A few months back PayPal issue had been troubling Indian users in availing payments. For more than a month, Paypal users were left stranded as all the ways of requesting money withdrawal had been blocked.
After a lot of chaos and wait, PayPal came up with a solution according to Indian Regulations which will enable fund transfers with the help of Purpose codes. Things seemed to have been sorted out then and it seemed no more issues will creep in.
But to user’s dismay, the electronic transfers started taking more time than earlier and also since a PAN number was required, users (like me) were not able to operate multiple PayPal accounts. But still everything was fine as money was reaching the users.
This morning I received a mail from PayPal stating that they will be stopping the electronic fund transfer from 1st August’2010 yet again. From 29th July’10, users can request a cheque transfer, fees to which will be reimbursed. Though it is not so clear why these issue are happening, they are surely causing a lot of worry among Indian users as there are thousands of PayPal users in India who rely on it for their daily business and transactions.
As these issues are happening repeatedly, I feel users should now find PayPal alternatives are switch to whichever suits the best. Also check out this list of Indian webstores where you can spend your Paypal money. Below is the email received from Paypal.
In accordance with regulatory instructions, we would like to notify you about a change in our withdrawal functionality in India starting on August 1, 2010. At present you can request for either an electronic or cheque withdrawal of funds from your PayPal account if you are an India user.
From July 29, 2010 onwards, you will only be able to request for a cheque withdrawal of funds from your PayPal account.
While we are working hard to restore the electronic withdrawal service, in the meantime, we are bringing this matter to your attention so that you can plan your future withdrawal activities accordingly.
To request for a cheque withdrawal:1. Log into your PayPal account, click on ‘Withdraw’.
2. Click on the ‘Request a cheque from PayPal’ link.
3. Enter the withdrawal amount and select your mailing address, then click ‘Continue’.
4. Click ‘Submit’ to confirm your request.In order to help you with this change and until further notice, we will refund the $5 USD cheque withdrawal fee to you for cheque withdrawals made on July 29, 2010 onwards.
For any questions, please log into your PayPal account and click ‘Contact Us’ at the bottom of the page.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused from this change in our withdrawal functionality. We will provide ongoing updates to you here. We thank you for your attention and patience as we work tirelessly to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.
Thank you,
The PayPal Asia Team
Anyone has any idea on how long it takes to receive the cheque and is it sent through regular Indian Postal service or through courier.
Priya
Though I have never requested for a cheque withdrawal yet. I believe it should take around 7-10days to get delivered and since they generally change $5, the postal method is not mentioned on the site.
It also says that cheques issued cannot be canceled so please ensure the name and address is correct.
Has anyone opted for this method here then let us know your experience.
Paypal is such a crap system to withdraw amount through cheques.
Reasons:
1. Min withdrawl amount in USD is $150.
2. Even if you enter 6-digit PIN CODE for Billing Code, it won’t accept it and comes up with a disgusted error “Please enter 6-digit PIN CODE e.g. 123456”. How crap system is that? Can’t it even count how much 6-digits are?
3. It says no address field should be more than 33 to 35 characters long. Ok fine! But, when you select a state from a dropdown menu, in my case its “National Capital Territory of Delhi”. What a blunder? It do not gives other choice for delhities and if we select that option, it comes up with its more than 33 characters error. I think every people in Delhi or states having name more than 33 characters or so are facing this problem.
Just hope it resolves this, or if you may suggesst anything better than paypal?
@H-DEE – I believe the minimum withdrawal is fine, they have a similar thing implemented for bank transfers where Rs.50 is charged for below Rs.7k.
But your other concerns are absolutely valid. Since I have not used Cheque withdrawal, I am yet to face these issues.
The character limit is stupid as addresses in India can go way beyond that limit. Will check myself.
Also these concerns should definitely be raised with PAYPAL asia.
You can also checkout moneybookers – Its on the similar lines as paypal but the currency they deal in is Euro.
First of all i doubt this email is correct or not. It comes from [email protected]. I got similar email two days back. Just received some funds from one of my advertiser, and requested bank transfer. Paypal has no issues and sent me this mail.
29-Jul-2010 08:01:11 PDT
Dear XYZ,
You asked us to transfer Rs.XXXX INR from PayPal to your bank account, and we’re processing it now. It usually takes 5-7 working days for transfers like this to go through, so you should see the money in your bank account by 09-Aug-2010.
Here are the details:
Total amount transferred Rs.XXXX INR
Bank account ICICI Bank x-XXXX
Transaction ID XXXXXXXXXXXX
Thanks,
PayPal
well i am sorry for the comment its there on their blog : https://www.thepaypalblog.com/2010/07/update-on-paypal-accounts-for-india-users/
@OPS – As you figured it out, this news is true. You could request for electronic withdrawal as the same is available till 31st July’10. I would not suggest using it though as last time when similar issue happened, many people did not receive electronic transfers they have requested for. Hope you don’t face any issues. Do let us know.
@Piyush Agarwal
I mailed them about the issue but they didn’t answered what was expected, so I mailed them again with image snapshot this time in case there are fools sitting over there replying to our mails. I’ll let you know if they reply something USEFUL this time.
I heard rumours about moneybookers that their service is not that much trustworthy and also they charge more for their service.
