FA+
Shop
My PayPal is back + tips to avoid the PayPal witch hunt
4 months ago
A few days ago I woke up to the notification saying that my PayPal ban had been upheld, which was quite a rude awakening. I ended up calling them again to see what was the grounds for my banning, given that I've never given them public information linking my PayPal and my art sites, and I had provided them all the information they had asked for (at least the stuff they were at liberty to know). They had previously asked for examples of my commission work, and I had kindly provided them some old background work I had done, minus any giant jiggly jugs, because I am indeed a background artist :) but despite that, it was looking like I was shit out of luck.
The employee I spoke with filed an appeal for me, making note that I had provided all the information they had asked for, including the examples of my commission work, so that their back office wouldn't miss it this time, and lo and behold 4 hours later my appeal was granted and my PayPal restored. I'm happy about this outcome for obvious reasons, but the fact that a part of my livelihood was a click away from being terminated permanently was particularly unsettling... but hopefully this PayPal witch hunt is over for good.
For artists that use PayPal, be warned - this can and will happen to you. I'll go ahead and make a list of things to avoid, in hopes other artists can dodge the PayPal Eye of Sauron.
#1 AVOID CONNECTING YOUR ART SITES AND PAYPAL. Your PayPal business name should not be listed on your art sites, and you should never include links to said sites in your PayPal and invoice info. If they Google your name and see it's you, you're probably toast. You should also never publicly list any emails associated with your PayPal account on any of your art sites.
#2 ALWAYS SEND INVOICES TO ART CLIENTS. If you don't, that opens up the possibility for your client to accidentally write in details about the commission you're doing. If they see you're drawing a "tall MILF mommy with mega milky jugs", you're probably donezo.
#3 NEVER GIVE PAYPAL THE ENTIRE STORY. Answer their questions sufficiently, but don't give them any links to your sites, or any examples of your NSFW work. They don't need to know you're making NSFW art, and if you tell them you are, well, you just painted a crosshair on your forehead. Always maintain that you're a SFW artist that abides by their terms at all times.
I got through this by the skin of my teeth, but given how shitty companies are getting about NSFW, I can only see this getting worse as time goes on, so be careful and be discreet. Hope this helps!
The employee I spoke with filed an appeal for me, making note that I had provided all the information they had asked for, including the examples of my commission work, so that their back office wouldn't miss it this time, and lo and behold 4 hours later my appeal was granted and my PayPal restored. I'm happy about this outcome for obvious reasons, but the fact that a part of my livelihood was a click away from being terminated permanently was particularly unsettling... but hopefully this PayPal witch hunt is over for good.
For artists that use PayPal, be warned - this can and will happen to you. I'll go ahead and make a list of things to avoid, in hopes other artists can dodge the PayPal Eye of Sauron.
#1 AVOID CONNECTING YOUR ART SITES AND PAYPAL. Your PayPal business name should not be listed on your art sites, and you should never include links to said sites in your PayPal and invoice info. If they Google your name and see it's you, you're probably toast. You should also never publicly list any emails associated with your PayPal account on any of your art sites.
#2 ALWAYS SEND INVOICES TO ART CLIENTS. If you don't, that opens up the possibility for your client to accidentally write in details about the commission you're doing. If they see you're drawing a "tall MILF mommy with mega milky jugs", you're probably donezo.
#3 NEVER GIVE PAYPAL THE ENTIRE STORY. Answer their questions sufficiently, but don't give them any links to your sites, or any examples of your NSFW work. They don't need to know you're making NSFW art, and if you tell them you are, well, you just painted a crosshair on your forehead. Always maintain that you're a SFW artist that abides by their terms at all times.
I got through this by the skin of my teeth, but given how shitty companies are getting about NSFW, I can only see this getting worse as time goes on, so be careful and be discreet. Hope this helps!
VISA and Mastercard are the main culprits in this regard, which is why we need competition. Guarantee they will lose at least a notable chunk of their revenue if something with better security and less scrutinized shit came along.