[geeks] PayPal alternative offering $25 free cash

[Nadine Miller]

Shannon Hendrix wrote:
> On May 14, 2008, at 21:34 , Rick Hamell wrote:
> 
>> Shannon Hendrix wrote:
>>> On May 14, 2008, at 20:52 , Rick Hamell wrote:
>>>> Also, what's REALLY annoying, is that if you put in the auction any 
>>>> where that you accept Paypal, you MUST also accept credit card 
>>>> transactions via Paypal. Which in turn means an upgrade to a Paypal 
>>>> business account, with the corresponding fees.
>>> Are you sure about that?
>>> My listings say I accept Paypal, and I have never accepted credit 
>>> transactions.
>>> I think what you are suggesting is highly illegal.
>>
>> 100% sure. I had two auctions at the same time that went into EBay 
>> dispute for this reason. I ended up pretty much losing the disputes, 
>> so the bidders didn't have to pay for the auction, AND I still got 
>> dinged for eBay fees on those two auctions.
> 
> You should have disputed the charges, and yes, you can do that even if 
> it is a checking account if your bank is worth a damn.
> 
> I just created a fake listing and it does say credit cards now.
> 
> It didn't a month ago.  In fact, the whole website has changed since I 
> last listed something.
> 
> That's interesting, because Paypal doesn't require you to accept credit 
> card payments, and in fact, you are not allowed to unless you meet 
> certain criteria.
> 
> How can they enforce something you aren't able to do or which is even 
> against their own rules?
> 
> Very interesting.  In the last 4 weeks or so I've just not had much time 
> for eBay, and this is the first time I've seen the new listing pages.
> 
> Did you notice that by default they don't show any other payment 
> options?  You have to pick "show all options" to see that.
> 
> Like someone else said, I say this is ripe for a lawsuit.

eBay is undergoing huge changes this month.  Sellers will no longer be 
able to leave feedback for buyers.  Listing fees went down, but FVF went 
up.  Anyone with 0 up to some threshold (don't remember the number) 
*MUST* accept Paypal as a form of payment (in AU and iirc, UK, *ALL* 
sellers must accept Paypal), etc., etc.

A lot of big sellers are going elsewhere.  There was a big boycott going 
on, but eBay has been using accounts that have never bid and auctions 
that are ended early for non-purchase oriented reasons (listing errors, 
etc) to keep the listing statistics inflated (they used to exclude these).

They are basically killing the very reason it became successful 
--non-business sellers posting auctions.

Some of the alternative sites are growing pretty rapidly, but for folks 
who need to get rid of things quickly, eBay is still the place to go for 
a sure sale.

=Nadine=