this is niether a rant or a rave.
This is meant to be an eye opener to all who buy/sell on ebay/paypal.

I been in the same boat most people here complaining about ebay/paypal have been in.
One example which most can relate to is the unauthorized transferrence of funds from my personal account to a buyer who made a complaint and wanted a refund before i could prove I had done everything in my power to appease said customer.
I do liquidations and came across a couple of rare movies sealed in original packaging and my research showed them to be able to sell easily at 80 - 85 bucks a piece.
Now mind you, I had 2 identical movies in original packaging unopened unused which at that time was great.
I listed one for 80 dollars and had the buy it now option available to which a buyer utilized this feature and I shipped it out right away for paypal was not in the habit of with-holding any and all funds including shipping costs at that time as they do so now if your not a big dealer selling all day everyday.
Anyway, now you have to bear in mind I was new at this and didn't know any better, so after shipping out the item and spending the money made from sale on other items to sell on ebay, I had noticed a message informing me that the customer was making a complaint because the alleged movie never arrived.
Now I had a couple options, one of which was to send the other identical unopened movie to the buyer which I choose to do.
Like I said I was new at this and didnt even think twice about saving reciepts so the second time sending the movie I carelessly placed the reciept somewhere and forgot about it thinking this one should reach the buyer.
I thought it ended there and I was good to go but 2 weeks later I went to make a purchase at a store with the good old credit/debit card and low and behold it was overdrafted and useless causing me much embarrasment.
Now I had to go out of my way and figure out why there was no money in my account and when I did I was surprised at how and why.
The buyer apparantly opened a case before i shipped the second movie, and I mean he filed the first complaint which allowed me time to rectify the situation but instead of waiting he right away after the first complaint opened the case therefore not allowing any time to lapse for a solution and ebay/paypal teamed up against me asking me for my reciepts/confirmation numbers which I did have but couldn't find the reciept, and because of this, without my knowledge, for mind you, after the first complaint I shipped the second movie and thought I was good to go and didnt bother checking my emails, they had gone ahead and found fault against me and withdrew the price of the movie and shipping cost and paid this decietful buyer back his monies without even asking me if it was okay nor if my account was financially able to go ahead and do this so I wouldn't be put into a spot with overdrafts.
That was 2 weeks before i noticed an issue ( I do not go crazy with the card like some people) and when I had seen the late fees and penalties, I was not only 85 dollars in a hole but 350 dollars in accrued fees and penalties because ebay/paypal went ahead with no warning and withdrew/transferred money from my account and gave it to this idiot.
I say idiot because he claims the second movie never got there either and i could not prove it because I misplaced the reciept.
I save everything now and insure every thing no matter price size whatever.
The customer pays for everything and if the money dont clear the item does not get shipped unless they are an experienced seller/buyer with a golden feedback.
Do your research and insure everything and save those reciepts and get tracking numbers.
You as a seller have less rights on ebay/paypal than a buyer and buyers can be scummy scammers who know how to play the game and get over.
F+++++ for the scum!
Just sayin ya know?

I received an unsolicited offer of 10% discount from ebay while shopping laptops. After receiving a reminder of expiration a week later, I decided to start bidding on laptops and won the second item. During the payment process, I exercised the 10% discount from ebay. The laptop I received was not as discribed and the seller agreed, offering a 10% refund to offset the error. The seller refuned the agreed amount into my paypal account and before I even knew the money was there, ebay took it from my account. After several emails and phone calls with paypal saying they were following the seller's direction and the seller saying this was not true, ebay said they were "restoring" their 10% discount and I could reuse on "another" purchase. This is STEALING in my opinion. The money was restitution for an item not delivered as promised. Ebay did not notify me or even admit they had taken the money. STEALING is STEALING no matter who makes their own rules.

I recently signed up for ebay, about a month ago. It took about 2 weeks for them to integrate my merchant account to my ebay account so I could accept credit card payments and avoid paypal, as paypal has well over 7, 000 complaints against them with BBB. Afetr calling them everyday for a week, and hearing their sales pitch on why I should "Just use Paypal", they finally sent me an email stating that my merchant account has been accepted and I can now list items and choose credit cards for payment. I listed about $25, 000 worth of consumer electronics which I get from a dropship company. After the first auction ended, the buyer sent me a message stating that they were unable to pay for the item. I called ebay and ebay told me that there was a "Pay Now" button in the email that was automatically sent to the buyer after the auction had ended. I contacted the buyer, and he said there was no such thing. This happened twice. I called ebay again and told them I would NOT pay the seller fees for the items I had listed because the merchant account was not properly integrated with my ebay account. They absolutely refused and just about hung up on me.
I was stuck, and in the meantime while fighting wth them about this, I listed a couple items so I had something going on. The following day, I received an email from ebay stating that my listings had been removed and that my account was now blocked. I called them and they stated that Paypal needed more information on my Paypal account in order to remove the suspension. I informed them that I never opened a Paypal account, and they insisted they did, and that I linked it to my ebay account to accept payments. I knew this was false and was now very skeptical and knew my time with ebay would be coming to an end. I called paypal, and they asked me for information on the Paypal account, and they told me that the information was incorrect. They put me on hold, and then told me that I needed to provide them with my social security number and receipts for items I was selling on ebay. I told them I never opened a Paypal account and that I never linked a Paypal account to my ebay account, and they told me that regardless, the Paypal account would stay and that unless I provided them with the information they requested, the ebay account would remain blocked. I called them several times in hopes that I would get someone on the phone that would help me further. but to no avail.
I personally think this is just simply a shady way of ebay participating in a monopoly with their sister company, Paypal, in an effort to force users to accept Paypal for payments to increase their revenue and so they have total control of what you sell on ebay and control of your money, and Paypal has a habit of suspending accounts with no reasons and hijacking the funds in the account for 6 months or more.
I recently got this straightened out with the Paypal account, and they reinstated my account. The next day, the ebay account was again blocked. I received a message from Paypal statng that there was suspicious activity with the credit card associated with my Paypal account and that they would no longer be able to provide their services to me.
This is the biggest and widely known online scam and Monopoly.
Ebay has become a thing of the past. Everyone has been moving to other sites such as Amazon.com and Ecrater.com. Ebay will continue to lose members every day and will be no more than a glorified craigslist with the highest rates on the web full of scammers and greed.