Braintree was acquired years before you started using them, so the PayPal-interference angle doesn't really play. The only thing surprising is that you're in the business of facilitating event ticket sales and weren't expecting and prepared for this. Pre-selling anything is very high risk for the underwriting bank, especially events: if the event is poorly planned or doesn't get put on, and the organizers have spent the money or disappeared, they can end up on the hook for hundreds to thousands of chargebacks. One failed event can take down a small payment processor, as their chargeback ratio will be decimated. It's pretty much guaranteed to take you out if you're letting them sell through you. The fact that you had other customers with events that went successfully in the past doesn't reduce the risk for the next guy's event. This situation was inevitable, and that will be the case no matter what processor you work with, as they're virtually all underwritten by the same dozen or fewer banks in the end... often the same two banks that underwrite PayPal's card processing. My advice: unless you can get to Eventbrite scale, vet event organizers well, and limit the size of events you sell tickets for, don't be an intermediary for event ticket sales. Make them bring their own payment accounts for any event where 100% of sales getting charged back would be more than 1% of your monthly volume.