Absolutely. This is no different than most 'credit' type companies. They need to know that they know they will get your money. They also need to have the power to hold payments and such. It's the cost of doing 'credit' business. There are MANY alternatives out there. I've already pulled out of ebay. I'm in the process of pulling out of Paypal. It's all bad juju and there are much simpler methods to pay for an item.

I cured this long ago i just set up a checking account just for PP whenever i sell a item i immediately transfer the money to my checking account and then pull it out.. and they have never held funds , it amazes me that people get upset over this it is better than people hacking into your account spamming or worse I know i want the buyer of my goods verified just good business sense and with a dedicated account you are not giving any info to them that is of your family accounts etc... there is no such thing as being off the grid anymore you have to pay to play... I agree it sucks but it is cheap for the convenience of having your funds instantly...

Roger

Would like to know about these "alternatives" you talk about, seems as though PP is the prefered method of paying on Ebay. Mike, I agree, they want your money, however I question the fact that, I have never given them that info in the past, now they want it? what changed? If I had issues in the past, that would throw up a red flag on my account, I would understand, but that's not the case. What makes less sense to me is the fact I have a 3K balance of MY OWN MONEY in my account that they are holding, then I go and buy a $200 item and they won't release it? . Makes no sense. I buy most of my items with the money I already have in my account anyway, and they want more info personal info just so I can continue to use my money. Ridiculous.

To put it simply I HATE THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!! Pay pal sucks!!!! I'm having it out with them as I type this. they have now placed my sales money on a 21 hold due to I didn't sale enough Items in a 6 month period. This was just implemented today on many of us sellers on ebay that use paypal, I'm looking into getting a credit card machine and using propay as my payment methods.

To quote myself ... " I've already pulled out of ebay."

I don't have to pay on ebay 'cause I'm no longer a dealer/shopper of that market.

Now, beyond that ... Amazon takes all sorts of payments. As does Maxwell's, ClassicVintage, MusicGoRound, etc etc etc.

It all comes down to ... how much do you love ebay?

I don't. So I don't need paypal. It was simple for me. I identify an issue and act on it. I don't bring in emotions or societal skewing.

But, I also don't have TV/Cable in my house. Haven't had it for years and years. Don't have a need for it. So, your mileage may vary.

As long as I've been using PayPal, their deal was was drawing funds from a bank acct, with a credit card as a back-up source of funds. They always wanted two separate accounts to be available.

After my last credit card expired, I didn't update it, and everything seemed fine for a while. Eventually, my checking account payment was held/delayed because I no longer had a valid back-up account.

And of course Ebay's preferred payment method is PayPal, because they bought PayPal several years ago. It's possible to make payments in other ways and bypass those additional fees, but Ebay doesn't present them as options anymore.

The good news is, banks are finally starting to offer payment transfers between individuals. I haven't found any fees involved, so this will undoubtedly be the wave of the future, and ultimately make us a cashless society.

The bad news is, I suppose you give up a name and phone number or personal email address in order to make the transaction. And once every (formerly cash) transaction is run electronically, they can be monitored, and of course taxed. That includes making money on a gig, selling through Craigslist, at a garage sale, if you're a prostitute (see 'gig'), etc etc.

Bermuda

I had an accountant do my taxes this year, as I felt it was time to give them up, less headache too. I got to talking about eBay and the option of using it as a write off. I didn't do a lot of business with them and there was no dedicated "office" for it, but he did inform me as of next year and this is according to him, eBay will be sending out 1099's for all who sell. So, it might be time for me to make an "office" and start this a bit more seriously.

I wonder how many millions of dollars in interest they are collecting on every ones money that doesn't sell, what is it, 10 items per month? or some ridiculous amount....Just seems like robbery to me...

When I started using paypal (not to long ago) they required bank info right up front. From what I understand there seemed to be a lot of "pre paid" cards as primary MOP's and thus a lot of funding errors as there was no bank account to draw from.

Netflix (I worked the call center) adopted the same procedure and did away with most pre paid cards and required bank issued debit cards or credit cards or paypal accounts. IMO paypal changed the rules in order to fall in line with company's like Netflix to "improve the experience" by drawing from the bank account to instead of holding/freezing accounts until a pre paid card was "loaded". Of course not everyone is using pre loaded cards and eventually got rooked by paypal. I'm not saying its okay or agreeing with it, just my :2Cents: