PayPal introduces penalty for inactive customers - it's easy to bypass
Created: 2022-12-01Updated: 2022-12-01 12:17 p.m
By: Jasmine Farah
The online payment service wants to put an end to "dead" customers: Anyone who has not used their account for a long time must pay a fine of ten euros.
They are simply debited.
Register for free, create an account and shop: For many people worldwide who shop online, PayPal has become indispensable.
After all, the online payment service is so practical: instead of having to laboriously look for the debit or credit card and type in the numbers, you can shop online quickly and easily with just a few clicks.
PayPal deducts ten euros from the balance of inactive users
While transactions have long been free for private customers, this is different for retailers who use the payment platform.
You have to pay fees.
Apparently, this will also soon threaten buyers who do not use their account.
Accordingly, the British daily newspaper
Evening Standard
reports that from December 16 buyers and sellers alike will have to pay a fine of ten euros.
PayPal's penalty fee can be avoided with a one-time login.
© Thea Jaeger/Imago
The account is classified as inactive if the user has not logged in or sent, received or withdrawn any money in the past 12 months.
The fine is then paid once a year.
PayPal has updated its terms of use for this.
But: According to the online payment service, only the user's existing credit will be charged.
In concrete terms, this means that if you do not have a credit balance in your PayPal account, you do not have to pay a fine.
If, on the other hand, you have a little less than ten euros in your account, the remaining amount will be confiscated.
Ultimately, this means buyers only have to log into their accounts once a year to avoid the fee.
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PayPal wants to invest more in active users
According to a company spokesman, the reason for the fine is as follows: PayPal wants to reward active buyers more.
"Paypal is growing more and more and wants to continue investing in opportunities for active buyers and sellers worldwide." Nevertheless: Inactive users receive a message several times - 60, 30 and seven days before the deadline.
Once Paypal has collected the fee and the account is not used for 60 days, the online payment service will close it.
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However, the fine will not be implemented in Germany or in many other European countries.
The website concludes: “Private accounts registered in Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Hungary or Poland are exempt from the inactivity fee for 2022.”
