Now, every system has it's flaws. But what we want to bring to light here has nothing to do with that. What we would like to see is a more fair way of allowing people to make up their own minds as to what payment system they want to use when making a purchase. Ebay stays out of the anticompetitive target site by allowing other payment systems to be used on their site, but they don't promote those other payment forms. After all, they don't own those other payment systems. Paypal is owned by Ebay and therefore the reason why they push it more than any other system. But that's not even what we're complaining about.

     Back some time ago, Ebay tried forcing Australia to use ONLY Paypal on the Ebay Australian site. There was an enormous outcry of unfair anticompetitive practices with that and Ebay was prevented from carrying out the plan in full. But in the process, they threw up a smoke screen that ultimately allowed them to force everyone on the site to offer Paypal as a form of payment, not banning other forms of payment but still forcing the use of Paypal. We saw NO difference here! They still got EXACTLY what they wanted at the time and we don't doubt that this is precisely what was originally intended from the beginning.

     So Australia had joined the UK in being the second country to have this indirect forcing of Paypal placed on them. And in 2009, France was also made to join the club. We feel that unless the govenrment of some of these countries starts to put their foot down that Ebay will continue adding one country after the next until before long, they got the whole World where they want them, forcing everyone to use the service.  

     The beautiful way in which this works for Ebay is that by forcing certain primary countries to offer Paypal, they then force all other countries, such as the United States that have not yet been made to do the same, the need to accept Paypal from those countries or else they are not allowed to sell to those buyers! So then if you are a seller in the US and don't accept Paypal, you CANNOT sell to buyers in the UK, Australia or France. We expect that this list will be steadily growing in the future.

     One bright spot in this ongoing story is that Australia seems to have gotten after Paypal again! As the users there were still complaining about being forced to use Paypal side by side with other payment forms, the ACCC in Australia has determined that Ebay & Paypal are acting against the law and have given Ebay/Paypal yet another warning to cease and desist. Ebay/Paypal has agreed to withdraw the forcing of Paypal with other payments. HOWEVER, what they have YET to do is to withdraw the action of all other countries from being forced to accept Paypal from Australian buyers. So in affect, they are STILL going against Australia law. It won't be long before the ACCC realizes this, you can be sure.

     We don't see this kind of conduct as being necessary for all the World like this. This kind of conduct is in fact giving an unfair advantage to Ebay owned Paypal over other forms of payment services Worldwide! Keep in mind that Paypal is neither a Bank nor a credit card company. They are merely acting as a go between from the buyer to the buyer's credit card company and on to the seller. Their rules and regulations are not governed by banks or credit card companies which allows them to pretty much do as they damn well please with your money any time they like. And if you read the fine print in the Paypal terms of service agreement, you'll see exactly that!

     There are many businesses that own merchant accounts that allow them to accept credit cards DIRECTLY without the need for a Paypal account. Yet, these businesses are not currently allowed to sell to 3 of the World's largest market places if they do not accept Paypal. That is absurd! Businesses that own merchant accounts such as this have not only proven their trustworthiness to Ebay, but also directly to Banks and credit card companies to the extent of having to meet VERY stern PCI DSS requirements. Such requirements were specifically designed by the three major credit card companies (VISA, MasterCard & AMERICAN EXPRESS) to insure that businesses who DO own credit card merchant accounts are in compliance with the rules that they set up. It just doesn't get any safer than that!

The bottom line of our opinion is that Ebay needs to allow buyers and sellers to make their own choices and they're just not doing that. They have been trying to strong arm all users into doing things not in the name of trust and safety but in the name of greed. The more they sell Paypal, the more money Ebay/Paypal makes.

     There are many more stories with regard to Paypal that we've uncovered and we offer many links at the bottom of this page to allow you to do some research on your own to find out more. So feel free to take advantage of our research in the time that we took to put together a rather comprehensive set of links that give you more information about both Ebay and Paypal. Be informed and understand what you're getting involved with when doing business with these companies. And we will try to keep up on what we feel are some of the more important issues for both buyers and sellers as time goes on. And anyone who knows of something that we are not aware of, is welcome to alert us to it for consideration in adding to our list below. 

     The damage we have personally suffered here at 123 Studio Toybox Collectibles over a very long period of time due to the above mentioned issues with Ebay has been more than just financial, it has been physical! This is why we have now made a conscious decision to act!! Not just by withdrawing our product from Ebay, but by educating the entire World as to what is happening, most importantly, the people that own Ebay stock! Stockholders need to understand the way Ebay is treating their users and why they are failing the marketplace. And we are going to do whatever we can to make them understand so long as the abuse continues. We have in fact made it our mission!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

     The policy makers at Ebay think so highly of themselves that they feel their company is untouchable. They feel that a certain number of their honest fee paying users are expendable without recourse enough to make a difference. This is where they gravely underestimate users like us. And there is absolutely NO DOUBT that we are not alone. You CAN make a difference!

     If you are one of the users on Ebay that has been affected by this abuse seriously enough to want change, then we urge you to please first go and further arm yourselves by reading the following article and site links that we have uncovered below. Then respond to any number of them by posting your own experience. Get involved in the class action lawsuit if it applies to you. Go to links that gear towards stock market reports that allow users to make posts and alert the stock buying community to your experience. And if you are in a position that forces you to take the abuse on Ebay such as many users have been put in because of not being able to leave the site for financial reasons, then the best way for you to act is by writing a cover letter that explains these things to the very people that Ebay wants to hide this information from, the BUYERS!! Make copies of your letter telling them how unfair Ebay has been toward YOU and ship that letter with each and every one of the packages that you send! Then additionally promote your OWN website and/or bring their business over to a new venue to buy your items there instead of on Ebay.

     Help us in helping you to make the Internet a better place to buy and sell and spread the word of unacceptable and unfair policy forcing and abuse! In the end, perhaps we can force Ebay to make the changes necessary to help us all.