In nearly two years on this platform, I’ve been able to refrain from dropping a curse wOrd, something I’m quite proud of actually. However, my most recent transaction with PayPal is really testing my patience.
Right in The Neck!
Welcome to my #blog—here comes an uncensored #story about PayPal and PayPal only abusing their authority accompanied by managerial errors which, consequently, has rendered the fiat from the sale of our 16k truck inaccessible for a total of five days and counting. tic.. toc.. tic.. toc..
Firstly, when I advertised our truck for sale a little over two weeks ago, I listed #cryptocurrency as my preferred method of payment. Had the buyer adhered to that request I wouldn’t be in this situation but, unfortunately, like too many people of this world today, he’s behind the times and consciously ignorant of the technological advances only #crypto provides.
A gentleman from Washington State, USA, was the first person to respond to my ad. I had several responses because our truck was in really good condition and priced fairly. I notified each of the other potential buyers of the gentleman moving his #family down from Washington State and, should he change his mind, I would be #writing each of them back in the order in which I received their responses. That wasn’t necessary, as soon as he did his visual inspection and test drove the vehicle, he decided to buy it.
Prior to his arrival, we spoke several times on the phone. One of our conversations consisted of what type of payment I would accept—cash, check, etc. I suggested #Bitcoin and I could tell by the way he scoffed the idea, he wasn’t familiar with Bitcoin nor digital currency. I then suggested USD. We talked about it and agreed PayPal would be our method of value exchange. That was my first mistake. I’ve transacted numerous times with PayPal and I’ve never had any issues, in fact, when it comes to a centralized banking authority, PayPal seemed to be the lesser of two evils—mistake number two.
The purchase and sale of a vehicle in Costa Rica is wildly different from the United States. There’s no DMV here, there isn’t a pink slip attached to a vehicle like I’m accustom to in the states. The Costa Rican government has a powerful computer system that logs all of the vehicle owners information and titles are only transferable by an abogado (attorney) so, although you don’t have registration fees, the government does get their share from the sale of a vehicle. I wouldn’t release my name from the deed nor hand over keys until I saw the value from my asking price in my PayPal wallet—mistake number three.
While in the attorneys office, after she printed out all of the proper documents, each stamped with a seal of approval and, prior to signing anything, I insisted he send me the funds which he did. Within minutes, the PayPal screen on my phone showed the balance in full that he transferred to me from his wallet. I verified the transaction twice, once on my mobile app and once on their website, I was satisfied with the transfer and proceeded with the sale—mistake number four. The #new vehicle owner and I shook hands, said goodbye to each other, “nice to meet you” and a few other formalities. I went back to the apartment and he went back to Washington State after storing the vehicle—he isn’t moving his family down here until the end of August.
#Life seemed to be back to normal and everything was going smooth, I went to the gym and put the sale of the truck behind me. About 30 minutes into my work out, roughly an hour after the transfer of the vehicle, I received an email from PayPal:
Wtf?! My account is limited, the truck is long gone, and now I can’t access the funds from the sale of the truck! I can’t do anything at all inside my PayPal wallet, I can’t even send 
2-3 business days?! After several phone conversations at international dialing rates, I reached out via email, the only option I was given and, in my notification center, I had a whole list of items that required attention such as changing all of my security questions and updating my password. PayPal now knows more about me than my wife, including but not limited to, my grandmothers maiden name and the birthplace of my grandfather—the correspondence looks something like this:
Upon completion of the required information, I received a notification in my email within 24 hours stating my limitations can not be lifted:
Although all of my information was accurate and true, my PayPal account is eight years old and my previously listed addresses no longer coincide with my drivers license nor my current brokerage account statement. I again had to log into PayPal, update my primary mailing address, as well as a secondary mailing address, assuring PayPal the addresses on all of my identification matched the documents I emailed them—another 24 hours passed when I received yet another rejection:
Another 2-3 business days—what now?! I went down to the local market and purchased additional cell phone minutes for a third time. Nearly $90 in international calling fees, I contacted customer support again and was told my PayPal primary mailing address didn’t match the mailing address on my brokerage account—the one I circled for them in bold, black ink:
I said “ma’am, the mailing address on my brokerage account is identical to the mailing address I was required to update with your wallet service.” She then made me aware the mailing address in fact does not match my personal identification and has been rejected—they can’t verify me with the use of a P/O box listed in El Paso, Texas because my statement address is Las Vegas, Nevada. Ok, now I’m confused.
“Ma’am, I’ve never lived in El Paso, Texas, I don’t know where you’re getting that information from and, I assure you, my mailing address is in Las Vegas, Nevada.” That’s when she called me Mr. Schwab. “Excuse me,” I asked, “Mr, Schwab?” She said “Yes, Mr. Schwab, your primary mailing address must match your current mailing address on your brokerage account.” After ALL of that, five days worth of numerous international dialing rates, countless email correspondence, suspended transactions, account limitations, no vehicle to even drive to the market and jumping through KYC hoops, they didn’t even get my name right—they’ve mistaken my identity, 
That was this morning, Monday, June 10th and the sale of the vehicle was compete on Thursday, June 5th. Now I’m required to wait an additional 24 hours while the PayPal fraud department continues their investigation—sofa king awesome!
I’ve been somewhat in contact with the gentleman who purchased the truck, he’s long gone now with his family in Washington State while my wife and I are left here in Costa Rica to deal with this mess. All the while, we have no vehicle, no fiat from the sale of the vehicle and each correspondence takes a minimum of 24 hours to complete. I really hope to update this article tomorrow and say the funds have been released to which I’ll immediately move to one of our centralized accounts and get the fuuu heck out of PayPal.
The only thing I did wrong throughout this entire process was be the nice guy I guess—fool me once shame on me! I even allowed the buyer to sleep in our studio apartment and this is the thanks I get—noted. Dear PayPal...
Update
After holding my (not theirs) fiat hostage for a total of seven days without any regard to my financial situation and nearly $100 in international dialing rates, PayPal finally granted me access to my wallet—7 days later:
