From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Sun Aug 22 2004 - 23:04:28 PDT
As a frequent buyer and seller on eBay, I find PayPal to be the best
part. I buy too many small things to be sending out MOs and Checks, nor
do I want to receive them either. When I buy from European eBay sites (I
do a LOT of it) I have a ton of hassles and a lot of expenses to get
money over there. Unless, of course, they use PayPal. In that case it
is cheap, fast, and works great. I also have a nice, central record of
all payments in and out, which is a big plus for the kind of stuff I do
with it.
As for avoiding eBay... good luck :-) If you want specialized stuff at
reasonable (if not cheap!) prices, there is no other single place one can
go than eBay. As a militaria collector I've managed to snag stuff for
little money that I haven't been able to track down in the 10 years I've
collected prior to the Internet being around. Just got some stuff from a
guy in Switzerland I haven't ever seen for sale in the US. Without
eBay... I wouldn't have it. And as a seller I get top dollar relatively
easily compared to the old days.
Now, I also know eBay and PayPal are not perfect. I hope I don't get bit
by some of the downsides. I've had only minor problems so far and I am
sure I'd have more if I'd done the same transactions without eBay/PayPal.
However, I will continue to use it as much as possible because I don't
like the alternatives. Having said that, I would hate like Hell to have
PayPal be the sole option. Choice should be left up to the seller and
market forces.
Steve
>Personally, I use PayPal and have had no trouble with them myself, but I
>agree that I don't like having my choices as a seller restricted. But
>since eBay now owns PayPal, it would seem like a lawsuit just waiting to
>happen against eBay if someone was forced to use PayPal and then lost
>their money. Of course, IF the quote was "... if PayPal was made
>mandatory to be used as a payment OPTION", then as a seller, I'd simply
>state in the payment terms of the auction that I either do not accept
>PayPal for this auction, or that IF the buyer insists on using PayPal,
>the buyer agrees to pay an additional $1,000 service fee above the cost
>of the auction (or $10,000, or whatever) in order to cover the
>additional risk and inconvenience to the seller, who greatly prefers
>cash, postal money order, soul of firstborn child, shiny glass beads,
>walrus pelts, or whatever else you wish to trade in, and all auctions
>paid for with PayPal will have shipping delayed up to 6 months to allow
>for payment to be processed..." That way, even if it becomes
>"mandatory" to include it as an OPTION, you can pretty well guarantee
>that no one in their right mind would choose to use it. There's a way
>to passively resist almost anything that eBay can try to force on you,
>if you get creative enough.
>
>JTravis
>
>Patrick Jankowiak wrote:
>
>> I would quit ebay.
>> Paypal leaves the seller no assurance of payment; no recourse.
>>
>> Wayne Harris wrote:
>>
>>> Here is another thing to worry about, I sometime will get a "survey"
>>> from ebay and the last one I got one of the questions was " What
>>> would you do(as a seller) if Paypal was made mandatory to be used as
>>> a payment option" so look for that to be coming in the future. Wayne
>>>
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>
>
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