After, somehow getting past a stage of discord early this year and now we’re back in the same boat. Now, I’m not sure how we’re at fault by being PayPal account holders but it seems we’re being put through this financial rigmarole time and again. Will someone please realize that there are people who depend on PayPal for every dollar earned?

We are simple people who aren’t cheating anyone, so please spare us. It’s great that we got a day’s warning before we are prevented from withdrawing funds electronically but it really makes no difference. For people like me, who’re always short of money, it’s okay, but what about businesses that depend on daily PayPal payments?

It also appears that Paypal won’t allow Indian account holders to make payments online from money they’ve received for services rendered or goods delivered. Now, I’m sure that too is going to hurt a lot of people.

What do you want us to do? Options:
•    Should we sign a petition?
•    Should we switch to another service provider?
•    Should we be forced to resort to asking for checks?

It’s getting a little tiring now because asking for checks is almost an extinct practice and PayPal users had to resort to it back until 2007. So, now after almost 3 years, we’re back to where we started. It’s almost as though we’re collectively being held responsible for financial discrepancies.

PayPal checks take roughly 2 weeks or more to reach us, and then we deposit them, and it takes another week to be encashed. Some banks don’t support this PayPal check system. Others take extremely long to allow the PayPal check to go through. In addition to this, we’re to pay charges because banks doing us a favor. To add to it, I have no idea if the mailing system works well, and who’s responsible if a PayPal check is misplaced or not honored by a bank.

In response to:

“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”