Ebay/Paypal Monopoly- can it be beaten?

Lyda · #23 04-30-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by woogie

MS is not able to force people to use IE anymore..SWB (AT&T) is no longer the giant they were....and if you look around there isn't anyone that can truly compete..maybe a few letters can change things? Especially in an economy in which competition can create growth?

President Obama would love this!!! I say we write directly to Mr. Obama. Let's shoot for the stars....!!! Of course, mail will be open by secretary, but it will overwhelm secretary's desk and I promise you, Mr. Obama WILL READ IT too.

Oh, common, who is a good writer here????

Burning · #24 04-30-2009

Not me, I couldn't even spell a sentence without making a spelling mistake. Anyways, I don't think it will be as effective but why not give it a shot. I'm in this if everyone else is.

Lyda · #25 04-30-2009

Great! We need to find one person who will write at least one page, addressing the problem in general and ask for greater freedom of choice for sellers to be able to select their own payment processor and not be forced to use paypal, who is doing this and that to us.... I can start folder tomorrow and than we can select few best complaints and include this as Addendums. We just need a volunteer to take a lead here writing this..and make sense of bunch of attachments we'd be sending. Than, when all is ready to go.. email goes out to everybody and all we need to do is print, put in envelope and send.

woogie · #26 04-30-2009

WOW! You guys are awesome! :-) ..I'd love to help- I'm in too. If I may suggest, what if we each (or whoever wants to volunteer) take a topic that we feel comfortable about and write on that topic? We will then end up with a pretty good letter and hopefully cover many points. I can work on gathering info on how the MS IE/Netscape came about and how that relates to Ebay/PP...I can write a paragraph or two....Lyda, what do you think?

Lyda · #27 05-01-2009

It is a great idea Woogie and it would certainly help to get out point across. We would just need to be careful not to get lost in all of this and go straight to the point demanding our freedom of choice, which Ebay took away. I suggest we all start working on our own contributions and have the material stored in separate folder on our computer. As times goes on, we'll hopefully find someone willing to take the lead, kinda organize all this work we do, and create a presentable letter which will be sent to us as attachment to print out, sign, stamp and mail out.

Cachufleta · #28 05-01-2009

Woogie: I apologize for my rude words - . Still my intention was to avoid you to waste time in that direction - we all know it's a real waste, we can't change nothing. I would have loved somebody slammed in my face like that before I spent many days / money whining in other places.. welcome =)

x2ruff4u · #29 05-01-2009

So how about making a letter thats pretty much all the same from everyone to Obama(why not make a letter for everyone to use)? That would be mailed out from different states and other countries about ebay/paypal correct? I would not mind doing that if thats how you put it~

Burst · #30 05-01-2009

x2r good idea. Definitely doable and worth a stamp.

I thought cachufleta's comment was pretty funny. Rude, but funny.

Lyda · #31 05-01-2009

Yes, that is exactly the idea x2ruff4u. It would be one letter that would go out, would be the same for everyone.We would just contribute to someone who would put this all together as they would have enough work to do while we all help with related research.

Lyda · #32 05-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orion

x2r good idea. Definitely doable and worth a stamp.

I thought cachufleta's comment was pretty funny. Rude, but funny.

I thought it was funny too. It's all about how you look at things since there is no body language associated with expressions here, so things can be interpreted different ways, obviously. I am sure Cachufleta did not mean to sound too harsh. Besides I respect Cachufleta for apologizing to those who took it that way.

#33 05-01-2009

I don't know if I'd want Obama to see all that info. He might get some bad ideas to use toward 'fixing' our economy. Heh. 180 hold on my tax return...

Lyda · #34 05-01-2009

No way, Vic. Obama will consider everything that stimulates the economy.

woogie · #35 05-01-2009

Thanks for the apology cachufleta. No worries.

I think we can take of this as a group. We just need to take a piece of the letter and write up on it..in order to make one letter for all of us to use.
Let's start with concept- How do you want the letter to look/flow? Let's put our ideas out there of what the letter should look like and we can pick our best pieces to create one letter..Once we select the outline, we can then pick pieces of the outline to work on..I'll start...This is my vision of what this should look like...anyone else with ideas?

1. opening (I'm not good at this part..how do you think it should go?)
- ? we ask for your assistance? we need your help?
- ? Please take the time to read this..??

2. topic(s); 1,2,3,4,etc. paragraphs
- Ebay/pp - anti-trust laws?
- is one company (co. A) allowed to force us to use another company (co. B), that they own, in our transactions (making more money for co. A). ?
- Freedom to choose will put an end to their monopoly.
- Allow for competition and growth? possibly create growth in this niche?
- (I haven't read all the horror stories, but I'm sure they have done some things that would be considered more than questionable..we could include that also)..

