How to Contact PayPal by Phone

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If you are an online merchant who uses the Paypal payment processor, or even if you are an eBay merchant, there may be times when you want to talk to a Paypal representatives (whether it be billing questions or problems with transactions).

It is always nice to talk to a live person for complex situations since it is much easier explaining things over the phone than by email.  However, Paypal does not readily expose their telephone number and will try to provide support by all other means first (such as email, automated response, FAQ, forums, etc).  This is understandable, since Paypal services so many merchants that if they publicize their phone number, they will get too big of a volume of calls.

Many merchants may not even know that you can talk to a real Paypal support representative.   But yes, you definitely can if you know how.  And when you get through the right channels, their phone support is very good.  If it is something that can wait, it is best to call during business hours as you are more likely to get to the right person then than at 3am in the morning.

Here is how to contact Paypal representative by phone.

1.  First you have to have a Paypal account and log into it.

2. Click the “help” link in the upper-right corner of the page…

3.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page, by-passing the link to the Community Help forums and by-passing Sarah (who is not a real person anyways).

4. Click the link that says “Contact Us” by phone or email.

5.  When you get to this page, click the “Call Us” panel…

6. Write down the 6-digit randomly generated web pin.  You will need it during your phone call.  The pin is good for 60 minutes only.

7. In that panel, it will also display the telephone number to call.

Sidenote: On rare occasions, you have get a page that says their Help Center is unavailable…

Are you trying to do this at 3am in the morning again?   You can try again during business hours or click the “Contact Us” link anyways.

8.  When you place the phone call, a machine will answer.  It will prompt you for your web pin.  After successful entry of the pin, the machine will ask you as to the nature of your questions.  The machine will do voice recognition and try to provide you with an automated answer.  But if you really want to talk to a live person, you have to stump the machine so that it doesn’t understand you and gives up and pass you on to the live person.  Try saying “agent” (sometimes that works).  If not, try mumbling so that the machine doesn’t understand what you are saying.

9. Once you get to a live person, the person will try to determine your problem and solve it if possible.  If not, they will be able to escalate the call and transfer you another support level or another department.   If you get transferred a second, that is okay.  Because the first level support representative only has a limited access to transfer you to certain levels.  The second level support may then have the ability to transfer you further.  Paypal is a big company afterall.     Be nice and speak calmly to your Paypal representative.  That increases your chance of getting to the right person and the help that you need.  Remember that you are talking to a live person now.  Hopeful they can then help you out. Good luck in your navigation through the Paypal system.

Disclaimer: Author of this article is not a Paypal employee and the above is only opinion at the time of writing (January 2011).  Things may have changed and the described may no longer be the case by the time you are reading this.

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