Hey, I'm 14 years old and I owe PayPal 40 GBP. I made a PayPal account and started selling this android app for £1 each. I started making like £2 a day. I also sold a 12 month Xbox live gold membership for £30.00 The person that bought it just made chargeback and PayPal also charged me an extra £5. Now I'm on -35 GBP I also owe eBay £6.30 I'm really scared, what can I do? They have my address because I ordered game about a month ago. But I just changed my home address on PayPal to a random (real) address. How can I get my PayPal balance back to positive? Can they take any legal action since I'm 14? Please help me, I do not want my parents finding out Thanks!! I'm so scared
You're 14 so you shouldn't even have a Paypal account, they will probably come round and smack your bottom and stop your pocket money until you've paid it off.
Don't panic. You shouldn't be disheartened by this situation as it is only a learning curve. At age 14, you're already learning about entrepreneurship and supply and demand which will help you understand business a little more. Sorry that the buyer did a chargeback on you after you sold them the Xbox Live Gold Membership but it's important to remember this shouldn't impact you negatively as it is best to learn that some people have different intentions and this was pre-planned in advance as it wasn't tangible goods (Physical item) and he probably knew what he/she was doing when they purchased the Live Membership. Next time, it will cost a few more pennies but if you do sell something as such, either send them a printout code through the Post Office and get it tracked so they can't turn around and say they didn't receive it and when they make the dispute with Paypal, you can show them that you sent it with the tracking number which would make you have a very strong case towards them. Second of all, Paypal/eBay won't collect with baliffs on such a small amount because it's going to cost them a lot more to have a baliff sent out to you. The most they will do is after the next billing date (Roughly 30 days or a select date of the month) they will just limit your Paypal Account until you can pay the balance off to have it back to normal. I've been in the same situation as you and a fun fact was it was at 14 years old as well and they just limited my account so I'm speaking to you from experience. Now you might be thinking, okay that's a relief but how do I pay the money back now? Fiverr.com, it is definitely the quickest way for someone such as yourself to make that amount back and even profit off it later on. Just find a gig (Job) which you can do (Literally there are thousands) and post up your Fiverr gigs and wait for people to purchase. You just need 2 gigs to pay off your negative balance. This should put you in the right frame of mind to carry on exploring and learning about E-Commerce and Internet Marketing. Don't stress on it and don't worry, everything will be okay and see this as a great experience on how to push forward in adversity. If you need anymore help, feel free to let me know or post back here. - CuriousMinds
You've just had a good lesson about why most countries don't allow minors (under 18 usually) to enter into contracts without adult supervision. Chargebacks happen all the time and the scam that got you caught is commonplace. Rather than drip feed PayPal I'd be talking to a parent or sibling about getting the loan and finding real world ways to pay it back. The real risk with a company like PayPal, if they twig that you've lied to them when you signed up, is that they'll do something that hurts your future ability to get finance. Not a big deal at 14 but one day you might want to buy a car, buy a house. Vodafone did a credit check on me the other day when I changed my mobile phone plan, imagine being stuck on prepaid because you couldn't even get an account for your phone? You don't want your grown-up self to be punished for something you did as a kid.
Somehow I remember there is similar thread like this in this forum but I couldn't find it any longer.
There are plenty of threads like this Many start with "a friend comes from a country that doesn't have PayPal so I bought X and he paid me but then he charged back, how can I defraud PayPal because I'm a doofus and thought someone was a friend when they weren't."
I know there are many thread like this but I was specifically referring to another thread created by the same person about the same topic. I have used the search function in this forum but unable to find it. After checking my email, I found the link. It is available here: https://forums.digitalpoint.com/threads/negative-paypal-balance-help.2788226/ As far as I could remember, @dscurlock also commented on that thread. Another forum? I couldn't find it anywhere.
They will ultimately end up seizing your house and you and your poor parents will be homeless........there feel better now?
Better tell your parents now. Imagine what will happen when they will raid your house? You have done some illegal activity. Your parents will get to know about this what you have done. But to do more damage control tell your parents earlier. Else you never know what will happen to all of you.
I love how you people scare this poor kid into thinking he's going to jail for pocket money. Kid you have 2 choices. 1. Tell mom and dad, get your butt beat. Live and learn. 2. Figure out how to make the cash back to pay it back. I recommend number 2. Figure it out. It will make you a better entrepreneur down the road and a better person. And don't panic about it. Call PayPal and explain the situation to them. They won't waste thousands of dollars (GBP) to chase you for a few bucks.
No,..they wont bother for just 40£,. Just curios about selling your app,..its your own app or you sell someone else, and where did you sell it for only $1..?
this got a slight chuckle out of me.. also op this is peanut money, you'll be fine op call paypal and explain the situation.