3. closing/request for action

Lyda · #36 05-01-2009

It's a very good start, Woogie...but, I was thinking, a person with a law background would know exactly how to put this together after we explain what we want, peoples complaints and other research?
If anyone has a family member - a lawyer, who would be interested to do that for a reasonable fee,- divided among all of us wouldn't be much, I think...They wouldn't even have to put their name on it...we'll be all signing this from different parts of the world..

lakeman · #37 05-01-2009

I think this a very good idea but the way I look at is, no one is forcing us to sell on Ebay so that means no one is forcing us to use paypal, that's our choice to sell on ebay and ebay wants us to use paypal, which I can understand. I think this should be more directed toward the 180 hold, horror stories, and charging fees for both ebay and paypal, which is ridiculous and would be a lot better to write about!

nobody999 · #38 05-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycore

By requiring the use of Paypal, they are in clear violation of US anti-trust law, but they have bottom feeding lawyers that will tie up any ligation for decades. Your best revenge is to screw both Ebay and Paypal for every cent you can.

well...just let ebay/paypal tie it up in litigation, but eventually they will have their day in court! i just wonder why NO lawyers are up to the challenge.
I mean it shouldn't be that difficult to do a little research on anti-trust law and then file some legal documents.

nobody999 · #39 05-01-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lyda

It's a very good start, Woogie...but, I was thinking, a person with a law background would know exactly how to put this together after we explain what we want, peoples complaints and other research?
If anyone has a family member - a lawyer, who would be interested to do that for a reasonable fee,- divided among all of us wouldn't be much, I think...They wouldn't even have to put their name on it...we'll be all signing this from different parts of the world..

i guess we don't have any lawyers on this forum, everybody here probably sells on ebay full time but i'm all for it!

woogie · #40 05-01-2009

I think we can do this ourselves if we do not have anyone with a law background that can step up. We have history to help us. We can look at MS and SWB and see the similarities and point those out. I think we are smart enough to do that and the point is that it is a letter from a group of concerned citizens who are requesting action. So, we do not really need an attorney to write things up for us. I think sending a letter to the dept of justice (which started the suit to break up SWB) would help..and our reps, and anyone else you guys think can write up a story on this...And, I'm sure that a story on the big guy squeezing the lil guys out of making some money by making them jump through hoops is a story! I think this is where the eb/pp horror stories can come in and vicvelcro's help on leaking info to his connections..

Lakeman, I agree that they are not forcing us to use paypal (unless you sell in certain categories). But, they make it extremely difficult for us to use anyone else- by faxing forms, taking a week or two or three to set up things..giving us limitations, etc..we want them to make it just as easy to set up and use any other merchant as it is to set up and use paypal. It might be just the time..because on the news lately, you constantly hear about ways to make money..and a lot of people have turned to ebay..and other auction sites..to make extra cash in this economy..well..the stuff they pull hinders the little guy in making any money.

I'll try to come up with something and post it soon..

mmac900 · #41 05-01-2009

Guys, all im going to say is this: Obama has bigger problems to solve than ebay not being "fair" to its users...but good luck anyways:D

#42 05-02-2009

I think it might be good to include the arbitrary removal of listings under VeRO, those removals being a violation of First Use Doctrine. That is a federal law, just the same as anti-trust.

Lyda · #43 05-02-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakeman

I think this a very good idea but the way I look at is, no one is forcing us to sell on Ebay so that means no one is forcing us to use paypal, that's our choice to sell on ebay and ebay wants us to use paypal, which I can understand. I think this should be more directed toward the 180 hold, horror stories, and charging fees for both ebay and paypal, which is ridiculous and would be a lot better to write about!

Lakeman, the point is that ebay became a GIANT it is today thanks to US, the small seller and BECAUSE of the fact that the same small seller had certain rights and freedom of choice in those early days. Otherwise, Ebay would never happen! Yes, nobody was forcing any of us to sell on ebay, but they lured us in by bringing hope to so many who worked 24/7 struggling to make the ends meet, so they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. But sadly, Ebay only attended to their own self interests and greed, as it is obvious today. On surface it appeared that many have found help, a way to support their families and ebay was growing bigger and bigger, so it was a win-win situation for all.

The point we need to get across is how ebay turned their back now on the same small sellers who helped Ebay to become Giant it is today. So, what happened?

With time Ebay metaphored into Villain taking away people's basic rights and freedom of choice. All this in times - when unemployment is reaching record highs and economy is struggling to get out of recession and back on its feet. All we want is back our right to chose again.

Back than, Ebay has entered into a contract of sorts with a small seller, a "marriage" if you will -but, for its own benefit. So now it wants "divorce" by unscrupulously shutting down the small seller in the name of bigger profits, ultimately doing business with "big guys" only, kissing their a** and steadily eliminating US, the small competition. Why does it have to be so damn hard for me to sell an authentic, used Chanel handbag? Because Chanel wants all of my money + more in their own pockets! I am sick and tired of it and I am not afraid, and I am not giving up!

When my country was invaded by communists in early 90ies, Mr. Baker gave a green light to war criminals like president Milosevic, Mr. Karadjic and General Mladic to go ahead and invade, kill and destroy Slovenia and Croatia because all Croatia and Slovenia wanted was the free market economy and to be independent from the communist regime. THE WEST was brainwashed and misinformed for decades by Communist Serbian propaganda who had the military powers, so it took initially the efforts of people in Diaspora like me and many, many of others to sit down, write letters to our respective Governors, Senators and yes, even the President, before they realized who was the true aggressor and who was the real victim in Balkan conflict. But thousands and thousands of innocent lives were lost already. Sorry, got little carried away here.....

GB, I am not trying to turn this political - I am just drawing a parallel, as I am very happy and grateful to have had the opportunity to live in the free world where people have the right to voice their opinion.
Ebay has taken the wrong direction and is getting away with it, Ebay is strong and big - but we the people in hundreds and thousands are stronger and bigger! When I gave my Pledge of Alligance I accepted the values this country stands for, values I see Ebay trashing every chance they get.