UK Paypal rules being applied to US Players.

Late Friday I got an e-mail from Linden Lab, insisting that I needed to update my payment information. Since I joined SL in September of 2005 I have used a US-based Verified PayPal account as my funding source for billing. Primary funding is my bank account, secondary is my VISA card. I know there is absolutely nothing wrong from PayPal's end, as I have been able to make several purchases with that account from other on-line merchants. I have NEVER been AR'ed on any of my accounts, so I know there is no hold on anything based on my account behavior. I was allowed to create a new alt that afternoon, so I know it isn't the number of alts that I have that is at fault.

And get this... I have three alts that use the same PayPal info, and none of THOSE accounts got ordered to change their info. Just my oldest account - my main account.

So I jump through the hoops and try to follow their instructions in the Solution Finder for deleting my old payment info and replacing it with fresh data. It refuses my PayPal, even thouth the PayPal site says that the payment agreement was successful before switching me back to LL's site. I had to switch over to my Visa card to remain "Payment Info Used". It accepted my VISA info.

So then I get a call from VISA, questioning two charges made Saturday morning. Both were from "Computer and Computer Store", and were charged in the United Kingdom. Both were for one dollar, and the timing exactly matched my attempts to validate my VISA card info with LL. I told my VISA provider the charges were legitimate.

I later tried making a new alt, and again found LL still would not accept my PayPal account, saying "Use of this PayPal account has been restricted".

I tried looking for info in the knowledgebase, which was wothless, and which offered me NO means of contacting LL to open a support ticket, other than calling their toll-free US based phone line to billing, which I can't call until 11 AM my time... (I wil call them today, though I expect that will result in my being on hold for hours with no resolution...)

I did however find this, in the Solution Finder.



Hypothesis: It appears that LL's new UK-based billing company is applying the UK rules to ALL applicants who attempt to use PayPal. Since my secondary funding source is a Visa credit card, and not a "Switch or Solocard", they are disallowing my use of my perfectly good PayPal account.

Im having the same problem, account 'restricted' when I try to supply an alt with Paypal as a payment source. I have all the boxes ticked that LL require. Money in Paypal and bank as primary funding source with solo card. I dont have a clue what else to do.

This whole billing situation is getting ridiculous. This is the basic function of an online business. C'mon, guys Wake the Fuck up!!!! There is NO reason for all this nonsense. There must be thousand of companies that do business in a variety of countries and get it right. or are you really that incompetent?

I am in the UK and use UK PayPal with Visa credit as a funding source. Switch and Solo are not common cards here compared to Visa. Switch/Solo is the same company, I really don't understand how you are being told you have to have one of those cards.

Edit: I have just looked up solo/switch and they are only available through NatWest and HSBC Banks, so PayPal would be rather limiting itself to only trade through members of these two banks.

Have you contacted billing? This sounds like something they should know.

My Paypal has been restricted to. I called LL and they said there was nothing they could do except put a flag on my account for them to look into it. it's been 3 weeks and nothing has changed. I am wondering why they even except PayPal if it can't be used?????

I had the same issue, LL claiming my PayPal account was restricted and, when I contacted Support, they told me it was on PayPal's end and there was nothing they could do about it. So I contacted PayPal, who told me there was absolutely no reason that my SL transactions should be failing. Given that my PayPal account works everywhere else I've tried it, including SLX, I tend to believe that the issue IS on LL's side, regardless of what they say. I finally switched to my PayPal debit card and that's been working fine.

Does anyone else have dates when this started? The last time I was able to use PayPal was June 12th.

There has been a saying in SL for quite some time...

If there is anything SL does right and on time, its their billing of their customers.

Now thats not even right anymore...

They need to simply remove Paypal from their list of acceptable payments. We were told in the focus group that they were still 'looking into it' and that billings seriously need more people in it. I can believe the latter, but the former should have been fixed a few weeks ago, not still pending. I've been waiting until this was fixed before I go to a Paypal account... but at the rate it's going, I'll go to Paypal and start selling/buying L on the SLEx.

I can buy virtualy anything online, use ebay, pay for a florist to deliver flowers in Iceland, pay bills etc... all using my PayPal account. I use 2 cards to verify the account. A Direct Debit Bank Card and a Gold Visa Card, both from the same bank, yet my paypal account is only partially verified, until I supply them with my bank details DOH.
The Direct Debit Card IS MY BANK ACCOUNT sheesh... It is money that can only be paid if I have sufficient funds in my bank account, it uses my bank account details, sort code and identification details. I tried several time to complete the verification, but when I enter the bank details, it fails saying those details are already in use on my PayPal account LOL.. Well Hello, yes they are.
I can buy L$'s in game using the PayPal account, but not get verification to LL using the same information, how screwed is that?

