[PopAlongKid]

>Their broken website refuses to let me add a bank account for withdrawal,

It would be interesting to find out more about this. Somehow I thought you had to have some other account (checking, credit card) linked to your Paypal balance to even get started.

If you had it to do over, would you have tried some other way to get access to the money (such as transferring it to a friend's account, or using to to pay for something, etc)? This question is just a practical one; I agree that after paying $1.50 for an advertised service, your result should have been better.

[paypal_woes]

I had only had credit cards linked to PayPal before, never a checking account. There is no option to transfer the balance to a credit card. When I tried adding a checking account it insisted I provide a mobile number, which I did, and it refused to accept, telling me to just "try a different number," lol. This is an actual cell phone number from a US carrier (Mint Mobile).

Yes, in retrospect I should have sent the money to a friend and asked for a Zelle payment in return.

[effingwewt]

What a lot of companies (pp included) don't tell you is that when they use a phone as verification many only allow them from the Big 4. Tmobile Verizon ATT Sprint.

Verification will fail not only with VOIP numbers but prepaid plans including Metro.