Fasttech - Paypal Suspension For Vape!

I've just received a notice that Paypal is changing its terms and conditions, and buried deep inside the changes I found this.
PayPal said:
The Acceptable Use Policy currently prohibits use of PayPal for activities that violate applicable law or industry regulations regarding the sale of tobacco products or prescription drugs and devices. We're replacing that prohibition with new policy language covering these types of items, as well as e-cigarettes. Under the new language, use of PayPal for cigarette transactions will be prohibited. In addition, merchants will be permitted to use PayPal for sales of non-cigarette tobacco products, e-cigarettes, and prescription drugs and devices only with PayPal’s pre-approval.

...


The relevant parts of the chart under Activities Requiring Approval will be revised to read as follows: “PayPal requires pre-approval to accept payments for certain services as detailed in the chart below. [TABLE="width: 552"]
[TR]
[TD] Service Requiring Pre-Approval​
[/TD]
[TD] Contact Information​
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD] … selling … non-cigarette tobacco products, e-cigarettes or prescription drugs/devices.[/TD]
[TD] Please send contact information, business website URL and brief business summary to aup@paypal.com[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Click to expand...

Let's hope that this doesn't involve you telling them and them freezing your account while they sit on your application for months. But it seems like they might at least be warming to the idea that e-cigs are not the root of all evil.  

Got this email from Sourcemore at 2:01 this morning and thought I'd post it for those who aren't subscribed to their newsletter emails.

"Important Notice About Payment Methods - Sourcemore"​

"You should have heard of the ban of PayPal towards all vape-related payments.
Unfortunately, our PayPal account was just restricted. We are unable to use PayPal to make or accept payment any more. Our balance is frozen for up to 180 days.
We have to remove PayPal from our website.

New payment methods such as Credit Card will be added ASAP.
Please check us back in a few days for further information.
You may also write to us if you want to get the latest update: service@sourcemore.com.
We will make sure to contact you once the new payment methods are online.

If you have any suggestions or questions, please let us know.

Thank you so much for you trust and support all the time.
We believe we will overcome this together!"  

Just last Saturday I placed an order on Health Cabin and was able to pay via PayPal. However, last night I placed another order for items that were out of stock on Saturday. I placed my order, received the email confirmation, and info. that my order was pending payment, which has been usual since probably January. (There had always been instructions given then...about how to sort of "get around" PayPal's vape policy and still pay that way). I went back to HC to pull up my order and pay for it that same way, but found only Western Union as a payment option now. So, I contacted Support at HC. I just got the following email from them about paying for my order.

"Thank you for you big supports to HealthCabin.
Unfortunately, out of PayPal new policy to vaping related websites, we have to remove PayPal from our site now. You can see many vaping sites have removed PayPal about 1-3 months ago.

Now, we are sourcing new payment options and we will put them online in coming 2-3 weeks.

Right now, there are 2 options to process the payment:
1. Pay with Western Union, you can pay online or visit WU banks locally.
Check their website for more info: https://www.westernunion.com/us/en/home.html

2. Pay with deposit. For this option, you may send us money via bank wire transfer. We require minimum $200USD per transaction. Once payment received, we will add them to your account deposit, and you can use them to pay for future orders. We will show all detailed info about your deposit updates and happy to send you a receipt with our company official seal.

Let me know your thoughts, thank you."

I responded and definitely let him/her know my thoughts about it.

So, our options are steadily dwindling even more.  

Well...it looks like US buyers' chances to buy vaping products from Chinese vendors and pay with PP...is likely coming to an end. I was just browsing Heaven Gifts again and the following jumped out at me. They have none of the major CC options listed for payment either. Glad I got in an order earlier last week and it was shipped already.

I now wonder how long before other Chinese vape products vendors will post something similar.

https://www.heavengifts.com/article/Suspension-paypal.html  

Because of items in my cart I can’t use PayPal or use a credit card. How do I make a payment?  

PayPal responds to Internet fury over its new terms of service

PayPal User Agreement: New TOS lets company call and text you anytime | BGR

Well, if I cannot opt out, I will be closing my account. This will interfere with some transactions for me, such as possible classifieds here. I may just close it even if they do let us opt out. When they tried similar Bill Me Later terms of service conditions, I closed my account, and told them why. Just the fact they think they can get away with this, ticks me off to no end.  

And we just went through this with MyFreedomSmokes a couple of months ago.

This morning, I got an alert that someone in Singapore tried to charge $1 on PayPal. Since the MFS hack, I've only used my card at four online stores:

[edited]

If anybody else gets a credit card block, it may be a good idea to share so we can narrow it down. If this is [edited] again, they may as well lock their (virtual) doors  

I'm trying to order some authentic occs because they're really cheap at FastTech. When I put in my address I put in Shorewood, IL. Then when I click next step which is payment, it is saving my address as Shorewood, OH. ***?! I've gone back and changed it multiple times, but it keeps insisting I'm from Ohio lol.  

I very recently had up for auction on eBay a group of my old Kanger products for sale. Imagine my surprise, as I just received a notice from eBay stating they had just cancelled my auction, explaining that my items "violated eBay's policy towards e-cigarettes". I had no idea eBay was so opposed to the sale of vaping products, so I called customer service. The lady explained that, as of March 30th 2015, eBay would begin to systematically remove any and all listings related to e-cigarette commerce, since the position of the Federal Government was still unclear with regards to e-cigarettes.



Yet another witch hunt from ignorant fools.

I told the lady that, while I understood eBay's position in light of the gray areas, and that I certainly was not upset at her personally, I was still extremely disappointed in their decision. I asked that my opinions become part of the record that might find their way up to the powers that be at eBay. I told her that the vaping community is an ever-growing one, and eBay's decision to disallow vaping supplies will have a significant impact on them.

I was neither abusive, nor belligerent, nor profane in my discussion with her. I was polite and calm. And yet, she was in an obviously uncomfortable hurry to get me off the phone, leading me to believe that I had struck a nerve.

I have purchased from eBay Kanthal wire, Japanese cotton, ceramic tweezers, a butane torch, replacement glass tanks, and other various accessories over the past two years. This latest decision by eBay just reinforces my opinion that, despite the fact we are in the 21st century, we continue to live in the Dark Ages.  

I was sort of counting on them for odds and ends once the FDA rules kick in in May, or if there are laws passed between now and then.... but it looks like they will be shut down:
China Effectively Bans Online Sales of E-Cigarettes

China Bans Online Sales of E-Cigarettes

I have several fasttech and several vaporl orders that have not shipped yet too.

EDIT: Although the article does say "“There is no law and regulation in China that forbids the online sale of e-cigarette yet,” said Ou Junbiao, head of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee of China. "

EDIT #2: vaporl does have a US warehouse too though, although oddly enough the shipping is cheaper from Hong Kong.