PayPal's Routine Operation: Internet Celebrity Sells Her Bathwater for $90,000 Then Gets Deducted by PayPal

Adult content creator and model Belle Delphine recently complained about the payment platform PayPal's misuse of its terms to embezzle merchants' income. Belle Delphine chose to use PayPal to handle transactions and earned an income of $90,000, but this money was deducted by PayPal.

In 2019, the creator announced she would sell her bathwater to some of her fans. While buying bathwater seems incomprehensible to most, some fans indeed purchased it

Earlier this month on the X/Twitter platform, Belle Delphine revealed that selling bathwater five years ago earned her $90,000. However, she not only didn't make money but actually lost money.

The reason is that the payment platform PayPal froze the 90,000 income on the grounds that Belle Delphine violated the terms of service (in 2021, it seems that PayPal automatically deducted the money as a fine and took it all away).  In addition, PayPal fined BelleDelphine $2,500 per transaction. Coupled with the shipping cost of delivering bath water, it is inevitable to lose money.

PayPal did not disclose why the account was banned and funds frozen. Belle Delphine complained that PayPal only mentioned a violation of terms but did not specify which, and refused to disclose more information citing security risks. Moreover, PayPal did not refund the buyers, leaving the matter unresolved for 5 years.

On May 6, Belle Delphine shared this news on her X/Twitter and received coverage from the well-known tech media Business Insider. Afterward, it seems PayPal's PR team intervened.

Following the report, PayPal contacted Business Insider to say the company had terminated its policy of fining 2,500 for each violation transaction in 2023. PayPal did not contact Belle Delphine, but the more than2,500foreachviolationtransactionin2023.PayPaldidnotcontactBelleDelphine,butthemorethan90,000 deducted by PayPal has been refunded.

PayPal is currently one of the most widely used third-party payment platforms worldwide. However, due to various policies and frequent issues with frozen funds, more and more merchants are beginning to use platforms like Stripe.