Sometime in 1995, Pierre Omidyar a software programmer for Apple wrote what we now know as eBay. It took a few years for eBay to catch on , But when it did it was like a Forest Fire. At the time eBay "ALLOWED" Sellers to accept other forms of payment, Such as Money Orders. Years went by, eBay stockholders were happy, Sellers & Buyers were happy. What made eBay so special was the fact you could literally type in any legal item and someone was selling it. That is what made eBay so special, It was the smaller sellers who had unique one of a kind items they were willing to sell.
PayPal soon came along, Not only was it Free to Join but PayPal was also paying $10 per Referral and people signed up. I can remember trying to download a game or something off someones FTP Server and in order to login you had to sign up for PayPal. The 1st Year Alone PayPal ended up spending Tens of Millions of Dollars just in Referral Bonuses.
By Now, Other Online Auction Sites, Almost ALL of them COMPLETELY FREE to sell on were popping up, But they just could not compete with eBay who had Hundreds of Thousands of Sellers more then other online auctions.....These websites never stood a chance and eBay knew it like a Crack Dealer knows crackheads.
Slowly changes began, PayPal eventually dropped the Referral Bonus, I should also mention eBay launched its own payment system even before PayPal which ultimately failed. PayPal had around 220 Million Dollars at there disposal from a series of large companies which allowed the HIGH Referral Bonus. PayPal Blew away the other online payment options the same way eBay was knocking down the smaller online auction sites.
It seemed as if it had happen all over night, eBay changed there strategy, What made eBay GREAT, All those Little Sellers who were selling unique and hard to find items for some reason it seemed eBay wanted to get rid of them & really only wanted Big Sellers, Who were basically buying Bulk Wholesale Items and doing hundreds and thousands of transactions a week.
One of the BIGGEST Concerns was that Sellers could not leave Negative Feedback for Buyers, But Buyers could leave Negatives for Sellers. New Guidelines went into effect, PayPal began freezing peoples Funds for the smallest reason. Sellers were complaining, Big & Small, That years Powerseller`s Convention was canceled. All the While Sellers were quitting, Competitor Sellers were making fake eBay accounts and leaving negative feedback unfairly getting Sellers kicked off.
Eventually eBay`s stock which was always High & Considered a Safe Good Stock Dropped a whooping 19.2%.
If something is not broke don`t fix it, I guess the eBay Staff who decides these "ideas" has not heard the saying.
Sellers are hurting, Because a nice chunk of the Buyers stopped using the site, A lot of people started using Craigslist.
Who Knows Maybe eBay has a Master Plan, The Same Way Walmart did away with mom and pop stores that just could not compete with the prices.
Regardless, In my opinion eBay lost its magic...Its still a HUGE PART of the Internet, But For Those Sellers and Buyers who remember the good old days I doubt they will disagree with me.
I kept this article as tame as possible, I did not even mention how eBay & PayPal Customer & Technical Support treats its paying customers, Unfortunately I have dealt with Both, Remember when AOL First came out and it took an hour to finally get online. In my experiences with them, Either They were absolutely no help what so ever, Very Cocky. They really made you feel like your extremely lucky to even have them on the phone, They could careless if you were satisfied, or If you were some how scammed. Basically, You Deal With It. It`s your problem I don`t care either way. I was an eBay Powerseller I personally no longer do any business with eBay, I stick with AMAZON & CRAIGSLIST
For Other Users First Hand Accounts, They are more like Absolute Nightmares visit:
PS: If Your Actively Selling on eBay, I personally would not keep much money just sitting in my account. Unless you need the money to buy something online I would withdrawal whenever you get 2-3 payments. There is story after story of people having there funds frozen, When I first started on eBay I used my Mothers address for my eBay account and where I lived for the PayPal Account. Someone simply sent PayPal a letter and said they received there item from a different address, Next thing I know $650 frozen, This was years ago, It could be worse my friend attended a Powerseller Convention and met a guy who had to declare bankruptcy, He was a wholesale seller of flat screen tvs, He had $19,000.00 Frozen.
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