Advisory — Paypal Reverses Personal Payments To And From Indian Accounts

February 4, 2010

Advisory — Paypal Reverses Personal Payments To And From Indian Accounts

PayPal has chosen to reverse all personal payments to and from Indian paypal accounts. The following is the standard email notification that the receiving parties are getting:


Hello <user>,

Your payment of  <xxx> has been sent back to the sender of the payment.

We reversed this payment because we have stopped allowing personal payments to be sent to or from India.

If this was a payment for a purchase of goods or services, and not a personal payment, then you may contact the buyer and have him or her resend the payment as follows:  (a) click the Send Money tab, (b) select "Goods," and (c) provide a shipping address.

If this payment was a personal payment such as a gift, then we have requested that the sender find another payment method until we restore personal payments to and from India.

We are trying to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and we're sorry for any inconvenience.

Thank you,
PayPal

The known date for the earliest transaction reversed is 1st Feb 2010. DigitalPoint thread “India: Paypal Returning payments?” and several others are actively discussing this topic. We tried to reach the Singapore PayPal customer service and inquired if there was any policy change, documentation, notification published or sent to the user. However they referred us to the US customer support which currently is offline till the regular business hours resume. Several paypal users who received these payments report their account balance going into negative.

Update 1 —

Dear <user>,

 Thank you for contacting PayPal.

 I understand that you want to know why the payment you received for
 $<xx.xx> USD from <user> is reversed. This payment was sent as
 Personal. We have stopped allowing Personal Payments to be sent to and
 from India.  We are aware of this issue and I sincerely regret the
 inconvenience it has caused you. We are trying to resolve this as soon
 as possible. Below are the details:

 Personal Payment - Send Money for India Accounts

 · India customers are no longer able to see the option to send a
 Personal payment on the Send Money page
 · They can continue to use other payment options, such as eBay checkout.

 If this was a payment for a purchase of goods or services, and not a
 personal payment, then you may contact the buyer and have him or her
 resend the payment as follows:  (a) click the Send Money tab, (b) select
 ‘Goods’, and (c) provide a shipping address.

 If this payment was a personal payment, such as a gift to a friend or
 family member, then we request that you find another payment method
 until we restore personal payments to and from India.

 Although India customers are unable to send Personal payments, they are
 still receiving Personal payments from Non India customers.

 · In order to stop ALL Personal payments TO and FROM India accounts, we
 have started reversing Personal payments sent by Non India customers
 starting today. (the only exception will be in cases where the buyer has
 included a shipping address – we don’t want to delay any shipment of
 goods)
 · Emails will be sent to both sender and recipient to let them know why
 the money was returned and what options they have to proceed forward.
 (see attached for examples)
 · We are also in the process of implementing a change on the website to
 automatically stop the payment from processing, rather than waiting to
 reverse the payment.  We will send you additional updates as soon as we
 have more details.

 The Personal payment option on the International Send Money page has
 been updated and India has been removed from the ‘select a country’ drop
 down list.

 · If the payment was for a purchase of goods or services, and not a
 personal payment, then the buyer may resend the payment to the seller by
 following these steps on the PayPal website: (a) click the Send Money
 tab, (b) select ‘Goods’, and (c) provide a shipping address.

 I'll be glad to hear from you if you need clarification, please email us
 again and we will try our best to give you immediate answers. Thank you
 for choosing PayPal for your online payment needs. We appreciate your
 business.

 Sincerely,
 Dayna
 PayPal, an eBay Company

 Copyright© 2010 PayPal Inc. All rights reserved.

 Consumer advisory: PayPal Pte Ltd, the Holder of the PayPal™ payment
 service stored value facility, does not require the approval of the
 Monetary Authority of Singapore. Consumers (users) are advised to read
 the terms and conditions carefully.

 Got more questions? You'll find answers at our improved help center.
 Click "Help" on the top right corner of any PayPal page to get started
 or you can visit www.PayPal.com/101.

 Original Message Follows:
 ------------------------
 Form  Message
 customer  subject:  Clarification  on  personal  payments  being   reversed.
 customer  message:  Transaction  ID:  'xxxxxxxxx'
 Additional  Information:  'The  payments  we  receive  are  being   reversed.  Can
 you  please  clarify  your  stand  on  "personal  payments"  to  and   from  India?
 What  is  a  personal  payment?  We  accept  donations  for  our  free   software.
 What  is  the  solution/workaround  for  this  issue?'

