Thanks to Kenny “Wirecutter” Lane, I have just become aware of utterly unacceptable changes to PayPal’s Acceptable Use terms:
You may not use the PayPal service for activities that:
1. violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation.
2. relate to transactions involving (a) narcotics, steroids, certain controlled substances or other products that present a risk to consumer safety, (b) drug paraphernalia, (c) cigarettes, (d) items that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity, (e) stolen goods including digital and virtual goods, (f) the promotion of hate, violence, racial or other forms of intolerance that is discriminatory or the financial exploitation of a crime, (g) items that are considered obscene, (h) items that infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity or privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction, (i) certain sexually oriented materials or services, (j) ammunition, firearms, or certain firearm parts or accessories, or (k) certain weapons or knives regulated under applicable law.
3. relate to transactions that (a) show the personal information of third parties in violation of applicable law, (b) support pyramid or ponzi schemes, matrix programs, other “get rich quick” schemes or certain multi-level marketing programs, (c) are associated with purchases of annuities or lottery contracts, layaway systems, off-shore banking or transactions to finance or refinance debts funded by a credit card, (d) are for the sale of certain items before the seller has control or possession of the item, (e) are by payment processors to collect payments on behalf of merchants, (f) are associated with the sale of traveler’s checks or money orders, (g) involve currency exchanges or check cashing businesses, (h) involve certain credit repair, debt settlement services, credit transactions or insurance activities, or (i) involve offering or receiving payments for the purpose of bribery or corruption.
4. involve the sales of products or services identified by government agencies to have a high likelihood of being fraudulent.
5. involve the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable, (b) depict or appear to depict nudity, sexual or other intimate activities, (c) depict or promote illegal drug use, (d) depict or promote violence, criminal activity, cruelty, or self-harm (e) depict, promote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) (f) present a risk to user safety or wellbeing, (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation, or are unlawful, (h) infringe the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of any party, or (i) are otherwise unfit for publication.
6. relate to transactions involving any activity that requires pre-approval without having obtained said approval.
I added the emphasis, of course. Therefore, I am:
- Removing the PayPal buttons from this site;
- Terminating my PayPal account;
- Looking into alternate arrangements for accepting payment for my novels.
If I can’t find an acceptable payment processor for my books, I suppose I’ll just have to give them away. Concerning donations to Liberty’s Torch, no Gentle Reader should trouble himself. The site costs me very little to maintain, so keep the money, have a drink, and think of me.
Thank you for your attention.
4 comments
1 ping
Skip to comment form
Dan Bongino has an alternative economy site.
You are on Gab, try their payment service.
Paypal has been hostile to people like us since 2003, when they first introduced their no-firearm sales policies. Dealers who were using them at the time for rifle sales had their accounts closed with no warning, and had their funds frozen.
https://www.paralleleconomy.com/
As Jim Rock said, Dan Bongino has been putting together a lot of infrastructure for freedom-minded folks.
Thanks for the heads up.
Paypal account deleted.
[…] The PayPal version of a Kinsley gaffe, about which I posted Friday, has angered users widely. Apparently, the backlash has been voluminous – too great for PayPal’s […]