After nearly three years, PayPal in its infinite wisdom has decided to declare our site "obscene" and has terminated the processing account for SexSkits. Citing a violation of their terms of use policy, this action went in effect on Friday March 19, 2010. Unfortunately, several payments from customers are now placed on hold for 180 days, meaning that I cannot access those funds. I did notice that one customer double ordered a SexSkit, and PayPal did allow me to process a refund. I reviewed PayPal's terms, and indeed it lists that adult oriented businesses such as SexSkits are not allowed. This has always been the case. However, years ago I contacted PayPal on my time and on my dime, and inquired as to the nature of the restricted businesses. To my surprise, a PayPal customer service representative told me then that SexSkits did not fall into the category for which I was recently banned. So, for nearly three years, I conducted my business through PayPal with never a chargeback, and only one complaint stemming from a customer not understanding that she had to download the SexSkit once she was redirected after payment.

Now, I have no problem with a company deciding that they want to make a change, but they should give you fair warning that they intend to do so. PayPal effectively shut my business down with no warning, and is holding some of my money to boot. Eventually I will be able to recover these funds, but I'm sure that it will not include 180 days worth of interest. In the meantime, I have spent the last few days researching a different payment processing option. Not wanting to get screwed again, I am finding that many third party processors do not allow any adult oriented businesses. Additionally, setting up a merchant account is very costly, especially for a small operation such as sexSkits.

March 28, 2010 - Now processing with AlertPay

AlertPay is the rising leader in secure online payment solutions that was founded to facilitate safe instant payments between individuals and online businesses.

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