[Coco] Re: PayPal & Ebay guns

[Dennis Bathory-Kitsz]

At 04:06 PM 12/30/03 +0000, farna at att.net wrote:
>To keep this CoCo related, there is no better place to buy used computer 
>equipment than e-bay, and PayPal makes the transactions easy.

I agree with both statements -- I've used PayPal when it was still X.com,
and eBay since it was AuctionWeb.

The problem, of course, is that eBay and PayPal must both deal with
shifting rules with respect to Internet commerce, differences in local
jurisdictions, international questions, currency conversion, provenance
debates, etc. Plus they have had to deal with explosive server demands
(including a failure in the Sun systems they were using), user tricks to
win auctions unfairly, etc.

To my mind, they have both done fairly well. Yes, they are hard-line. The
least question about a seller or buyer can result in account suspension; my
wife has been fighting suspension for months when a seller changed her
mind. She has a dated money order, but eBay makes appeals very difficult
and rarely responds, and *only* accepts inquiries and commentary through
web forms.

Heck, I wouldn't want to deal with people trying to sell body parts,
children, drugs, rare art, antiquities, etc., nor figure out how to deal
with betting transactions in hundreds of international jurisdictions.

Do they have a hand in one of my bank accounts? Sure, but so do some two
dozen other businesses, as I pay almost nothing with paper checks anymore,
and use debit cards wherever possible.

Of course, there's not much for them to take. :)

I always keep in mind something said to me a few years ago when I was
having trouble with ICQ: "Don't be an idiot. Housewives can do it. If you
can't, then you're not even trying."

Important topic related to all digest users: Please do not quote the whole
digest when you reply!

Dennis