This sounds complete nonsense. As a NatWest account holder I can tell you Switch IS the card used with it. From the above, a credit card cannot be used for primary or secondary source but Hell! Switch and NatWest are one and the same!!
Do they expect everyone in UK to open a second bank account specially for them?

Not sure if it is related, but have been trying for several days now to set up a TEEN account for my daughter, all goes fine until after we are sent to PAYPAL (need a paypal or mobile phone account to verify, and we have no mobile phone).

PayPal shows the process as confirmed and sends an email confirmation, but Linden labs next gives us this page on the registration process:

=========================
Your account HAS been successfully created, but an error occured processing your PayPal info-- so we were not able to upgrade your account or award you free Linden Dollars.

Your Second Life account has been sucessfully created.

If you have any questions about Second Life or your new account please, visit our support page.

Your Second Life Account:
We have sent a confirmation email to XXXXX
Please follow the instructions in this email to activate your account.

Second Life name: XXXXX
Membership plan: Basic Membership

===========

(Removed personal information)

Unfortunately the confirmation email they claim to send to us, is never sent. I filed a ticket in which they suggest an unverified PayPal is the cause, however my account IS verified and has been using my bank account as the primary source. I don't recall if I have a creditcard associated with the account, isn't a bank account alone, sufficient? I've tried dozens of times but cannot get the account procedure completed for my daughter to get a TEEN account.


Is this all related to whatever this PayPal issue is? Oddly I had no problem a week earlier using the same PayPal to set up my own Basic/verified account and order lindens from SL thru that PayPal.

Right now we are just waiting on the next update to the support ticket, but after reading other posts I realize this may take weeks/months to resolve, not hours/days =(

While I might grudgingly be patient waiting weeks for a solution on an issue involving me, my daughter is having a hard time understanding why she cannot play, and asks me several times a day when she can log in. Are there no new TEEN accounts being created at all? (They don't have the option on that side to use a creditcard instead, dunno why).

Billing's toll-free support line is not staffed until 9 AM Pacific coast time. That is an hour and a half from now. Believe me, I intend to call them.

Incidentally, I can't find ANY way to submit a support ticket now through the support system, for ANY issue. There is supposed to be a way to mill through several suggested resoolutions, and eventually if you say enough times "That didn't solve my problem" there should be a link that says "My answer is not here." Clicking that burried link should bring up the ticket system. But all those links are GONE. I tried dozens and dozens of possible problem types, and none offered any escalation path to a support ticket. The closest was an unrelated billing issue page that still listed the phone number for billing. Guess they missed that one in eliminating all possible means of obtaining support.

Chalk up another one for LL burrying their heads in the sand and ignoring their customers...

A secondary funding source that can't be a Visa card? That's ridiculous. All Western European countries use Paypal UK. I live in Germany, I have only one bank account and the only credit cards I can get here are Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Visa is the most common card. I have no idea what a Switch or Solocard is and don't know of any German bank that would issue such a card.

The new motto, replacing Your World, Your Imagination: Second Life: Plausible Denial.

Ceera, tell me that you didn't use the Quick search feature on the left! Go to the button at the bottom of the 'excuses' that says Solution Finder. That will give you the options you seek.

Thank you. I tried the quick search, the advanced search, and manually milling through all the Knowledge Base and Solution FInder issues. After reading your post, I went back and with some searching, did find a button to submit a ticket. So, the ticket is in, and we will see what happens.

If it's anything like my experience, they'll tell you several times that it's not their fault, give you instructions on how to cancel and reset your billing agreement (even after you've already told them you tried that), then finally tell you it's related to the general PayPal issues they've been having and to be patient. Then you'll never hear another word.

He he..the General PayPal issue that only they seem to have?

Right... Of course, we all know LL *never* has any problems in their own code or policies and procedures, so it *must* be PayPal that is to blame, right?

It occurred to me that my initial support ticket wasn't classified as one of the "Holy Five Questions" that we lowly Basic members are pemitted to petition the Linden Gods with, so I re-submitted it as a "Can't Create and Account" question, since it DID prevent me from creating an alt account with valid PayPal data. (I was later successful in making that alt with Visa).

The Holy Five Questions:

* I'm trying to create an account and it won't let me.

* Second Life tells me I can't access it from this computer.

* My account has been shut off and I have no idea why; my account page doesn't give me any clues.

* I need to report a region being offline.

* I'm an estate manager and I need to request a rollback.

How amusing that "I am trying to pay money to Linden Lab, and they won't take it!" isn't an allowed question type!

When did this business with not being able to use a credit card as a secondary funding source for paypal happen? It's news to me.

It's apparently a rule for PayPal UK only...

I'm in the UK, I haven't seen this email. Haven't used paypal for a while mind you but I don't recall being told about this.

Well actually I used paypal at the end of May but I had funds in the account to pay for the service.

I'm just going to start sending my payments directly to Linden. In cash. All pennies.

Can we talk about Jesus now?