We’ll keep this post updated with the latest so keep watching this post for more information. You may want to digg this story and spread the news. Also read PayPal Debacle: 15 Lessons Learnt.

 

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{ 20 comments on Advisory — Paypal Reverses Personal Payments To And From Indian Accounts… read them below or add one }

Jeet February 4, 2010 at 4:58 am

I got similar emails, first they delayed the withdrawls and then reversed transactions. Though their email says they are reversing personal payments, they have clearly reversed several of my ‘services’ payments too. :( Will be watching updates on your blog and have subscribed to comment notification. Another hour to go before we can call paypal US.

rose February 4, 2010 at 8:13 am

Hi,
I too encountered similar problem. It is practically very difficult to use wire transfer as they deduce $ 20 for all transactions below $ 1000. It is going to be really big issue.

admin February 4, 2010 at 8:35 am

It’s time someone gave PayPal a competition. Monopoly is not good for the market. Secondly this will cost PayPal its reputation — no one is going to trust them again. PayPal still hasn’t come up with an official statement and the customer service is just repeating the instructions in the emails. Feel free to share any PayPal alternatives if you know.

Jeet February 4, 2010 at 9:15 am

A call to their customer care and an email got the same response. They haven’t even updated the policy on the website. I have already put 2co on my site.

Satish Gandham February 4, 2010 at 9:49 am

What are the best alternates available for receiving payments online?
Their transaction fee is too high. They do business with the money we keep with them.Instead of giving interest for our money, they charge a hefty transaction fee.
8$ for 200$, and another 3.5% in converting the $ to rupees.

Seriously, it’s time to explore other options for receiving payments.

PayPal_Anuj February 4, 2010 at 2:15 pm

Personal payments to and from India have been suspended while we address some questions from our business partners. You can still make commercial payments. We’re trying to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

admin February 4, 2010 at 10:15 pm

We’re working on an article about PayPal alternatives. As you all know already, we don’t recommend something unless we use it, see it for ourselves and review it. So expect quite a few articles in the coming days. There are not many alternatives though.

Kaushal Jani February 5, 2010 at 12:36 am

I think they have loose their money in paypal wishlist promotions and now they are going to recover that lost by removing personal payments.

To Paypal Team, this is not the way to recover your loss.
You have lost our trust, from now today I am going to use other alternatives.

Prabhu February 5, 2010 at 2:35 am

Hi, I am looking alternative source for receiving online payments.

amin February 5, 2010 at 3:32 am

i think moneybookers is a good alternative. and they dont charge as much as paypal..

Name February 5, 2010 at 8:27 am

Does moneybookers allow fund withdrawal to India banks?

Amil February 5, 2010 at 3:46 pm

Another good alternative is Xoom.com. Its very easy to use, has low fees and best exchange rate I have ever seen.
http://www.xoom.com

Vivek February 5, 2010 at 10:24 pm

Here are the email replies I received from paypal help rearding these issues:

Mail 1:
———

"Hello my name is Rosalie. I am sorry to hear about this situation, and
understand your frustration and concern regarding these reversed
transactions. We’re glad that you’ve come to PayPal for receiving money.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to stop allowing personal payments to be sent
to and from India. Any personal payments that have been recently sent to you from India have been automatically reversed, and the money returned to the sender.
If you’re receiving money for a personal payment, such as gift, then we
have requested that the sender find another way to pay you until we’re
able to restore personal payments to and from India. If this was a payment for a purchase of goods or services, and not a personal payment, then you may contact the buyer and have him or her resend the payment as follows: 
Have the buyer log in to their PayPal account.
Click “Send Money.”
Enter their email address in the “To” field.
Enter the amount of money they wish to send you, and choose the currency
from the list.
Select “Goods”, “Services”, or “eBay Items”, depending on the purchase.
Click “Continue.”
We are trying to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and we’re
sorry for any inconvenience. We are aware of this issue and I sincerely regret the inconvenience it has caused you. Our technicians are working to resolve this matter. We appreciate your patience and understanding. We know situations like this can be difficult, so thanks for working with us. If you have more questions, visit our Help Center by clicking "Help" in the top right corner of any PayPal page. 
Sincerely,
Rosalie
PayPal, an eBay Company"

Mail 2:
———-

"
Thank you for contacting PayPal.

