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Sorry, I read too much into your thread title, "Anyone ever had a Paypal account canceled for buying rocketry stuff?"
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Anyone ever had a Paypal account canceled for buying rocketry stuff?
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Ez2cDave
Well-Known Member
If you think things are bad now, just wait until "AI" is running everything . . .
Dave F.
Dave F.
Even though it's 2023, there are low grade morons out there that believe Earth is flat. Most Flat Earth adherents fall for it because they saw it on a YouTube video. The Western education system is failing miserably.
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This is similar to what happened to me with CashApp. Had been using it a bit then one day I received an email stating that my account had been cancelled for violating the terms of use. I tried contacting CA to find out which term I had violated and kept getting the same message "for violating the terms of use" over and over and over again. No human input whatsoever. /smh
Why do you think he can't appeal the decision or talk to a human being? Don't be too sure that we didn't cross that line some time ago.
Asimov wasn't wrong.
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Probably true. Some IT guy somewhere was given a set of parameters, wrote a flagging algorithm to automate their screening, and most likely the corporate overlords have decreed that no flunky that works in the "Customer Service Department" can override what the algorithm spits out.
I believe that the concept of remote customer service is dead in the modern world, and it's continued existence is simply as a loss leader to fool the consumer into believing that the company 'cares' about your issue (and they NEVER do) simply to lull the customer into continuing to do business with that which has (and will continue to) failed them.
Some of the insurance companies we deal with have automated call centers.
One of them, we can only get live help by tricking the system- deliberately entering an invalid member ID several times.
Another of them just says “callback when you have the correct information” and hangs up. That’s their way to provide quality patient care…
You might (or might not) be surprised at the number of places (almost all) that offer absolutely zero customer assistance if you are deaf or hard of hearing. They just say, "Call this 800 number" but I can't (technically, I *can* but with great difficulty) because I can't hear. My pension and benefits organization is one of them. We have online access to our account but currently (for the last year or so) we can't log in. When I email customer support, they tell me that I have to call the 800 number. And, when I tell them that I'm deaf, they just say, "Well, you'll just have to get a friend or relative to help you." I'm stubborn. I could probably get it sorted out if I used my text transcription phone, but it annoys me so much that I just haven't done it... for a year.
It’s 2023, that’s outrageous for such an organization!!!
No, but I'm sure many marriages have been canceled for buying rocketry stuff.
Curtis Enlow
Well-Known Member
Broadly - and I don't know if this applies to your case in any way - Russia is skirting sanctions on tech needed for drone & weapon technology is any way they can lately. Many 'hobbyist' level items are appearing in drones purchased in very round-about ways to avoid the sanctions. Honestly, I'm surprised that things like baro altimeters and drone controllers aren't under stricter control. If anyone is experimenting with guided rocket technology it might be best to keep that sort of thing under one's hat until this war blows over on the East.
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You're describing ITAR
Curtis Enlow
Well-Known Member
Kinda. I mean, I was aware of those sorts of efforts, but with advancements in cheap, easily accessible technology "military" & "hobbyist" - as use of commercial drones in Ukraine exemplify - is becoming an increasingly gray area. Consider the threads here on electronic guidance using using servo-driven fins and miniaturized processors. How much more difficult would it be to make a rudimentary IR or laser seeker in a nose cone...? I am lucky to get an Arduino sketch to make marquee lights out of a row of LEDs, but I bet there are people here who could make fins chase a little red dot if they wanted to.
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Add a little AI and voila you've got Judgement Day
Get a travel visa card with minimal funds and a short expiry and use that.
I used to think so. But, as near as I can tell, ADA doesn't apply to much beyond public buildings. Worse, financial services are prevented by law from giving access to services without telephone (voice) communication. Our financial advisor even has an encrypted email system but isn't allowed to answer certain financial questions via email. Wr either have to call (conference calls with good speakers work) or we have to drive over and meet face to face.
What bugs me about my pension fund is that resetting my password, or fixing whatever the problem is, can't even be done by snail mail. I'm obviously not in a hurry. I'm sure that's legal, they just don't want to do it.
I doubt Paypal would cancel your account because you buy rocket stuff.
The problem is, with lack of transparency (i.e. Paypal won't tell you what happened) there's just no way to know; everything is pure speculation. Opaque processes like that are extraordinarily frustrating and there's often no recourse. Unfortunately it's common with a lot of giant tech companies that have zillions of customers and only a limited number of support agents.
Based on this thread there certainly doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern that rocket purchases can lead to suspended accounts. OP probably got swept up in something else, which really sucks but I don't know what's to be done except keep complaining to Paypal and see if you can eventually break through to someone who'll be able to sort it out for you. But I don't like the chances.
Based on this thread there certainly doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern that rocket purchases can lead to suspended accounts. OP probably got swept up in something else, which really sucks but I don't know what's to be done except keep complaining to Paypal and see if you can eventually break through to someone who'll be able to sort it out for you. But I don't like the chances.
I concur.
The only repost I have seen on the internet is people being cancelled for using F&F for their business purposes but that was only after a user complained.
Pem Tech
Notorious Member
Just recently started to seriously consider using service other than PP. Your misfortune just pushed us over that edge.
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Based on the thread title you would think that a rocketry related purchase triggered the suspension but the OP made it clear that he never said his suspension was rocketry related.
Yes, but that is the question that was raised, and the answer appears to be "no".
Ez2cDave
Well-Known Member
Frankly, I can see "Colossus: The Forbin Project" becoming a reality, day by day.
Dave F.
I dropped PP right after choosing not to sell on Ebay since I had no use for it. Not a single thing in my life has changed, I forgot about them until I saw this thread. Who doesn't take regular credit cards? Hasn't PP been replaced with Venmo, Cashapp, and a few other newer version?
Pdawg,
I don't know about Cashapp, but Venmo offers no protection against being ripped off by some unscrupulous dirtbag, which Paypal does. Venmo is popular with scammers/criminals for that reason. You send them money, they ghost you, no recourse.
I don't know about Cashapp, but Venmo offers no protection against being ripped off by some unscrupulous dirtbag, which Paypal does. Venmo is popular with scammers/criminals for that reason. You send them money, they ghost you, no recourse.
Ez2cDave
Well-Known Member
Hmm . . . I wonder how their "algorithms" would interpret these purchases, all going to the same person, at the same address ?
(1) Chinese e-matches from eBay.
(2) Black Powder
(3) Ammonium Perchlorate
(4) 400 mesh Aluminum powder
(5) Pyrogen Dip
(6) Books on "related subjects"
etc, etc, etc.
One of those purchases is of questionable legality, so that might get you banned.
Ez2cDave
Well-Known Member
Well, something about either the combination, amount, or frequency of the OP's purchases apparently "triggered" PayPal.
Come to think of it, in retrospect, the OP never mentioned any purchase that was even remotely, "unusual" . . .
The only thing I could think of is that, perhaps, the Eggtimer purchase, if it was for deployment electronics, might have caused PayPal to think he might use them as a "triggering device".
Has anyone else ever had a similar problem with PayPal ?
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