Greetings!
I’m in a bit of a situation guys. I have to send $200 to someone in Israel for work they did for me. The problem is that Paypal have blocked the transaction saying I cannot send money to Israel. They are holding the $200 pending a review and that I will be contacted about it.
It is essential I get this money sent because I owe it!
Has anyone had any problems sending money to a Paypal account in Israel from the UK?
PayPal has become a bit infamous for things like this. It usually gets cleared up in a week or so (though I’ve heard stories of it taking over a month).
My best suggestion is to just explain it to the person, and show them screenshots of the messages from PayPal to prove you’re not just jerking them around. Keep them informed every step of the way.
Hi Thanks for the advice. Yes I will inform the person and I do have a Screenshot of the message. I have the email also sent to me from Paypal. I’m currently on the phone with Paypal, in a queue, so hopefully this can be sorted out.
Don’t remember I had such a problem with guys which transferred me money from UK or any others countries. If you send me documents I can ask Pay Pal from my side. Also I sent you Payment Request for the sum.
Hi! Yes I will forward you the emails. I received the payment request so pending what Paypal say I will send the payment!
Apologies!
Just to offer some reassurances here, PayPal does do this, though it seems to be random. Sometimes payments will go through fine, other times, they’ll hold a payment for seemingly no reason.
I had an issue with PayPal once, though it was a slightly different situation (while purchasing my domain). You may remember my short comic on the incident…
Actually I am not too worried about that. This work was pretty nice optimized for mobile platform man and woman base models. So even in bad case I will find great usage for it. 
There will be no bad case, mr_Necturus! I promise!
And yes, looking at the work, guys, it is so professionally done, optimized, topology is perfect, it’s worth more than the $200 asked for. I will not see you go without the money you rightfully are owed and deserve.
I need a bit more time though. I am dealing with a lot of idiots at Paypal. In fact Paypal as a financial Institution are complete idiots and I doubt anybody would shed a tear if they disappeared off the face of the earth.
Sure. Don’t worry Amon. It usually takes pretty much time when “bad case” comes. So you have time to deal with Pay Pal. 
And thank you for kind words about my work!
I am thankful to you for your patience!
You might consider using Bitcoin as means for payment. PayPal is really annoying sometimes.
There’s a few things with Bitcoins you need to be aware of: First of all, the conversion rate varies, so by the time the money arrives, it could be worth a little more (most likely) or a little less (less likely but could happen).
Here’s current charts … and you can look quite a bit into the past, too: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/
If you negotiate the price in Bitcoins you should be fine on both sides. Also, you obviously have to convert whatever currency you’re using to Bitcoins and when receiving the Bitcoins you’ll have to convert into your local currency … unless you need things you can buy with Bitcoins (the Bitcoin economy is growing and there’s even a few restaurants where you could pay with Bitcoins … but … even if it is growing, it’s still very small). One fairly safe way to convert from / to Bitcoins is via
https://mtgox.com (you should check if they support accounts in both your countries)
Finally, you store Bitcoins on your computer - so make sure to have it safe (or avoid keeping large amounts of Bitcoins on your machine). I haven’t heard of anyone being hacked for a few Bitcoins - but in the past there were a couple of attacks where a lot of Bitcoins were stolen. It’s kind of like cash in that respect: If you have EUR 100.000,00 under your bed and someone breaks into your home and looks under your bed, the money will be gone.
But do I believe Bitcoin is the money of the future … especially when companies like PayPal keep on giving a lot of people trouble. When enough people use Bitcoins, the conversion issue eventually will be no issue anymore (sell art assets for Bitcoins, buy programmer-time with Bitcoins … or the other way round, whatever your talents and needs are ).
Thank you Jashan.
It is interesting. I will take time an learn about it.
How does storing bitcoins on your computer work? Surely if someone manages to crack their data format that means they end up with potentially unlimited bitcoins…
And flood the market. Still, hasn’t happened yet.
PayPal does this all the time. Transactions will go under random review every now and again. Call them and they’ll clear it within 24 hours. If you don’t call them it normally clears within 48 hours and at most a week. Very very very rarely does it take longer then that. It’s done sort of like a “quality control” and fraud protection; for example you probably have no record of payments to Isreal or anywhere near it at any point in time so it looks suspicious. They do this to protect you. Your bank would do the same thing.
Yeah Nec you have nothing to worry about, Amon is probably one of the most competent and easiest guy ive ever had the delight to work with. Paypal are funny, they always mess me around, reviewing income and such. it can be due to incorrect details. for example if you have changed address and not told PayPal.
Either way, hope it gets sorted out.
So it is like just a problem waiting to happen?
Can be switched and it probably won’t happen for a long time.
Thank you for recommendation Charlie. I am sure it will sorted out.
No, it’s actually the problem that Bitcoin solved. That’s why Bitcoins are awesome. It’s explained pretty well in the FAQs on http://bitcoin.org - direct link https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ … TL;DR: Usually, you need a central authority to prevent double-spending. Bitcoin is designed in a way that prevents double-spending without such an authority. The “price” you have to pay for that is that Bitcoin transactions may take several minutes to actually “get through” (with a central authority, you could have instant payments).
There are potential attacks - like: If someone hacks into your computer they can steal your private keys and spend your Bitcoins (just like when you have cash under your bed and someone breaks into your house and takes that cash away from you). That did happen in the past, so as mentioned in the previous posting, I’d definitely not store a million dollars in Bitcoins on my computer without being super-paranoid (and careful).