what I had caused. So yea they do it. Now I just "gift" everything firearm related when using paypal.
 
The problem I have is I told the seller they would freeze his and likely my account ( actually it isn't my account but someone elses), but he wants me to put "gunbroker auction XXXXX" in the comments section. He also stated he was willing to risk it.
 
I sold several firearms on GB using PayPal as a payment method. I told the buyer not to mention anything in regard to firearms but one person decided to put Glock in the description and a couple of hours later I got an email saying my account was closed indefinitely. The next day I opened another account using the same information but a different email address and have been using PayPal for selling and buying online without a problem since, though I do not use them for firearm related sales or purchases. This was 6 years ago and I have had no problem with the account.
 
I had my account frozen once. I sold an AR-15 and forgot to mention no gun related stuff in the comments (figured it was common knowledge, apparently not) and of course the guy wrote "Payment for .223 AR-15 blah blah blah". Payment went through okay, and the account didn't get frozen for 4-5 days afterwards. After I got the payment I saw his comment so I immediately transferred the funds to my bank account to make sure they didn't get locked away. Transfer went through fine. When the account got frozen, it said that I had violated their terms of service and I had to click a button that basically said "I'm sorry I won't do it again". Just a slap on the wrist and it was back to normal.
 
Never had an issue, best not to specify for gun related purchase in comments - but if they allow it to be sold on ebay, paypal is owned by them, so should not have an issue if you pay, bought lots of stuff including firearms with paypal without issue.
 
The problem I have is I told the seller they would freeze his and likely my account ( actually it isn't my account but someone elses), but he wants me to put "gunbroker auction XXXXX" in the comments section. He also stated he was willing to risk it.


Why does he insist on this? Sounds a bit silly to jeopardize a friend's account over something that really isn't necessary. He may be willing to risk it, but are willing to risk it for your friend?
 
My account got locked, and then they said I owed them 2300$. I never paid that, and after about a year of trying to call me they gave up. Didn't show up on my credit report either.
 
I'm not going defend PayPal but I have had a business account with them for four years and have never had any problems. I only sell books and CDs so maybe these aren't considered weapons. [smile]

I also have a personal account which rarely has anything in it, but when my son paid his rent to me with PP, I would draw it out the next day. Apparently, that looked like money laundering because after a few months of that, they imposed a 21 day hold on any funds that went into the account. I emailed them and wanted an explanation but just got some boilerplate email BS.

After that was lifted, the hold has not been reimposed.

PayPal doesn't want to be a money laundering service, and they're not a bank, so I suspect they watch things closely.
 
The big dangers with Paypal are holds on accounts, holding a shitton of your money, and reversing a transaction against your will when someone that you sell to makes a bullshit claim.

Here's my Paypal setup:

I have a Paypal account that I use for buying and a separate one that I use for selling.

The selling account is linked to a secondary bank account that I keep at less than $1.00. When I sell something, the money goes into the selling paypal account, then transferred to the secondary bank account, and immediately transferred out. That way if Paypal decides to reverse the transaction they cannot reach in to my bank account and take my money.

Edit: Never keep a balance in your Paypal accounts. Ever.

seller wants "gunbroker auction XXXX" in paypal message

Maybe "gumbroker auction XXXX" is safer :) Close enough right?
 
I use it all the time, never had an issue. I am surprised that they don't catch on to the gift option (feeless) transactions when running a group buy. Hope I didn't jinx myself.
 
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