By that logic, iTunes and the iPod just are just as illegal. Apple is just as anti-competitive with their closed ecosystems. To me, the difference is that iTunes works and provides value to its customers. Whereas eBay has become increasingly complex and restrictive in their policies and fee structures at the expense of their customers.
Let me first say ebay and PayPal (one in the same) are greedy whores who could actually be making more money if they back off some of their fees.
That said, you're falling victim to a basic misunderstanding. There are monopolies, and illegal monopolies. There is not much question that PayPal is a monopoly, but it's not illegal. Buyers/sellers do have other choices...they just don't like them. I think Apple will be viewed in the same light. Customers do have other choices. No one MUST buy an iPod, and Apple does nothing to block people from using other players and services. They just won't let their music work on other players. But, there is no reason that one couldn't download tracks from other stores in a universal format, then use iTunes to put those tracks on their iPod. So, anticompetitive...or "extremely competitive? "
Quote:
Originally Posted by mercury7
Well the problem is that a lot of sellers have bought in to their BS and will not
even accept checks or money orders so if you don't have paypal your simply out of luck.
Or some don't want to deal with that crap. Including me. And again, ebay and PayPal piss me off.
Quote:
If google were to challenge this in court they would win...but ebay flexed its muscles by
cutting their adword buys when google threatened them. Long story short, google backed down and ebays paypal remains a monopoly in that closed system.
That might be true, but given Google's deep pockets, I imagine they don't think so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mercury7
phishing sites would not exist though if at least some people did not fall for it.....example, I got a email offer from philips electronics today for a refurbed 42 inch plasma for 679.00, the address was info.philips.com/something or another....still have no idea if it was legit but no doubt someone will click on that link and find out.
Don't just click the link...make sure you scrutinize it when it loads. Then I'd run it through an ip converter and check the registration of the address.
eBay sellers already have to pay a percentage of the final sale amount on items sold. Then they have to pay a percentage of the transaction amount for PayPal payment, on top of the eBay seller fees. Since PayPal is owned by eBay, people who sell on eBay are being charged twice.
True. It's actually quite a lot of money. It adds about 10% to the cost of an item, not including shipping.
Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism
But they are being charged for different services. And the seller has the option to choose other payment methods.
Also true. However, that doesn't mean we have to like ebay/PayPal.
eBay sellers already have to pay a percentage of the final sale amount on items sold. Then they have to pay a percentage of the transaction amount for PayPal payment, on top of the eBay seller fees. Since PayPal is owned by eBay, people who sell on eBay are being charged twice.
But they are different services. Maybe for some transactions, PayPal already has the buyer's money in their account, but for others, PayPal has to pay a fee to charge the buyer's credit card. What they charge isn't much different than what you'd be charged through a CC merchant service, often it's a little less.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tri3
Being someone who has had a lot of transactions with both Ebay and Paypal. I got to say I really like PayPal, for the simple fact that it is extremely easy to conduct a transaction.
That's true. The transfer happens practically instantaneously, rather than waiting a week for the money to come though the mail and another before shipping. PayPal buyers seem a lot less likely to be deadbeats too.
Also true. However, that doesn't mean we have to like ebay/PayPal.
Absolutely. I got fed up with PayPal years ago and have never used them since. I was never into 3nd hand items so I've only used eBay a handful of times over the years.
Browsers like konqueror (my fav for some stuff), safari, icab will usually not be accepted by the big sites because of the risk they impose to their users with regards to security. It's no secret that Safari has a bad rap for it's lax security compared to ie7 and firefox. Personally, I like paypal for some things I do through them have lower fees and better value than the local banks and credit unions (this is the real evil). Paypal saves me money.
Comments
By that logic, iTunes and the iPod just are just as illegal. Apple is just as anti-competitive with their closed ecosystems. To me, the difference is that iTunes works and provides value to its customers. Whereas eBay has become increasingly complex and restrictive in their policies and fee structures at the expense of their customers.
Let me first say ebay and PayPal (one in the same) are greedy whores who could actually be making more money if they back off some of their fees.
That said, you're falling victim to a basic misunderstanding. There are monopolies, and illegal monopolies. There is not much question that PayPal is a monopoly, but it's not illegal. Buyers/sellers do have other choices...they just don't like them. I think Apple will be viewed in the same light. Customers do have other choices. No one MUST buy an iPod, and Apple does nothing to block people from using other players and services. They just won't let their music work on other players. But, there is no reason that one couldn't download tracks from other stores in a universal format, then use iTunes to put those tracks on their iPod. So, anticompetitive...or "extremely competitive? "
Well the problem is that a lot of sellers have bought in to their BS and will not
even accept checks or money orders so if you don't have paypal your simply out of luck.
Or some don't want to deal with that crap. Including me. And again, ebay and PayPal piss me off.
If google were to challenge this in court they would win...but ebay flexed its muscles by
cutting their adword buys when google threatened them. Long story short, google backed down and ebays paypal remains a monopoly in that closed system.
That might be true, but given Google's deep pockets, I imagine they don't think so.
phishing sites would not exist though if at least some people did not fall for it.....example, I got a email offer from philips electronics today for a refurbed 42 inch plasma for 679.00, the address was info.philips.com/something or another....still have no idea if it was legit but no doubt someone will click on that link and find out.
Don't just click the link...make sure you scrutinize it when it loads. Then I'd run it through an ip converter and check the registration of the address.
http://www.hcidata.info/host2ip.htm
eBay sellers already have to pay a percentage of the final sale amount on items sold. Then they have to pay a percentage of the transaction amount for PayPal payment, on top of the eBay seller fees. Since PayPal is owned by eBay, people who sell on eBay are being charged twice.
True. It's actually quite a lot of money. It adds about 10% to the cost of an item, not including shipping.
But they are being charged for different services. And the seller has the option to choose other payment methods.
Also true. However, that doesn't mean we have to like ebay/PayPal.
eBay sellers already have to pay a percentage of the final sale amount on items sold. Then they have to pay a percentage of the transaction amount for PayPal payment, on top of the eBay seller fees. Since PayPal is owned by eBay, people who sell on eBay are being charged twice.
But they are different services. Maybe for some transactions, PayPal already has the buyer's money in their account, but for others, PayPal has to pay a fee to charge the buyer's credit card. What they charge isn't much different than what you'd be charged through a CC merchant service, often it's a little less.
Being someone who has had a lot of transactions with both Ebay and Paypal. I got to say I really like PayPal, for the simple fact that it is extremely easy to conduct a transaction.
That's true. The transfer happens practically instantaneously, rather than waiting a week for the money to come though the mail and another before shipping. PayPal buyers seem a lot less likely to be deadbeats too.
Also true. However, that doesn't mean we have to like ebay/PayPal.
Absolutely. I got fed up with PayPal years ago and have never used them since. I was never into 3nd hand items so I've only used eBay a handful of times over the years.