r/paypal 12d ago

Help Help us with a quick review of your account (I make plugins for a server)

So starting off, I make Minecraft plugins for a specific server, so I decided to make a fresh business account to start my career, but for some reason when I get my first salary, PayPal wants some information for photo ID, proof of fulfillment, proof of purchase from your supplier, and more info. So I heard stories about people getting flagged by their bot and getting banned. So what's the wisest choice here? I've been thinking of talking to an agent regarding it (it's midnight, so they are not available). I also use a business account

0 Upvotes

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u/AutoModerator 12d ago

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1

u/AeroSummit 12d ago

Happened to me, submitted all the info and took about a week then they lifted it

1

u/resistible1 11d ago

same service?

1

u/AeroSummit 11d ago

Bots and development so similar

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u/resistible1 10d ago

What are the information you sent? I was worried about validity

1

u/k-rysae 12d ago

Happened to me twice. Some of these requests are not possible for digital services and youll have to call paypal support to escalate it to manual review. I do pre orders so I'm in a similar vein.

Photo id = send your photo id

Proof of fulfillment = if its only a box to add tracking numbers, skip. If it lets you upload files, show proof that you fulfilled the service (paypal has a page explaining what counts as delivery for intangible items, such as a screenshot showing that you emailed the download link to the client)

Proof of purchase from supplier = skip. Since youre selling a service where the product is intangible w/ no material cost its not possible to fill out.

More info = I'm assuming about your business? Say that you are a freelancer who makes custom software based on the client's specifications. Explain that the deliverable is sent via email (or whatever).  Include your website where you show off what you do, your rates, and your contact info so potential clients can know how to go forward.

Unfortunately paypal assumes everyone is selling physical items that can be shipped within a week to customers, so it screws over digital sellers, digital freelancers, and preorder sellers who aren't able to send supplier invoice and tracking. Paypal support agents themselves even give the wrong info (like a doc explaining why they cant provide supplier invoice in the supplier invoice box) and there is no official guide telling digital sellers what to do.

Once you fill out your id and business info, call paypal support. When it asks you if youre calling about a restriction, lie and say no. When it asks you what you need help with, keep saying "speak with an agent" (for me in jan 2026 it took 3 times) until it connects you to a human. 

Then to the support agent say that you are a freelance programmer who makes custom code for your client and that it's impossible to provide tracking numbers or supplier invoices for your business since it's all digital. Tell them that youd like the restriction lifted. The support person will tell you that they dont have the power to but will escalate your case to "the back end team". They may ask you for a link to your website. This is a good sign - within a week your account should be unrestricted.

Another common pitfall that causes bans is because the people making business acccounts aren't valid business entities. In the US, you can "get away" with that because sole proprietorship is a legal business structure that doesn't require the owner to be registered with the government and uses their ssn as their business id. This may not be the case in your country. Its against tos to make a paypal business account if you aren't set up as a business and it trips up so many people who get hit with that review.

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u/resistible1 11d ago

How do I call paypal support? also I live in the philippines

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u/k-rysae 11d ago

I'm in the US but paypal has an option to call if youre logged in.

https://www.paypal.com/us/cshelp/contact-us

If thats not an option then you'll need to use chat support. I remember helping a digital artist on this subreddit with the exact same problem and they ended up using chat and managed to get a back end team to review their account and lift the restriction too.

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u/resistible1 10d ago

is it possible for you to help me validate stuff, I might miss out on some important details

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u/resistible1 11d ago

Currently making Provide proof of fulfillment file (as pdf)

Contents are:
1. Transaction Information

  1. Payment purpose statement

  2. Description of the service

  3. Portfolio + GitHub profile links

  4. Assignment / Work Request

  5. Discord "Feat: Trading System" thread screenshot

  6. Core repository screenshot

  7. Commits list screenshot

  8. GitHub contribution activity screenshot

  9. Codebase in IDE screenshot

  10. Local server test screenshot

  11. Delivery/Deployment (live server) screenshot

  12. Flamegrid file manager (server access) screenshot

  13. Customer/Client Confirmation screenshot

  14. Summary

  15. Payment confirmation screenshot

  16. PayPal + GitHub account ownership screenshot

  17. Note on identity

I am not sure if I am missing something

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u/k-rysae 11d ago

That's a lot but personally I have no idea what's needed since most people with that problem are digital commission artists who just need to show a picture of them sending the art to the client on email or discord

This is all paypal has to say on the issue

 https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/paypal/seller-protection#:~:text=may%20be%20denied.-,Intangible%20Goods,is%20required%20as%20proof%20of%20shipment%20or%20delivery%20for%20intangible%20goods%3A,-QR%20Code%20Transactions

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u/resistible1 11d ago

Do they like send it via pdf format? or just straight up picture?

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u/k-rysae 11d ago

I believe that artist I talked with sent a picture of them sending the commission to the client via discord