But yes, if nothing gets sorted out with paypal, got to reply on moneybookers unfortunately.
THEIR REPLY…
Thank you for contacting PayPal.
I went ahead and personally reviewed your account. In order for you to
confirm your address, you must confirm it using a credit card.
We sincerely apologize in advance for any inconvenience caused from this
change and we are working hard to restore the electronic withdrawal
service. In the meantime, we are bringing this matter to your attention
so that you can plan your future withdrawal activities accordingly.
If you require more information other than what I have provided, you can
also give us a call at 1-402-935-2080 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.
————
WHAT A DOUCHE? How come the credit card address approval come in between? They don’t have any idea about what the hell I’m asking them. They are all morons. I don’t have any expectations from Paypal now.
Anyone else having same issues?
@H-DEE – Glad you received some reply from them. They must flooded with mails from our fellow Indians. I went ahead and tried to verify what they meant by bringing in Credit Card approval and then it made sense.
You see when you verify your credit card with their site, they add the address the card is registered with to the logs. So when you request for a withdrawal, you get options(drop-down) of choosing addresses. Since CC does not have the address character limit restriction, it is an alternate way to make sure your correct address is logged in.
I have tried their customer care earlier and the international call had cost me a lot without bringing any results. Not all of them are aware of the issues and solutions and all they do is keep on transferring calls. It also takes ages to connect in 1st place.
I know a few folks who are using moneybookers and they are fine with it. The approval process is a little tedious though and yes its cost is only slightly more as multiple currency conversions are involved but I cannot think of a better alternative as of now. Beware of fake payment methods, there are many of them.
A new fact about Pay Pal :
I applied for a charity account with Pay pal because its free and supported by vbulletin software for payment subscription, I have all the documents like NGO Registration certificate, Memorandum of Society, Society PAN card, and the Bank details , bank details were verified by the Pay Pal by depositing amount of Rs. 2 and 40 paisa, after submitting all the document as per said in their website and in their emails, they denied me for the account, just because they have no tie-up with India regarding charity account, what the hell is this, why the pay pal people should not mention at the time sign up process. I have wasted around 1000/- rs in doing fax to pay pal and after 4-5 days they denied.
Don’t apply for a charity account with pay pal if you are living in India. Just wastage of time and money.
@Sonia – Since the last time issues happened, Paypal has stopped providing accounts to Indians for charity/NGO purpose. A direct wire transfer is the best options Indians have in that respect but still you would loose some money.
I agree the support @ PP is pretty lousy. They are not aware of their own rules and regulations.
Ex- An individual can hold a Business account and also a personal account with PP. I have both. After the last Indian issue, they made PAN card registration mandatory. Now I cannot use the same PAN card number for both accounts. When contacted, they told me to apply for another PAN card!! How dumb and impossible is that… When I explained that an individual cannot hold 2 PAN cards, they told me to transfer all my money to one account and close the other. Also transfer fees will be applied and they cannot waive that!! I was sooo pissed. I still have both the accounts, I found a way of using them. 😉
Don’t know what issue RBI have with the Paypal. They think we are fraud and illegally transferring money to our accounts. Even though they know everything is been tracked as we all had to put in our PAN Card details and the Purpose Code due to the same issue around February. Don’t know what the Hell is the matter with them
@H-DEE – Our govt. has always been doing that. They won’t resolve internal issues which are more critical but will find ways to screw with there own country-men!!
@Piyush Agarwal
Don’t you think Address confirmation through Bank Account verification and Credit card verification, one and the same thing?
I had my bank account verified, and thats how I was using the electronic transfer method. But, even if I select that address for cheque withdrawl, same issue of long characters and all.
@H-Dee – Does your current account status say “verified”? I think account verification can happen only through a valid credit card. Verification has other benefits like increased limits and lesser fees I believe.
Make sure you use a credit card which is registered to an address to which you would like to have your cheque delivered and and the CC is under your name.
Also note – When verification is in progress Paypal charges your card with I think $1.45 which is re-imbursed to your paypal account once verified.
Hope this helps.
@Piyush Agarwal
Yes, bro! Its verified. Its not necessary to have credit card verification. Bank account verification is also equivalent. You get the “verified”, and all the limits imposed for “Unverified” accounts are lifted.
The problem is with their system. May be they should hire freelancers like us to get their website and database fixed. By far, I’ve noticed so many flaws in Paypal website, thought most of them are irrelevant to the topic we are discussing. 🙂
@H-DEE – Cool…I was not aware of that. I had my account verified long back and I don’t think I had this option then. Not sure if they log Bank Account address as well, anyways try clicking on the address shown when you click on withdraw by chq, in case multiple addresses popup. The drop-down arrow doesn’t show. (Another Bug :P)
Yup…I definitely agree their systems need major revamping specially keeping User-Experience in mind. Freelancers like us would do a better job anyday.. 😉
Paypal restores Electronic Funds transfer system back again. A relief! 🙂
Very much align with Sonia, PayPal is doing monopoly here, transaction fee while transfer amount to your bank……Huge.
No other option available here…. ccavenue is too expensive.
@Suman: The e-commerce space in India has to face a lot of challenges and one of the major is payment. There are some new players planning to join the league. Lets see.
By the way, you can go for EBS. Its cheaper than ccavenue and has better performance records.