Diann.
eBay & PayPal monoplize only themselves, unfortunately they have turn what was once a easy way to make a few bucks while getting rid of items that most of us have sitting around collecting dust and some others (myself included) buy items from others. Their are a lot of other websites out there that you can buy and sell items on. Amazon.com, Wensy.com, eBid.com, sell.com, craigslist.com to name a few. The government will not step in because of a monopoly but they should because of business ethics (the holding of funds for 21 days earning dividends in interest bearing accounts while not yielding anything to the parties who money is held), another unfortunate thing is that because PayPal is not FDIC approved they do not have to follow US banking regulations, which in itself should be a crime but is not. Everyone who has a PayPal account is being effected, but because PayPal can essentially make up their own rules as they go along because they are not a bank. Because we all signed up with PayPal we are at their mercy (well i'm not anymore having moved away from eBay/PayPal). Regardless of how much we all b*tch and moan nothing will be done over the short term and if anything at all is going to be done it is going to take years for it to happen. My suggestion is to get away from eBay/PayPal. Before you sign up (especially sellers) you read every agreement so you are not blind sided like we have been with PayPal. PayPal was like a new puppy when it was first offered as a payment system through eBay, as it grew they knew they could corner everyone and ring them in then phase out other payment processes (slowly so no one really noticed). With the majority of online auctioning being done on eBay they had us all by the (so called) balls now. And now in the end (like that cute little puppy in the beginning who licked your hand) they turned on you and have bitten the hand that literally feeds them. Another unfortunate thing is that they really don't care, because they have made their money now, they see the writing on the wall with Amazon and eBid taking a good portion of their sellers away due to lower or the same fees but a lot less hassle. eBay & PayPal know it's the end of an era for them as new auction houses are popping up and more and more people are finding alternatives to the over priced thing that is eBay/PayPal. So they are making as much money as they can in the short term knowing that people are leaving them, so PayPal has stepped in and is controlling the one thing every seller needs to turn a profit and that's their, our and my money. This actually happened to me on December 1st when i sold a bronze statue on eBay for $2400+shipping. The buyer was from Croatia and he knew as well as myself it would take roughly 3 weeks for shipping and customes to clear it. It in fact took 29 days, according to PayPals policy my money should have been released to me on 12/22/09, it was not. So i emailed them and requested a release as the 21 days had passed. I got the same generated email everyone seems to be getting, stating a bunch of crap. So i waited and i waited and i waited, Christmas came and went. Now keep in mind i had to pay out of pocket to ship this item at a cost of $331, yes shipping to Croatia is expensive. I was in contact the whole time with the buyer as he was with me. On 12/30/09 the item arrived, he left me positive feedback immediately as he knew i had been waiting for the money to clear this holding pattern it was in. Still PayPal held my money for another 7 days before releasing it to me. I waited the 21 day hold, spent $331 out of pocket to ship, recieved positive feedback when the item was received and still had to wait until PayPal felt like giving me my $2700 on 1/6/2010. Nice way to spend the Christmas and New Years don't you think? After that happened i stopped selling on eBay and have since told my bank that no transactions from eBay/PayPal are to be sent from my account. I removed my credit card from the system and am with holding $43 in eBay fees i owe because they made me wait an extra 2 weeks. They go by their own rules as they apply to them and no one else. So as i have said before and i will say every day here on in. FVCK YOU PAYPAL, AND FVCK YOU EBAY. Thank you for showing me what 9 years of being a retutable seller on your site is worth to you. So another BIG FVCK YOU EBAY/PAYPAL. Thanks for the memories b*tches
