Paypal payment hold

[sherjeanne0608]

Hi! Can anyone give me an advice on what to tell Paypal that my funds should not be put on hold. I'm a newbie freelancer and I just got my pay from my client but it was put on hold for 21 days. I already called Paypal and they told me that everytime my client would send me my pay it would always be put on hold. Need anyone's advice please.

[petra_r]

Did the client pay you directly to your PayPal account or did the client pay you via Upwork and you withdrew the funds from your Upwork account to your PayPal account?

[sherjeanne0608]

It was paid directly to my Paypal account.

[petra_r]

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@Marie Jeanne S wrote:
It was paid directly to my Paypal account.

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You do know that this is a serious violation of Upwork‘s terms of service? You must only be paid via Upwork, in which case you would not have the problem with the payment hold.... 

You might lose your Upwork account over this.

[sherjeanne0608]

FYI..I didn't get my client from upwork...I just posted here just in case someone knew the answer... I wouldn't be asking this question if I did...I was just asking around and it so happen that I have an account here

[versailles · Accepted solution]

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@Marie Jeanne S wrote:
FYI..I didn't get my client from upwork...I just posted here just in case someone knew the answer... I wouldn't be asking this question if I did...I was just asking around and it so happen that I have an account here

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 In this case you may have more luck asking in the PayPal community.

[sherjeanne0608]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry if I have to post this question here. I was just really asking around because I haven't got a clear answer yet.

[millerhenley]

Well, it seems that the best way to avoid a security hold on PayPal funds is to avoid PayPal. I've been on Upwork for a few years and PayPal for well over 10 years. Yesterday, I had my funds withdrawn from Upwork to PayPal, so that I could get immediate access rather than wait a day for it to hit my bank. Done this many, many times.

PayPal denied my request for immediate transfer to debit card on this withdrawal and is holding funds for security review. Says most reviews are completed within 24 hours and that my money will be transferred to bank at that time. Will have to wait and see. After checking around, found that most folks do get their money in exactly 24 hours (like to the minute) and that it is just an automated hold, but some folks have to wait days and others weeks or months.

PayPal can hold money on a whim. Have learned in last day, after researching, that a security hold can be placed on account for several reasons. Larger or more frequent transactions than normal, adding a new credit card, changing address in PayPal are a few items I learned that will trigger hold. By chance, I had just added a new credit card to my PayPal account two days earlier, so that may have been what did it. No way to know for sure, as they will not tell you, but it is on their help page as an item that will get you flagged.

Bottom line, avoid PayPal, if possible. If you do use, know that moeny may get held up. Hopefully I get my funds today, but regardless I will not use PayPal again for Upwork withdrawals.

[kochubei_valeria]

Marie Jeanne,

As Petra pointed out, it's a serious violation of Upwork ToS to accept payment off site from a client you originally met on Upwork. If you are referring to the payment from a client you met off of Upwork, you may need to contact PayPal's customer support as we don't have access about your PayPal account information.

Thank you.

[prestonhunter]

Marie Jeanne:

I wish you well and hope you will be able to resolve this matter through your efforts outside of this Forum, while you talk to PayPal people.

You didn't know that posting the question here could be confusing or problematic. Now you know.

Just to be clear, for all people reading this:

Accepting payments outside of Upwork (for Upwork contracts or for work done for clients you meet via Upwork) is a serious violation.

That is NOT what original poster Marie Jeanne was doing. She thought she could ask a "general question" in this Community Forum, because it is a helpful Forum. For some types of questions, that would be okay... perhaps in the "Coffee Break" section. But Forum Paticipants really need to NOT ask about making or receiving payments directly here in the Forum, because it can be very confusing and people here are likely to assume the person asking the questions is violating Upwork ToS.

We have read in the past that Upwork users have had their accounts flagged or suspended merely for TALKING about receiving payments directly from PayPal... not even "in public', but in their private messages with clients. We have seen Forum participants have their accounts suspended based on conversations they had here in the Forum about violating ToS. So any Upwork user would want completely avoid this topic here in the Upwork forum. There is real risk of a misunderstanding which could lead to sanctions.

And as a practical matter, even if there was no such risk, this isn't the place for posting such questions. Nobody who works for Upwork is going to be able to help with matters that are not related to Upwork, but pertain to another company. And the non-employee Forum participants are not going to be the best source of help, either.

There are places set up which are dedicated to either (a) providing customer service; or (b) providing a forum for discussion for other websites, companies, and services, such as PayPal, Payoneer, credit cards, Amazon.com, etc.