ebay, yes I've lost interest in selling and buying on there. As said before I believe, the nickel and diming that ebay/paypal have done to this is ridiculous and its just not worth it anymore.

I use eBay and PayPal on a daily basis. I have sold before but for the most part I buy constantly through eBay and eBay only. I find that properly researching the seller you are choosing to buy from makes a huge difference when it comes to security in your purchase. If that research falls through I still have PayPal to back up my purchase if I don't get my item or what I receive doesn't match the description. I would agree that shipping costs can be high but then again why choose to buy from that seller, if there are several other people to chose from with the same product go with the guy that isn't making a crazy amount of profit off what they say is the "cost of shipping".

I would agree that rising fee's on eBay may put a bad taste in the mouth of many, but from a business standpoint they are keeping themselves competitive with the market, eBay can't be that company that is so cheap that they don't turn profit just in the name of making sellers happy. Cost of business is always a touchy issue though.

In regards to the person discussing a problem they had where eBay/PayPal held their funds from a sale, from my knowledge and the research done it would show that those holds are only imposed on sellers with well below DSR scores. These are the same group of sellers (which I have done business with) who in the past with older eBay policies would have been removed from eBay and not allowed to use the service any longer. I guess they implemented a "second chance" system more or less.

Being a small business owner and having to go through merchant accounts with financial processors whom shall remain nameless, I find that PayPal's fee rate is well below industry standard. I have been considering moving my credit card processing to PayPal as I wouldn't have to pay a monthly rental fee for the credit card processing equipment and my fee % would drop by roughly 2%.

I understand the points brought up in regards to this article but most of the arguments about why not to use eBay and PayPal can be dispelled just by basic research of the market and cost of business sans the usage of both companies. To each their own though, eBay has come through for me time and time again for many years now and I will continue to enjoy using their services.

Ebay needs to come up with rules about the text in selling items.  Have you seen the pages people post with their items.  It needs to be simplier.  Truthful description of product, price, and shipping price.  No b.s. and fineprint crap that seems to go on with these seller pages.

$1.00 for an item and $50.00 for shipping and handling. If disatisfied most will only refund the item cost and not the shipping and handling. Most sellers give away the product and stiff for shipping and handling to cheat E-bay on their percentage of the sale. E-bay has also been protecting shady sellers and often pressure complaining buyers to change negative feedback without proper corrective action from the sellers. In the early days there were neat items and lots of good deals on Ebay. Nothing but made in China, over priced junk today. This drop off of business was inevitable. I only left negative feedback once and Ebay made me regret it. I must say  even though I was left with broken merchandise the seller was booted 4 months later after about 25 complaints that followed mine. I went from 8 to 10 purchases a year to about 1 or 2. E-bay is like a falling piano, there's no stopping it, and it won't be pretty when it's over.

In a word.....E BAY sucks!

I am a Powerseller with a very good reputation.  Ebay is slowing down - there are too many sellers that are misleading and greedy, they believe they are always right and the buyer is wrong - try treating the buyer like they are a valuable part of your business - you will see how they come back and back to your site to buy.  Yes, Ebay as a big league corporation has gone way down hill - give those thanks to the former CEO Meg Whitman who only wanted to make Ebay a greedy business so she could get big bucks for doing nothing positive for Ebay.  During her reign Ebay became dictatorial and outrageously priced - gave no respect for the seller who paid their high wages.  PayPal has become joke and falls into the same fraud approach that many of the nations banks have become - I suppose at some point the taxpayer will have to bail PayPal out for their poor management the same as the banks.  

I'm not saying I agree with this practice but.....Sellers on Ebay are charged a percentage fee based on the selling price only (ie. $1), they are not charged a fee for the shipping amount, so, by selling the item for $1 they are only charged a percentage fee of the $1  and not the shipping amount.  The item is probably worth the shipping cost the seller just won't have to pay the higher percentage.

It's sad but true --- eBay has run it's course and will now fade away.

I use to like selling on ebay,but not anymore when u can't leave negative feedback if they don't pay but they can leave anything they want on ur's,even if they like the item,so they lost me and I was a power seller too,plus the fee's are so high! I sell elsewhere and don't miss it!

 I really don't understand all of the e-Bay bashing. By reading some of the previous comments,you would think e-Bay themselves have items for sale & set shipping prices. E-bay provides a service, which they cannot afford to do for FREE! It does cost them money to operate. Items for sale & shipping prices are set by the individual seller. If you think shipping charges are too high, DO NOT buy from them! It is that simple.

 Do the sellers whining about the fees E-bay charge think it would be cheaper if they opened a brick & mortar store with employees & customers stealing from them? Maybe some of them would do better if they tried selling something different.  When you sell items for $5.00 & under, I can understand why they are not making any money! Some of them cannot handle the truth that they themselves  may be the problem & not e-Bay.

 And I simply cannot relate to people who say there are no deals on eBay! There are more bargains on e-Bay than I can afford to buy!! I buy lots of different items on e-Bay (at bargain prices) & plan on buying many more! Also , I list items to sell every week & make decent money on them. I haven't made a million dollars from it, but for the time & expense, I have made pretty good. I would recommend e-Bay to everyone! Plus, it can be used as an educational tool. The rules to being sucessful on e-Bay are the same for any other business. The right items, marketing approaches, pricing, expenses, & customer service. Nothing changes if you want to own & operate any other business. The bottom line is if you cannot make on e-Bay, you probably will not make in any other business.

   E-bay is not perfect, but if you can name me a business that is, I will be ready to start it TOMORROW!!