[EvilTrout]

I don't consider myself screwed at all. They held my money until I gave them proper documentation. When you run a business this kind of thing happens all the time. Just paying taxes to the government was way more complicated and intrusive.

Yes they can earn interest on money, but it's much more likely to me that they are covering their asses about the money rather than earning a small amount of interest on it.

Paypal has to deal with a lot of fraud. If you listen to the owners in interviews they say they lost a ridiculous amount of money in the early years to fraudulent users. It is reasonable for them, in my opinion, to make sure the money was owed to you before giving it to you.

[calloc]

In my ING Direct account (savings) I earn 1.1% APY currently, on 600.000 that is 6.600, that is 550 a month. If they freeze your accounts for two months, they have "earned" 1.100.

Now think of the amount of money going through paypal or sitting in paypal accounts, that is a fair chunk of change.