After dealing with PayPal for two months, trying to change the contact information on the account used by our local association (www.hitagroup.org), I suggest the following

PAYPAL COMMANDMENTS

1. If you need a new PayPal account for an organization, such as a non-profit, it will work fine. Just don't tell them it's for an organization. You will make more trouble for yourself and the other people in the future. First, PayPal will require proof of your connection to the organization, such as your name on a bank statement, and a statement about what kind of business you do. Also, you'll need proof that you're a non-profit, if applicable.
2. If you do this anyway, and your organization's contact person changes, they will ask for evidence to support the name change. Don't bother. You will create much less work for yourself if you create a new PayPal account.
3. If you don't change the contact person, you will have to get that person on a conference call, or pretend to be that person, before they will speak to you.
4. If you ever have to contact them, the only way that works is a phone call. Email and web site support requests are answered by robots, not human beings.
5. When you have to change the PayPal account for your organization, it's best create a new bank account at the same time. Here's why:
   
   • A particular bank account can only be associated with a single PayPal account. You can't add the old bank account to a new PayPal account.
   • You must first delete the bank account from the old PayPal account and then add it to the new PayPal account.
   • You will then try to close the old PayPal account. Which is now impossible, because you no longer have a bank account associated with the PayPal account?
   • You can transfer the money from the old PayPal account to the new one. But you will pay a transfer fee of about 3%. And you still can't close the account.
6. If you ever give PayPal a bank account number, and there is any kind of problem with it, * PayPal will not accept that bank account again, even for a totally different PayPal account. You will have to call them to resolve the issue.
7. All methods of contacting PayPal are useless, except telephone calls. It doesn't matter whether you send your question or the information they ask for: by email, or by uploading the documentation that they ask for. No human being reads messages sent from customers. **
8. Once when we had called PayPal and gotten one problem solved, they put a restriction on the old account. The reply included an email address for replies. I wrote to the address, but then they said that the email needs to come from the registered address on the account. So I sent another message to PayPal from the correct address. Then they said:

Hello,
We want to help you but we're not able to respond directly to emails sent to this address.
If you have a question about your account, please contact us through our website.

9. We have finally gotten things fixed only by phone call. Those people can help but you have to be patient. It helped me to pretend that I was speaking to slow children.
10. If you call them, it's best to log into PayPal first and follow the instructions about calling them. Otherwise, you will be unable to speak to a human being. You will need at least two pieces of information. First, they will probably ask you for the last four digits of the bank account number. Second, they will ask you for a 6-digit PIN, that will be generated if you visit the correct screen at the PayPal site.

UPDATE:  Here's someone else who had a problem with PayPal.

Steven Marzuola
April 25, 2009