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eBay considers PayPal requirement, invites Australians antitrust scrutiny (Download Squad)

May 12th 2008 8:34PM This could be another nail in Ebay's coffin. I do not know about the perception among sellers and buyers in the US or elsewhere, but in Germany Paypal's reputation (for Ebay at least) is really, really, really bad.

If you as a seller accept Paypal, it might very well happen that in the end of the transaction both your money and your product are gone. Also due to absurd, seemingly arbitrary behavior on Paypal's side money might simply disappear, or your account (including your money) might become frozen for months.

If any such thing happens, it will be impossible to communicate with Paypal. They will have someone answer your emails, but only with a combination of predefined text-blocks that have nothing (or very little) to do with your inquiry. Repeated emails will not change anything. There is no noticable issue escalation taking place.

Also, for buyers, Ebay's claims about consumer protection are nonsense. I needed that "buyer protection" in the past, and Paypal demanded from me to prove my claims of the article being defective by providing them with a written statement by some "expert". To get such a statement is nearly impossible, or at least very expensive. Of course you have to pay that expert yourself. My article had cost 90 Euro, definitely not expensive enough to pay for a professional expert evaluation. Remember: The "buyer protection" is NOT an insurance, it is an effing mercy.

I would prefer my good ol' German bank system over Paypal any day - at least for sums higher than, say, 20 Euro.