FUNDS NOW - a new PayPal Merchant Feature

Yesterday as I was performing one of my daily tasks of checking my daily email notices in my inbox. I noticed that I received an out of the ordinary email, the sender PayPal.

I normally only receive messages form them when they are doing some sort of announcement that they are making a change to the “PAYPAL USER AGREEMENT” But this email was a little bit different it said something about “Funds Now” and getting my money from daily sales faster.

I thought this was strange because I have my account set so that all funds received are automatically forwarded to my bank account after my account balance hits a ceiling limit. At first I thought maybe it was just a spammer or phishing email, but I looked at the sender and it was indeed from PayPal, so of course curiosity got the best of me, and I investigated.

I went and logged into PayPal in a different browser, I never open any websites in the same browser that I use for my email (just a security thing a hacker buddy of mine taught me to do a long time ago). After logging into my PayPal account, the following pop-up appeared informing of the new “FUND NOW” feature, so the pop-up window confirmed that the email was authentic.

Once I clicked on the “Explore Funds Now” blue button link on the pop-up window, it took me to my actual account activity page but it had the banner below across the top of my account’s activity page.

So again I had to click on the “Explore Funds Now” button link, and it finally took me to the “FUNDS NOW” new feature page. On this new page you will see a new box “HOW FUNDS NOW is working for you” it displays the status of any funds that you may have pending for disputes or charge backs.

I clicked on the “How It Works” tab of the far right side of the main header section, and according to the literature that I read once the new window that appears:

1. “Funds Now” is a new benefit for select sellers.
2. It gives you access to the money from your sales in your PayPal account faster than ever (within seconds).
3. With “Funds Now”, you’ll experience significantly fewer delays in getting access to your money, even if there are ongoing disputes being resolved.

This new benefit is not something that you sign up for PayPal themselves decide if you are entitled to and remain in the benefit program or not. It is for business merchant accounts only, I don’t recall actually signing up for my business account it has been over 15 years ago. I am not sure if you have to distinguish what type of business account I was establishing merchant account or services account.

When clicking on the “Why do I have Funds Now?”, their response is:

“You have happy customers, a good track record with PayPal and we have the info we need to keep your account secure. In other words you’ve got as excellent history with PayPal. Keep up the amazing work.”

They go on to explaining that there might be rare occasions that they may need to hold your funds to protect your PayPal account, the PayPal Community, or to comply with new applicable laws, and in certain cases funds from sells may be delayed.

However, PayPal saying that in the case of a dispute by a customer over funds the funds will be released to you and will not be held back by them. But the funds amount, if the disputed amount is resolved in favor of the customer, will be deducted from your PayPal account balance or result in funds owed to PayPal.

Equally important, that explain that this is a benefit they only will be offering to those that have accounts in good standing , and they reserve the right to revoke these special benefits if:

1. Change in the goods or services you provide as a business.
2. Increased number of customer complaints, returns, claims, or chargebacks.
3. Government or legal regulations such as those relating to anti-money laundering or sanctions
4. Or potential concerns of fraud or unauthorized access to your account.

And what happens if you get dropped for some reason can you rejoin or get the benefits again, to that they answered, “Funds Now is a benefit for select sellers with good standing. If you become eligible for this benefit, PayPal will invite you to enjoy this benefit again.”

And of course since this is an experimental benefit they as notify you that the benefits and the program may be changed periodically as needed to enhance the benefits, or all benefits can be terminated in the event that the benefit program is cancelled in the future.

I am bring this to your attention solely because all this month Jay’s (Magistudios) Live Event Friday night training will be discussing E-Commerce websites, and this may help some of you decide whether to get a business account with PayPal or through some other merchant credit card processing institution.

I am merely mentioning this because it could potentially be a very nice PayPal benefit feature if it is not abused and seen to be beneficial to PayPal’s merchant account holders, I am not a affiliate with PayPal nor am I suggesting you go out and get a PayPal business account as soon as you read this. I am just informing you as to a different alternative that you might consider using nothing else and nothing more.

I myself have been dealing with PayPal for many years now (sinvce 2002), and I have never had any problems with them. However I have heard horrific stories about things and how they have treated non-business account holders and seizing their funds on numerous occasions for what appeared to be simple harassing reasons.

So please do diligent research and pick the right credit card processing platform that is right for you and your business prior to signing up for any of them.