I don't know why, in 2013, people are surprised when they use PayPal and wind up without access to the money for months or years. Paypal apologists will say that this is relatively rare. Even if that is true, since the criteria they use to take these actions are often beyond the control of merchants, using PayPal is an unacceptable risk for any business that doesn't have at least 6 months of working capital.
Always avoid PayPal if you need access to the money. Even if you feel that your business falls squarely within PayPal's AUP, always have a backup implementation with an alternative payment provider coded and ready to go (I recommend using Stripe and skipping PayPal altogether). You don't want to lose new sales on top of the money PayPal decides to hold indefinitely.
Always avoid PayPal if you need access to the money. Even if you feel that your business falls squarely within PayPal's AUP, always have a backup implementation with an alternative payment provider coded and ready to go (I recommend using Stripe and skipping PayPal altogether). You don't want to lose new sales on top of the money PayPal decides to hold indefinitely.