“No less than 48 comments prior to me reading this and not a single positive note with regard to this policy move.” This is what I was thinking after less than 24 hours from the time I read the post that appeared at AustraliaIT.com.news regarding Ebay/Paypal’s announcement that would force all Australian Ebay account holders to use PayPal and no other choice of payment option starting June 17th 2008. Those 48 comments have grown quickly to a much larger number now and continue to grow everyday that passes. The Ebay account closures and boycotts will increase more now than ever. I can only imagine how much worse this will get if Ebay doesn’t wise up!

The first thing everyone needs to understand is that PayPal is owned by Ebay. That is not a candy coated statement, it’s a fact and it’s an important one to realize in order to understand the real motive behind Ebay/PayPal’s madness. Ebay/PayPal has become such an enormous force on the Internet in free trade that it is unreasonable to expect anyone to relate. They are that big. Nor is it reasonable in being a corporation as big as they are to expect users on their site to change in accordance with site policies when those policies change every 4 to 6 months. But whether or not policy makers at Ebay realize it, they have a responsibility to their users no matter what the polices that they implement may say! And no percentage of users should be thought of as expendable which is the impression that is clearly given by all reports. Ebay/PayPal undoubtedly know that an enormous percentage of the users on their site rely on the income they make there to survive. For Mr. Alastair MacGibbon, Ebay’s Trust & Safety Director, to publicly and recklessly state that a “minority” of users will be upset with the changes that are about to be implemented is to say that these people are in fact expendable. But if according to Ebay reports, you’ve got more than 210 million registered users on your site, even at a 1% clip, numbers in digits that pass hundreds of thousands can be considered what I would call one hell of a “minority!” These are peoples lives we’re talking about here, not numbers!

Fee increases are one thing. Taking away a person’s right to chose is completely another. And the last time I checked, Australia was a free country but make no mistake that we are talking about Ebay/PayPal’s idea of implementing this policy to everyone in the World, not just Australia. Australia is an obvious testing ground and just that fact alone says a lot about how they feel about that part of their market. If I lived there I would be completely outraged! The issues of concern are not so critical that the right to chose should be denied. PayPal is NOT the answer for everyone. PayPal is NOT a merchant account. According to NoPayPal.com, by signing to PayPal’s Terms Of Service, you waive your rights to credit card consumer protection laws. I urge everyone to read what NoPayPal.com has obviously spent much time in researching and find out for yourself. It is an eye opener!

Ebay/PayPal sees it’s customers as it’s buyers and disregards the important issues of it’s sellers for which the site would not be what it is without. There would be no Ebay without quality products and the people that back them. When Ebay/PayPal talk about why they make policy changes on topics such as this, you will always find the trend to be that the “Buyer is always right” even when they’re not. And while it is true that the buying customer is important and something that anyone would agree with, the idea goes overboard when it comes to agreeing with the buyer to the point of taking away a seller’s rights, those of which are even clearly stated in Ebay policy to begin with! And with that said, we come to the first real truth for the policy change at hand. Case in point, a clearly stated Ebay policy under the topic of “Rules For Buyers Overview” reads and I quote, “Buyer’s cannot bid on or buy an item when they do not meet the seller’s terms as outlined in the item listing.” If a seller has a term that states NO PayPal, it is clear that a buyer would be in violation of Ebay policy if they try to buy the item from that seller. But because this term by the seller is in direct conflict with the fact that Ebay wants to sell the PayPal service, then it is an unspoken rule that Ebay will take sides with the buyer even though the buyer is dead wrong. This is something that they won’t tell you. That is not concern for what is right or wrong and that is not defending the seller against what he or she has the right to be defended against according to Ebay policy. That is GREED! Greed by Ebay/PayPal based on the biased nature to sell the PayPal service. Further information In the post from AustraliaIT.com.news mentioned above, will also show the following quote…. “Internal data shows that those using PayPal are almost four times less likely to have a dispute over their purchase than someone who’s paid with bank deposit,” Mr MacGibbon said. That means nothing since no one will ever get to see this “Internal Data.” But even if that were true, what does that have to do with being given NO CHOICE how to make or receive a payment? What that “Internet Data” WON’T show you is that this “Four times less likely to have a dispute” is reserved for the BUYING community, not the SELLING community. And do you know why that is? Because for those sellers that chose NOT to use PayPal, buyers can’t buy the item if that’s all they want to use to make the payment. And if buyers get angry because of that, Ebay/PayPal sees it as a problem for them. And instead of coming up with a mutual solution to help those sellers defending their right to chose and upholding their own seller guidelines and at the same time educate the buyers with the idea that they need to READ basic seller polices before they make a purchase, Ebay/PayPal’s solution is to abandon the sellers that don’t want to use PayPal because they lose money when they don’t. Not because it’s a safer way to pay. They won’t even allow sellers the right to own a merchant account with this new initiative. They want to shove PayPal down everybody throats instead of supporting the sellers right to choose and educating the buyers to what their responsibilities are on the site!! After all, if Ebay/PayPal are so confident on how great PayPal is, then they should have no concerns over people making their own decisions on what payments to accept. But they want to take away from the people the ability to chose for reasons having nothing to do with protecting the community at all, and that’s just not right! Otherwise, they would chose to educate the community on what is right and wrong and allow the buyers and sellers to make up their own minds on what payments to use.

Policy changes have been slowly and meticulously carried out over time to take away a seller’s rights and ability to defend themselves on Ebay. First off blinding the seller by giving the buyers the right to anonymously leave “Star Ratings” by where sellers have no way of knowing who made the comments or if they are even true. And secondly by tying a sellers hands behind his or her back not allowing to give a buyer a negative for anything that they may do wrong. And finally, with all these anti-seller implementations, they give back nothing in return to allow a seller the right to defend his or her own selling policies even if they are correct and within Ebay policy! Buyer’s have been given free reign to do as they wish which includes breaking Ebay policy to the point of getting a seller thrown off the site! And now Ebay/PayPal want to say to those same sellers that they have no choice but to use Pay Pal as a means to accept payment!

Ebay/PayPal are in serious trouble whether or not they realize it. They’ve lost site over what is fair to the Ebay community and have come up with a one sided approach to implementing policies that of which seems to change quicker than Bugs Bunny goes through carrots. Until users on the Ebay site put their foot down, Ebay/PayPal will continue to push the envelope of GREED until someone stops them, it’s that simple. Some efforts are being made and if you are one of those being seriously affected, you can voice your opinion right here below or join any number of sites attempting to get the word out to this company giant that they need to do much better. Other sites in the fight include Power Sellers Unit as well as PayPalSucks.com.

Additional posts are being prepared to educate the public on how Ebay/PayPal have been taking advantage of the users on their site, some of which will absolutely amaze you in disbelief. Stay tuned!

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