well, they don't call em EGAY and GAYPAL for nowt! :friendly_wink: ... if a 100% positive/success rate at using such a clumsy service is paramount, guess i REALLY f*cked that dog wrong! ... NOT one of the two types of transaction have i used, never created an account...EVER! doubt i ever will! it was a help to whore a friends GAYPAL/EGAY via a wad of ca$h... i say, 'jump' he asks 'how high?'...still got it! ... no digital trades to my name... speaking of which, i'll have to figure something out if i want to buy/sell (and perhaps swap) here, because i sure as shit NOT ruining my null/ghost score, NOT touching those two...or ANY of it's affiliates! .... and should i/they be successful as intended, they'll be ZERO feedback.. i operate on a 'no news is good news' basis! (won't dictate how others choose to respond to my trade) ... another response earlier on the thread summed it up in regards to EGAY/GAYPAL! 'don't like it, f*ckoff!' (not a direct quote) ... on that note, 101% FLAWLESS! :friendly_wink: (apologies for the over-emphasis on those two ca$h-slags, it's how i feel toward them...RUINING actual time-tested traders for their own gain! f*ck em all!) .... [edit] folded another keyboard, getting replacements...
Problems with ebay/paypal aside, why there isn't another similar service on the internet? With the legion of complainers that Paypal has, a new public company would have a good stock value on day one.
There were competitors for eBay, but let's face the facts - regardless of how poor their seller protection is or how high their seller fees are, people are going to want to sell on the site which gives them access to the greatest number of potential buyers, so niche startups are almost always going to be doomed to fail due to the fact that they simply can't get that sort of userbase out of nowhere. Videogameauctions.com was an example started by one of the forum members here which was pretty well executed and was far cheaper for sellers, but the number of buyers came nowhere near to eBay's. Companies like Amazon are the only sort who could come close, but their Marketplace fees are more extortionate than eBay's and they withhold payments and freeze accounts for the most minor of infractions. With Paypal, there are still quite a few other options out there for transferring money, but because it's so closely linked with eBay all their payments have to go through them. What irks me is that as an eBay seller, I have to pay fees for both when I sell stuff.
Don't like PayPal, use Bitcoin instead. I hear Moneybookers/Skill is decent, haven't used them though. Direct bank transfer still works, too. Don't like eBay, use AliExpress, Gumtree, Craigslist, ... instead. Granted, none of those take the form of an auction, so if you're addicted to bidding you'll have to look elsewhere. On the upside you might be able to haggle. Maybe even check out eBay's own classifieds section, it depends on location but I for one often find it even more useful than "normal" eBay, at least for domestic stuff. Also, eBay doesn't get a cut, which imho is another plus.
There are alternatives; however, eBay established themselves early and have built a very large and frankly well-kept space. There are tons of listings from all over the world that would be impossible to find if not for that one central location. I hate the downsides, but that is an incredible upside.
^^ yeah, real good 'upside' to a CENTRALIZED powerbase just CRYING to get taken down! yes, there are alternatives.. such as contacting the seller via other means and asking 'would you prefer a less gougy method of trade?' and all but ONE time, they cried, YES PLEASE, we're stuck with these shysters, they've eaten up the competition and monopolized the market! (and some of us LOSE daily just for using this plutonian service) ... @ tom. (IRL friend) appreciate you letting me using you crappy accounts, and thanks for the 'escrow' tip also, appears to be what i expected out of a trade method! .... just like ALL empires with a centralized base of power, just a matter of time before that perilously stacked house of cards comes CRASHING down around your ears! NO EXCEPTIONS!
Err no. I can't find a link but there was an user on SomethingAwful who couldn't withdrawal his $1000s for various reasons... I rather have something I can convert to real life cash instantly. Of course correct me if I'm mistaken because I really want to have something like bitcoin to be viable.
