Help Centre - Personal Account
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What should I do if my balance is negative?

Your PayPal account balance could be negative for many reasons, such as:

• We issued a refund on your behalf to cover a dispute / claim from the buyer.
• You received a chargeback and did not have any available balance in your PayPal account.
• A payment that does not qualify for Seller Protection has been reversed.
• An unauthorised payment was made from your PayPal account.

If your account balance is negative, check your recent activity to find out why.

If you think your account shows an amount owing to us because someone used your account, report it immediately in the Resolution Center.

You can resolve your balance that shows an amount owing to us by logging in to your PayPal account and clicking the "Resolve Balance that Shows an Amount Owing to Us" link. You can choose the amount and how to add it, to bring your balance to zero.

If you’re mailing a postal order, cashier’s check, or personal cheque, please include a copy of the balance that shows an amount owing to us email you received and the email address registered to your account so we can apply the credit to the correct account.

We only accept postal orders, cashier’s checks, or personal checks in the following currencies:

  • U.S. Dollars
  • Canadian Dollars
  • Australian Dollars
  • Euros
  • Pounds Sterling

    Here’s how to mail us a cheque, a postal order, or a banker's draft:

    1. Make the cheque or postal order payable to "PayPal"
    2. Write your PayPal email address on the memo line
    3. Send the payment to:

    PayPal Australia Pty
    LtdGPO Box
    351Sydney, NSW 2001

    Accounts paid by a personal cheque must remain in good standing for 30 days before the account can be reviewed.

    While your account balance is negative, any payments you receive in your PayPal account will be applied to the outstanding balance, and any refunds you attempt will be funded by your primary bank.

    If you don't resolve the balance that shows an amount owing to us within 120 days, your account will be locked, and you won’t be able to log in.

    If your PayPal account balance is negative for an extended period of time, we may pass this debt to a collection agency.

    The debt collection agency may contact you on our behalf. They’ll ask you to repay the amount owed, while providing you with a range of payment options. You may also be charged a fee by the debt collection agency. We urge you to work with this agency to resolve the matter.

    More ways we can help

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