I understand your concern over this situation. We are currently
experiencing an issue processing bank transfers to India bank accounts.
That is why the funds is not yet reflecting on your bank. I sincerely
regret the inconvenience it has caused you. As a result there may be
some delays in both withdrawals and random deposits. We are doing
everything we can to process your withdrawal as soon a possible;
however, we do not have a specific timeframe to share at this time. Our
technicians are working to resolve this matter. We appreciate your
patience and understanding.

We hope you understand our situation and thank you for your patience.
We're available to answer any questions you might have. Just give us a
call at 1-888-221-1161 and we will try our best to give you immediate
answers or you can also visit http://www.PayPal.com/101. We appreciate your
business.

Sincerely,
Amelia
PayPal, an eBay Company"
admin February 5, 2010 at 10:29 pm

Thanks for the update Vivek. It is surprising how can a company like PayPal get away with such vague responses to customer concerns.

PayPal_Anuj February 9, 2010 at 5:08 pm

Just wanted to let everyone know that we’ve posted an update to the PayPal situation in India on our blog with additional details: https://www.thepaypalblog.com/2010/02/update-on-paypal-situation-in-india/

reverse phone lookup February 12, 2010 at 2:37 am

I heard that paypal has stopped doing transactions in India tough the reasons are not clear.And Alertpay are taking full advantage of this sending emails to all their Indian customers.

Anirudh K. Mahant February 27, 2010 at 8:23 am

Recent issues with PayPal withdrawals to Indian Banks & more over payments just randomly being reversed back to the senders will have a deep impact on PayPal’s reputation. It raises so many questions like (THIS MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS):

A) Should we trust PayPal in future?
ANS: ABSOLUTELY NO

B) Are they really concerned about our Money?
ANS: ABSOLUTELY NO, After a long period of two weeks we receive an apology letter stating that “We are sorry we goofed up opps!”? and stuff like “Your money just got sacked since this is nothing serious to us we are just doing a drill of playing a game with your hard earned money”?

C) Is RBI responsible for this?
ANS: UNQUESTIONABLY MAYBE, So, Question is why this is happening in India and nowhere else? Question is why we are being kept behind curtains and dark? Question is why Moneybookers and other Payment systems are working but PayPal is not? you just want to exclude the RBI out of this since they are least concerned with us. Everyone failed here! RBI off course you cant expect them to give you a comforting truth so a comforting lie should suffice you! And PayPal Ow man no shit a multinational company failing to inform and notify of an issue of this magnitude. That was an AWESOME combination of purely frustrating, destroying & spreading chaos.

D) So what does PayPal tell us now?
ANS: “We are sorry, but your valuable to us so please give us another opportunity to goof up and play some more engaging games with your money” and “We just love to make more profits by giving you a pathetic exchange rate”

D) What now?
ANS: DTA (Don’t Trust Anyone) Get your sleeves up against them and find your own ways to get paid over any other medium that serves better, communicates better and keep them in plenty. If one fails other should work out.

Ive let all my clients know about this issue and advised them (in advance unlike PayPal) to switch over to some other Payment system which is reliable, responsible and does the main thing “ACTION” at PAR. The truth will probably be dead and berried RIP about what happened because the shame and disgust they bring upon themselves is apocalyptic now.

Shivanand Sharma February 28, 2010 at 12:45 am

Trying to think of an alternative, looks like at the moment no one except PayPal works under RBI’s guidelines now. Xoom already has blocked funds transfer because of fears of similar enquiries by RBI. And now officially RBI has come forward to allow PayPal to do business in India. So unless you have a real merchant account, PayPal is pretty much the only option.

Anil Atluri March 5, 2010 at 7:49 pm

Hello there,
Anyone there with experiences with Xoom.com?
And Moneybookers?
Any reviews on those two services?

Shivanand Sharma March 6, 2010 at 12:35 am

Anil: None of the other services have authorisation from RBI and the same may happen to them any day they are noticed by RBI. Xoom, because of this has even disabled transfer of funds between paypal and xoom accounts.

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