It is painfully obvious that PayPal and eBay have not thought this new policy all the way through. First of all, the whole world is now aware of the fact that eBay purchased PayPal and are essentially one company. That simply translates into eBay making money for their posting and commission fees, and then again through PayPal with their fees. Great strategy! I can live with that...it's Americana commerce at its best, and I love it! However, with this New Hold / Pending Funds Policy you have crossed a line that is not only ignorant, but also a flagrant insult to your "customers" who have chosen to use you as a viable option for processing payments for goods that are sold. The obvious thing here is the fact the we the "Seller" are left in the lurch and at the mercy of the "Buyer". We are forced to come out of pocket with shipping and handling while the funds are being "held". Sometimes Buyers never post feedback at all. Having to wait 21 days for payment is financially impossible for those of us Sellers who have multiple transactions each week. I am currently holding off posting any auctions through eBay until this issue is resolved with a new, common sense policy. The not so obvious here is just how financially beneficial this new "Hold" policy is to eBay/PayPal. The funds that you put into this Hold category are accumulating interest on a daily basis. eBay and PayPal process literally millions of dollars every week. You are not only making money on both ends of the transaction with eBay and PayPal fees, but you are making a killing on the interest by holding the Sellers funds until you arbitrarily decide to release them. Once again, I'm all for good ole Americana Commerce, but this has gone too far. A Congressional hearing to investigate this practice just might be in order here. In the short term, I suggest all Sellers simply stop using eBay as their auction site and choose one of the faster growing auction sites. In addition, stop using PayPal altogether and use a cashiers check, bank draft, or simple money order. The machine will pay attention when it is no longer greased and comes to a screaching halt. Now that's Americana too!
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