PayPal Suspends Personal Payments to India

[DN BROKER]

PayPal, an eBay company, has suspended personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in the country.

Customers can still make commercial payments to India, but merchants cannot withdraw funds in rupees at local Indian banks, it added.

The services have been suspended while the company works with its "business partners and other stakeholders to address questions they have about the service," according to PayPal's blog. PayPal did not say what questions have been raised.

PayPal said it is trying to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and that it was sorry for the inconvenience that it may cause its customers in India and around the world. A number of bloggers and Web sites have reported that the company has reversed and returned payments to senders.

PayPal executives in the region were not available for comment on specific reasons why the service was discontinued.

The move by PayPal may be linked to new Indian government rules aimed at preventing money laundering, according to an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. Last November, the Indian government introduced rules requiring financial institutions and other intermediaries to verify the identity of clients carrying out international money transfers.

PayPal's user agreement says it does not guarantee any user's identity because user verification on the Internet is difficult. PayPal does reserve the right to validate customers' identities, including asking for documents.

PayPal is used in India by many to receive payment for services such as software development and freelance writing.



PayPal Suspends Personal Payments to India - PCWorld

 

[Arjun]

PayPal, an eBay company, has suspended personal payments to and from India and transfers to local banks in the country.

Customers can still make commercial payments to India, but merchants cannot withdraw funds in rupees at local Indian banks, it added.

The services have been suspended while the company works with its "business partners and other stakeholders to address questions they have about the service," according to PayPal's blog. PayPal did not say what questions have been raised.

PayPal said it is trying to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and that it was sorry for the inconvenience that it may cause its customers in India and around the world. A number of bloggers and Web sites have reported that the company has reversed and returned payments to senders.

PayPal executives in the region were not available for comment on specific reasons why the service was discontinued.

The move by PayPal may be linked to new Indian government rules aimed at preventing money laundering, according to an analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity. Last November, the Indian government introduced rules requiring financial institutions and other intermediaries to verify the identity of clients carrying out international money transfers.

PayPal's user agreement says it does not guarantee any user's identity because user verification on the Internet is difficult. PayPal does reserve the right to validate customers' identities, including asking for documents.

PayPal is used in India by many to receive payment for services such as software development and freelance writing.



PayPal Suspends Personal Payments to India - PCWorld

...and the beauty of it all is the fact that being an ordinary citizen of India - I would never get to know what exactly changed with my government's rulebook.

Some semi retired old fool must've put forth a stupid clause which would've clashed with PayPal's TOS or something.

It wouldn't be the first time that my country's government came out with something which actually back-fired on them - they do it all the time.

:tu:

 

[labrocca]

This can shake up the internet world for a bit. I wonder how many Indians are screwed for income right now. I personally support the move.

 

[netfleet]

Yeah I paid someone doing some SEO work & it got reversed. Put it back through as a product & it seemed to get through

 

[DNBro]

Right now i have tried to send payment to a NP member through credit card and chosen option as services, but got below message.

Your card issuer denied this payment. If you have another debit or credit card linked to your PayPal account, please use that. Or take a moment to link a new debit or credit card. Contact your card issuer if you don't know why you were declined.

Anyone else from India facing same problem?

thanks

 

[coltter]

is there any special cases in India like its government issue so Paypal suspend all the payments?
you can go to techcrunch for more information,
PayPal Halts Personal Payment Transactions From And To India

 

[mntor]

Right now i have tried to send payment to a NP member through credit card and chosen option as services, but got below message.

Your card issuer denied this payment. If you have another debit or credit card linked to your PayPal account, please use that. Or take a moment to link a new debit or credit card. Contact your card issuer if you don't know why you were declined.

Anyone else from India facing same problem?

thanks

This is more likely a temporary problem with the credit card company side imho. I faced the same problem last month but worked when i tried a couple of days later.

 

[DNBro]

This is more likely a temporary problem with the credit card company side imho. I faced the same problem last month but worked when i tried a couple of days later.

thanks, anyways i have contacted citibank regarding this error and waiting for their response.

 

[bloomsden]

Yes with this paypal recent issues many indians are facing problems including me. They removed personal payment options from the account and reversed the withdrawn amount from the account. This withdrawn delay usually happens every feb. but this time the issue was some what higher...we have to wait untill all issues are solved by them..

 

[ARonald]

The current issue will need a few months to resolve as per the paypal blog

thepaypalblog.com

 

[abdussamad]

This can shake up the internet world for a bit. I wonder how many Indians are screwed for income right now. I personally support the move.

May I ask why?

 

[ARonald]

May I ask why?

I think the poster meant this may temporarily steer away the market share Indian freelancers have and perhaps more projects may fall in American hands. Ones loss is others gain kind of thing .

Having said that the issue did not arise because of the US government rather some licensing issues with the Indian government.

 

[dman_2007]

This can shake up the internet world for a bit. I wonder how many Indians are screwed for income right now. I personally support the move.

Only personal payments have been suspended, payments for services and goods are working. So, i don't think much will change.

Right now i have tried to send payment to a NP member through credit card and chosen option as services, but got below message.

Your card issuer denied this payment. If you have another debit or credit card linked to your PayPal account, please use that. Or take a moment to link a new debit or credit card. Contact your card issuer if you don't know why you were declined.

Anyone else from India facing same problem?

thanks

RBI has made mastercard secure code and verified by visa mandatory for credit card transactions, but paypal doesn't support this yet (Moneybookers does).

 

[abdussamad]

I think the poster meant this may temporarily steer away the market share Indian freelancers have and perhaps more projects may fall in American hands. Ones loss is others gain kind of thing .

Having said that the issue did not arise because of the US government rather some licensing issues with the Indian government.

The poster is a webmaster. Since when do webmasters enjoy paying higher rates to freelancers?

 

[jason_gr]

Right now i have tried to send payment to a NP member through credit card and chosen option as services, but got below message.

Your card issuer denied this payment. If you have another debit or credit card linked to your PayPal account, please use that. Or take a moment to link a new debit or credit card. Contact your card issuer if you don't know why you were declined.

Anyone else from India facing same problem?

thanks

Yes, I've been facing the same issues since the last 5 days or so. I have citibank mastercard. I contacted support several times and they don't seem to have any real idea why this is happening. They keep telling me to wait a few hours and try again...But nothing seems to be working.

Did you get it resolved yet?

 

[ARonald]

Did you try contacting the card company. There could be some payment pending...

 

[jason_gr]

Did you try contacting the card company. There could be some payment pending...

Nope! I actually have a positive balance which means I've overpayed them.

 

[Keral_Patel]

Guys it is about RBI and its policies.

It is about personal payments to and from India.

The best way for them to clear this would be to just allow paypal payments to current accounts in bank. Just stop withdrawals to saving accounts and it is done.

But then I think they have more knowledge then me in this kind of issues. So hoping it will get resolved.