PayPal 180 day hold on $23K - any way to speed this up?

I'm losing my mind here. Been running a shopify store for 8 months, things finally started taking off in October. Did about $23K in sales over 3 weeks which was way up from my usual $2-3K/month.

Yesterday PayPal slaps me with a "reserve" and says they're holding all funds for 180 days due to "elevated risk." No chargebacks, no disputes, customers are happy. I have suppliers to pay and this is going to wreck my business.

Is there ANY way to get this released early? I've called support 3 times and they just read from a script.

been there. same exact situation 2 years ago when my store popped off. they held $31K for the full 180 days despite my begging, documentation, everything

the scaling is what triggers it. their algorithm sees sudden volume increase = risk. doesn't matter if its legit sales

only thing that sometimes works is CFPB complaint. file one today. paypal HAS to respond and sometimes their executive team will negotiate a partial release or rolling reserve instead

Few things that helped me get a partial release:

1. Gather EVERYTHING - invoices from suppliers, tracking numbers for all shipments, screenshots of positive reviews, your business license, bank statements showing the business is real

2. File CFPB complaint with all that documentation attached

3. Also try emailing executive escalations directly (google for the email, I think its something like executiveoffice@paypal.com)

4. If you're in a state with strong consumer protection (CA, NY, etc) mention that you're considering small claims

Took me 6 weeks but they released 60% and put the rest on a 90-day rolling reserve. Still sucked but better than 180 days on everything

honestly just switch to Stripe going forward. I know I know, Stripe can do the same thing, but in my experience theyre way less trigger happy with holds

the irony of people fleeing PayPal for Stripe and then Stripe doing the same thing to them is not lost on me btw lol

The real lesson here is never rely on one processor. I run everything through Stripe AND have a backup merchant account through a traditional processor. PayPal is checkout option only for customers who insist

Also for future - if you know you're about to scale, call them FIRST and let them know. sometimes prevents the auto-flag

Update for anyone who finds this later - filed CFPB complaint like you all suggested. Got a call from PayPal's "Office of Executive Escalations" about 2 weeks later.

After sending them like 50 pages of documentation they agreed to release $15K immediately and put the remaining $8K on a 60-day hold instead of 180. Not ideal but I can at least pay my suppliers now.

Already set up Stripe as primary. lesson learned the hard way. thanks everyone

Found this thread while searching for answers to my own PayPal nightmare. Similar situation - I sell handmade jewelry and had a viral TikTok moment in early December. Went from $800/month to $12K in two weeks.

They didn't do a full 180-day hold but put 30% of every transaction into reserve. Still hurts when you need to buy materials. Going to try the CFPB route you mentioned.

Quick question - did anyone have luck getting the reserve percentage reduced? Or is it all-or-nothing with PayPal?

@newbie_etsy_seller - yes you can sometimes negotiate the percentage down. In my experience they're more flexible on rolling reserves than full holds. Key is demonstrating low chargeback rate and consistent fulfillment.

Document everything: shipping confirmations, delivery confirmations, customer communications. If you have 60+ days of clean transaction history with the higher volume, that helps your case a lot.

Also pro tip - if you're selling handmade stuff, emphasize that in your CFPB complaint. Handmade = lower fraud risk in their eyes vs dropshipping.

Adding my data point here for anyone researching this. $47K held since October, filed CFPB in November, got the executive escalation call in December.

They offered to release 50% after reviewing my docs but here's the catch - they wanted me to sign something waiving future claims. I refused and they still released the 50% anyway after I pushed back. Don't sign anything you're not comfortable with.

The remaining amount is on a 90-day rolling release now. Whole process took about 7 weeks from CFPB filing to resolution. Definitely worth filing even if it feels pointless.

Final update from me - got the last $8K released this week, about a month early. Think having zero chargebacks during the hold period helped.

For anyone dealing with this now: the CFPB complaint really does work. PayPal's regular support is useless but their executive team actually has the power to do something. Document everything obsessively and be persistent.

Running 100% through Stripe now with a backup traditional merchant account. Never again putting all eggs in one basket. Good luck to everyone still fighting this.

Reading through this thread - the CFPB route really is the best leverage for PayPal holds. I work in payments and PayPal takes CFPB complaints very seriously because regulators watch their complaint rate closely.

One thing I'll add: use the PayPal fee calculator when you're comparing to other processors. The fees are usually similar, but the hold policies vary wildly. Stripe and traditional merchant accounts are much less likely to do these blanket 180-day holds.