Markus Persson, the creator of the popular sandbox game Minecraft (http://www.minecraft.net) has had over 600,000 Euro in funds frozen by Paypal on the basis of "supsicious withdrawl or deposit".

Mr. Persson's product is NOT FRAUD in any way! Myself and countless others have supported Mr. Persson in his endeavors by purchasing his product through Paypal (please see the web community http://www.minecraftforum.net). The freezing of his funds is an atrocity. Mr. Persson is an independant game programmer and provides a legitimate product and unparalleled support for the folks who have purchased his game.

An excerpt from his blog:

“And.. Paypal. On the 25’th, they limited my account for unspecified reasons (a suspicious withdrawal or deposit! wow, thank you for that amazingly detailed information), and asked me for a bunch of vague documents. I did my best to give them what they asked for.

"My account is still limited. I’ve called them three times, they keep telling me it’s being reviewed. Most recently they told me it’d take up to two more weeks for it to get resolved, and that if they decide something bad’s being going on, they’re going to keep the money.

"There’s over 600000 euro in there. Money I was planning on investing in the new company.”

There is an entire community of people who support Mr. Persson and his work, including notable gaming companies like Valve Software. Please help us support him by petitioning Paypal to unlock his funds. Please repost this in your community blogs so we can get the word out and help an independent developer succeed!!!

I wonder if it's because Persson's using a pre-order system instead of donations?

If so, that would be a stupid reason for Paypal to block his funds.

I see this on google news: http://www.devicemag.com/2010/09/10/paypal-holding-over-600000-euros-from-minecraft-developer/

It's the reason I've avoided PayPal whenever possible. They literally have the right to screw you for no reason at all. Spend 10 minutes on the internet and you'll see stories that will scare the bejeezus out of you.

When they freeze assets for "suspicious" activity. They keep the money and don't give it back, forcing you to spend thousands in legal fees. There was a class action suit over it a few years ago, they lost, but all it did was force them to make a more blatant signing away of your rights when you open an account.

http://paypalsucks.com/

Edit: At worst, if you use PayPal, always clear your balance into your bank account.

If you read around on the internet, suspicious activity can be something as simple as "Received a large deposit." Its probably suspicious to them because he has 600,000 euros in the account (possibly accumulated over a short time period) and nothing more. The best advice I've heard with regards to PayPal is to limit it to a small, secondary bank account and regularly move funds out to your main account. Move any funds necessary for payment in as needed. This is the method that I use.

Remember, PayPal is not a bank, and they are not regulated as a bank. They can screw you over and you will have limited, or no, recourse. Don't trust them more than you absolutely need to, and don't keep money in a PayPal account long-term that you can't afford to lose.

Happens often if you receive a large number of small deposits, and you haven't provided proper creditentials

Quote: Original post by Rycross
Remember, PayPal is not a bank, and they are not regulated as a bank. They can screw you over and you will have limited, or no, recourse. Don't trust them more than you absolutely need to, and don't keep money in a PayPal account long-term that you can't afford to lose.

I wonder if they'll ever turn to more regulation for them.

This is actually getting some good coverage in the indie gaming blogs. He actually did clear transfer money out of his PayPal account regularly. People are claiming that the > 600000 EUR was accumulated since his account was locked, plus one or so week.

I guess he got featured on some popular YouTube channel, plus the TF2 blog so his sales probably spiked, at which point his account was locked and the money continued to accumulate.

Sucky situation for him, but I'm still jealous of the amount of money he's generated off a self-developed game. I'm so lazy in comparison.

The irony here for me is that when I bought Minecraft, I thought to myself, gee, he's using Paypal, that company I've heard so many horror stories about on the intertubes, involving indefinitely locked accounts.

And then they lock his account.

Quote: Original post by Rycross
This is actually getting some good coverage in the indie gaming blogs. He actually did clear transfer money out of his PayPal account regularly. People are claiming that the > 600000 EUR was accumulated since his account was locked, plus one or so week.

600k euro in one week? If that's accurate that's awesome, but sounds far-fetched.

heh, everyone bought that game (including me a while back).